New Burlington council's Dec. 22 meeting would move up to Dec. 15

Burlington's new city council, to be sworn in Monday, Nov. 16, would hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 15, a week earlier than the Dec. 22 date now on the calendar, under a staff recommendation the new council will weigh in its first days.

Staff say the change avoids holding a meeting during the week of Christmas. The Dec. 15 meeting would replace the Dec. 22 one, not add to it.

The same set of changes would make room for training the newly elected council. A Council Workshop Committee meeting would be added on Monday, Nov. 23, at 9:30 a.m., and the Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, Dec. 7, would become a Council Workshop. Committee of the Whole is where council usually works through items in detail before they go for a final vote; a workshop is a working session, here used for orientation.

That matters for anyone hoping to be heard: delegations, where residents address council directly, are not permitted at Council Workshops.

Council decides on the calendar at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17, which runs from 1 to 4:30 p.m. in Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall. That morning, a Council Workshop Committee meeting has a staff presentation on what the City calls Council Foundations.

A separate report from the chief administrative officer, the City's top staff member, lays out how governance, planning and decision-making will work in the first six months of the 2026-2030 term. It walks the new council through its orientation program and the expected process for the 2027 budget.

The report also explains the role of Horizon 2050, Burlington's existing long-term vision and strategic plan, meant to guide the choices City leaders make over the next 25 years. It asks council to make no decisions.

Before any of that, the mayor and councillors are sworn in at an inaugural meeting on Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, 440 Locust St. Their four-year term runs from Nov. 15, 2026, to Nov. 14, 2030. They were chosen in an election where 35.5 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots, up from 27.6 per cent in 2022.

The inauguration and future council meetings will be livestreamed through the City's calendar at burlington.ca/calendar. To speak at a council meeting, residents must register as a delegation by noon the business day before.