Demystifying City Hall

Demystifying City Hall

I’ve been hearing from residents who are unsure who is responsible for what at City Hall. The City’s website can be difficult to navigate, especially when you just want a simple answer.

I put these graphics together to help make sense of it all. The detailed version outlines the departments, boards, services and City-owned assets. The simplified version provides a quick reference to how they fit together.

Mayor and Council set the direction and provide oversight. Chief Administrative Officer Tara Baker leads the City’s administration and puts Council’s decisions into action. Finance, strategic initiatives and intergovernmental services sit within the CAO’s office.

Three Deputy CAOs lead the main service areas:

• Stephen O’Brien, Corporate Services: The support that keeps City Hall running, including the Clerk’s Office, elections, human resources, information technology, internal audit, legal and court services, communications and community engagement.

• Terry Gayman, Infrastructure, Development and Environment: Planning and building, engineering and transportation, water and wastewater, waste management, City facilities and energy, economic development and tourism.

• Colleen Clack-Bush, Public Services: Many of the services residents use every day, including fire, paramedics, transit, parks, recreation and culture, road maintenance, snow clearing and bylaw enforcement.

Some services have their own governance arrangements. Police, the library, public health, The Elliott Community, the conservation authority and the downtown business association each have separate boards or governing bodies. The County of Wellington administers shared housing and social services.

The graphics also include Guelph Junction Railway and Guelph Municipal Holdings Inc., along with the City’s indirect ownership interest in Alectra.

Knowing these distinctions helps explain why different questions go to different places. My goal is to provide a straightforward reference that makes City Hall easier to understand and gives residents a clearer starting point when they need help.

Below is a more detail look at the Organizational Chart of Guelph City Hall. 

Here you can see the specific areas of responsibility for each of the departments as well as the local boards that handling things like policing, social services, libraries, and more.