GuelphToday asked those running for city council in the Oct. 22 municipal election to supply a brief biography and outline their platform and/or why they are running.
THE PERSON: Rodrigo Goller is a Guelph small business owner, an experienced public servant and a community engagement professional. A long-time Guelphite, Rodrigo attended high school in Guelph and graduated from the University of Guelph with a degree in criminal justice and public policy. He later completed post-graduate studies in project management and began his career working with environmental education and community service organizations in Guelph and Toronto.
Following his passion for community building, Rodrigo joined the City of Guelph’s community engagement team in 2012, where he helped create Guelph’s Community Engagement Framework. During his time with the City of Guelph, Rodrigo served as both a unionized and non-unionized employee, and he really got to know how our municipality works.
In 2016 Rodrigo left the City of Guelph to focus on his business, The Boardroom Guelph’s Game Cafe. Through his business, Rodrigo and his partners create jobs and provide a safe, family friendly space for people to meet each other, build connections and have fun together.
An active community volunteer, Rodrigo has served on the boards of several organizations and is currently an active mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Guelph Wellington.
Rodrigo and his wife live in Ward 2 and are proud to call Guelph their home.
THE PLATFORM: I am passionate about community building and have the leadership and experience to be an effective councillor. I believe in being proactive when addressing issues. I believe in small and efficient government and I believe in the power of community. I am also running for city council because I am tired of councillors who get elected and forget about their constituents. I am tired of councillors who drive their own agendas, waste council’s time discussing provincial or federal issues and make decisions without taking the time to listen and understand what their constituents really want.
This is what I will do if elected as Ward 2 councillor:
Be your voice at city hall — city councillors should not have their own agendas or waste time discussing provincial or federal issues. Rather, they need to keep listening to and continually advocate on behalf of the constituents they serve. This requires regular communication and a willingness to listen to all perspectives and points of view. For example, after speaking with hundreds of our Ward 2 neighbours over the last few weeks, I am ready to support mayor Guthrie's plans to increase police funding. Crime and speeding are two of the most pressing issues in our Ward, and our police department needs more resources to deal with the volume of calls they are getting.
Value for money and a leaner municipal government — I worked at the City of Guelph as both a unionized and non unionized employee, and understand how the corporation of the City of Guelph works. There are a lot of great people working at the City of Guelph; however, I also have an insight to the bureaucratic inefficiencies that take place.
Municipalities can be most effective when they are lean and focus on delivering excellent core services. I will support ongoing service area reviews to determine if the city should be delivering those services in the first place, and if so, what the most effective way is to deliver those core municipal services. I do not believe that we should keep on spending your tax dollars just because that's the way it has always been done before. I also believe in healthy partnerships with private and non-profit organizations who can deliver programming and services to our community. An excellent example of this is the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition.
The city provides funding for neighbourhood groups to self organize, and deliver community programming, including affordable summer camps for children and youth in our communities.
Connected and empowered community — I will host bimonthly ward conversations where neighbours discuss issues that matter to them. I will present what city hall is working on, explore how it will impact your day to day lives and listen to your ideas and concerns. When issues fall outside the scope of what city hall can address, I will bring community members together with the responsible agencies and organizations, to bring everyone on the same page and explore possible solutions to those problems.
Service modernization — I will use social media platforms to stay in touch with community members, and I will work hard to build stronger relationships in our community. I support bringing back online voting and will work with city council to direct municipal departments to explore and adopt new technology that improves services and reduces costs.
I have already begun listening to, and understanding the concerns of neighbours across Ward 2. These are some of the most pressing issues and what I plan to do about them:
1) Residents across Ward 2, particularly those living closer to downtown, the Speed River and Riverside Park, are dealing with a drastic increase in crime. People are breaking into our cars and homes, stealing bicycles and other valuable items. To address these issues I will call for an immediate increase in funding for police services. I will also host conversations between the affected neighbours, emergency services and public agencies, so everyone can get on the same page and explore how neighbours can support the agencies that are responsible for working on the causes of crime.
2) Ward 2 neighbours are concerned about speeding on arterial roads, including Eramosa,
Woolwich, Speedvale, Woodlawn and Victoria, and secondary roads like Arthur, Cardigan and Riverview. To address this problem, I will call for enhanced traffic-calming measures on these and other “racing roads” in Guelph. I will ask permanent radar speed signs and other long-term measures traffic-calming measures, along with increased enforcement so word gets out that it's expensive to go drive over the speed limit in Guelph.
Contact Information: [email protected] 519-993-8600 fb.com/Goller4Ward2
