Minutes after showing just how dysfunctional it can be at times, Guelph City Council showed it can also work in unison on Monday night.
Council voted unanimously to move forward in updating the city's Community Energy Initiative and reporting back to council on how it is doing, both financially and in attaining its objectives.
The report on the CEI is expected to be completed in Spring 2017.
The vote came just after council spent 90 minutes slinging mud, making accusations and trying to get one another suspended in relation to five councillors walking out of an in-camera meeting earlier this year.
The CEI is Guelph's multi-faceted commitment to reducing energy consumption, water consumption and its carbon footprint that it implemented in 2007.
The update will be a standalone, detailed formal report on the progress of the CEI. It will provide current and historic performance reviews of the program and come up with some performance metrics that council can use to help determine the costs and effectiveness of the program.
Monday's discussion on the CEI was expected to be a contentious one, thanks in part to some inflammatory remarks made by Mayor Cam Guthrie about the CEI at the committee level.
At one point Guthrie called it "fantasy" and claimed the city was pumping money into a program that could be better used to serve taxpayers on such things as fixing sidewalks and mowing sports fields.
A total of 15 delegates appeared before council on the issue, every one of them in support of updating the program.
Guelph Chamber of Commerce president Kithio Mwanzia pointed that the "business community drives the CEI" and that an update was needed given how far technology has come since it was implemented nine years ago.
Sally Ludwig of Transition Guelph said there was "no time to lose," with the update and that the city must "move forward quickly."
Steve Dyck, president of Canadian Solar, told council that "carbon pricing" is coming and that Guelph needs to "get ahead of the game."
Citizen Cynthia Bragg said "one of the reasons I'm proud to live here is that we have a CEI."
Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said the CEI was "the opportunity to take our vision and turn it into action."
"Don't forget the 'community' in CEI. This can't be a City Hall project," Schreiner said of the update, which will include community involvement.
Former councillor Maggie Laidlaw said she would like to see Guelph continue to "punch above our weight" when it comes to environmental issues and stewardship.
"And I certainly object to it being referred to as fantasy," Laidlaw said.
Several councillors weighed in.
Dan Gibson questioned many of the delegates, making the point that an update is needed in part so the city can focus on the components of the CEI that are working.
Gibson said the update has to include qualitative and quantitative assessment.
Bob Bell said that transparency of the process was important and that there had to be oversight of the metrics used to evaluate the program.
