Hello and happy Friday, my fellow Londoners, and here’s a City Hall update to tickle your soft tissues and make your ears twitch. I’m Mike, with comms support, and you’re the leaders who show it as subscribers to London Ontario Online News (which is still free though my finger is hovering over the ‘paid subscriptions’ button).
And this is London Ontario, the city so good they named it nearly once, where I’m pondering what you call a two-bite brownie after eating it in one gulp. Eat two at once and it gets really confusing. Anyway.
How this post works
It’s an election year and events are moving fast. This is your guide to it all, to keep your minds fresh and ready to make good decisions. It’s in three parts:
Next week’s committees and the superfast bylaws process
Candidates catchup - who’s filed, etc.
More from City Hall - some snippets this week
Let’s start, shall we? Yes.
All Standing Committees lined up in a row
Here’s a fascinating insight into how the municipal sausage is made. And there are lingering questions. I know we just had a holiday weekend, and calendars can be funny, but why is this all crammed together into a week?
And just how quickly can a council make a bylaw happen?
We’re about to get the answer to that question, at least, amid heavy irony because City Hall is not a place where decisions are usually made in haste. Of course, all the reports were prepared thoughtfully, and much of this work has been happening behind the scenes for a while, but that’s one heck of a logjam to get it all past council.
Let’s break this down by committee. As usual, I will include an agenda link each time, but urge you to avoid clicking at all costs, lest it breaks your brain and allows the Many Angled Ones entry to our dimension. I’ll give you the gist. It’s for skimming.
Off we go.
MONDAY: Community and Protective Services Committee (CAPS)
This is the engine room of the City’s committees structure - the place where ideas are presented and discussions take place, with much variety. It’s where we hatch the backyard chickens, the nine-day wonders that grip our local conversation and are then forgotten again, at least for a while.
Agenda includes:
Oh my, it’s dogs in hot cars. Get yourself over here to CTV London for Daryl Newcombe’s report on plans to fine owners $300.
Opinion alert: This is, in my expert opinion, a near-perfect local news issue. This will be a hot topic1, and will be much-discussed this summer. I’m looking forward to the stage of discussion when people call for tougher punishments and start to make them up. That’s always hilarious/terrifying.
I see a report at CAPs about renovictions. This heartwarming story from CBC superstar Andrew Lupton shows that London’s anti-renoviction efforts are working.
Also:
updated facilities agreement with the school board
Presentation by the fire department - looks like their annual report, effectively
TUESDAY: Planning and Environment Committee (PEC)
This is often a hotbed of, well, heat, with planning decisions affecting communities and bringing people to City Hall to protest. It’s a light agenda this time, with three Public Participation Meetings for developments on Maitland Street, Centre Street and Westdel Bourne. That last one is a nine-storey apartment building.
WEDNESDAY: Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee (ICSC)
The committee that gets down and dirty, discussing nuts & bolts, brass tacks, and sundry other practical matters. It’s more technical and harder to mine than the other committees and, with so many other matters competing for attention, it hasn’t produced any media hits yet this cycle.
I see the agenda includes potential discussions on:
Reserve funds
Development charges
The annual report of Canada Life Place2
Various tenders, awards, consultants
THURSDAY: Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee (SPPC)
This is the whole-of-council committee that agrees major policy issues and sends them along to council for approval by the same people. It is notable that this meeting is extremely close to the next council meeting, so decisions could pass in four business days, plus a weekend.
Agenda includes:
Steam heating: We’re back in a Tom Waits3 song, with steam running under the streets and the City facing large bills to replace heating systems. Lots of discussion there, such as this and this, but it comes down to $17 million for new systems at the convention centre, City Hall and the museum.
Transit: Oh my, the social media chats about this report. It’s a consultant recommending governance changes to the London Transit Commission, and saying various troubling things about a disconnect with City Hall. There’s also a presentation from LTC at this meeting.
A presentation about London Hydro, including two board appointments to be confirmed.
A presentation about housing regeneration by London & Middlesex Community Housing.
A request to
increaseEDIT: maintain the size of the Police Services Board at seven.
And an item about trying to build a new City Hall. Here’s how my bot summed it up:
The City of London attempted to launch a redevelopment procurement process for the City Hall campus, but the process failed to attract enough competitive bids. Council cancelled the procurement in September 2025 and requested a review.
In a shock that will shock nobody, the consultees said there’s too much bureaucracy at City Hall. Industry feedback suggested the City should:
conduct market sounding before procurement,
simplify procurement requirements,
clarify financing and housing expectations,
permit a wider range of lead applicants,
consider a single-stage RFP,
offer honoraria to shortlisted proponents.
FRIDAY
A day off, hopefully. No meetings. Phew.
AND THE FOLLOWING TUESDAY, JUNE 2: Full Council
There are no committee papers for this yet, but they’ll be based largely on the agendas and minutes of the four Standing Committees this week. With barely four business days between SPPC and this Full Council meeting, that’s an extremely fast turnaround in the sausage factory for bylaws.
I’m fascinated to find out what happens next.
That’s quite enough of that. Let’s get back to London City Hall’s answer to the Cannonball Run4. Here’s what’s popping at the City Clerk’s office, where they’re accepting the paperwork.
Candidates catchup: plus MEGAPOST update
Every week, I’m updating this post, which has a ward-by-ward guide to the races, plus the city-wide tussle for the chain. Four people have filed to run since I last did an update.
Highlights:
Councillor Sam Trosow has now filed in Ward 6, leaving Councillor Paul Van Meerbergen the final incumbent expected to do so. He’s rarely in a hurry for that, and he’s the longest-serving councillor so hardly under great pressure to show commitment.
Filings by: Naomi Nadea, Ward 6; Matt Millar, Ward 9; Waseem Kazzah, Ward 7.
There are now a total of 45 candidates for city council and school board trustees, with more to come today. I see social media chatter about that and will update when I can.
More from City Hall, yes really
Some further news bites in the election buffet:
Mayor Josh Morgan, who talks about regional issues a lot these days5, says London should get a boost if Toronto lands this new defence sector bank: LFP.
Tax sales - properties up for grabs. That’s from dancing Daryl Newcombe at CTV London, who has Councillor David Ferreira expressing hopes this will spark some life into various spots.
The recent death at the micro-mod shelters was “unpreventable”, a leading city staffer has said in this story from CTV London.
Somebody’s making A.I. content and attacking Councillor Susan Stevenson, candidate for mayor. There’s a CBC story here.
Opinion alert: that’s nasty stuff and people should try to win the argument instead. I ignore attack content and the frivolous use of A.I. makes it even worse.
Enough
There will be a roundup, oh yes! And, if we can invent a 48-hour day, I’ll shake up the structure of this blog soon and launch The New Thing.
Oh yes. Exciting.
Also very tiring, but exciting.
- Mike6
Holy crap we better take care with the puns on this.
Budweiser Gardens/JLC/etc.
But I’m going to recommend Death Race 2000 (1975) instead.
Hmmm.
I’m an entrepreneur now, and constantly annoyed by the need to do admin.