Council is planning a different way to create the 2022 – 2026 Strategic Plan.  The previous plan was done by Councillors in an open session and guided by a facilitator, Carolyn Kearns. The 1½ day session in February 2019, ended up with a draft that was then opened up for public comment – and there was plenty of that.  The current budget includes $20K for preparation of the plan although Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty wanted to save this by having staff do the work.  Mayor Lucas Cleveland said that $20K was too little. Others disagreed and the budget ended up with $20K included.  Apparently lost in the debate was the choice of how to create a Strategic Plan. It seems that it… Read complete articleStrategic Plan for 2022-2026

I’m sure I heard Mayor Lucas Cleveland comment a while back that the Town’s web site badly needed fixing but so far there’s no sign of anything being done. Parts of it are OK (escribe and engagecobourg) but they are quite separate web sites.  Navigation is poor but that’s supposed to be remedied by a search function – except that this has not worked for some months.  Part of the problem is that there are many missing items and dead links but the idea is that non-technical staff can do the work of keeping them up to date.  What’s needed is a dedicated web site person – that’s in addition to a web site that works properly.  And don’t give… Read complete articleWhen will Cobourg’s web site get fixed?

At the Committee of the Whole (CoW) Council meeting on 24 April, Council debated the recommendation from Staff (Director Brent Larmer) on the next steps in reviewing a change in how Council would operate. Their recommendations were outlined in an earlier Post (see resources below) but at the meeting, Brent presented a comprehensive look at what is proposed complete with pros and cons. Although the recommended motion would not have prevented any changes, Councillor Miriam Mutton convinced council to broaden the scope – see final motion below. The plan includes a timeline with two public meetings and an online survey which has already started. Details will be worked out by a Governance Review Working Group which will include Randy Barber… Read complete articleFollow up on Governance

At Monday’s Committee of the Whole (CoW) Council meeting, downtown business owner Theresa Rickerby made a delegation where she blasted Council for not following their commitments as members of the Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities. In the last term, Council voted to join this group which requires that members “promote social inclusion, establish policies to eradicate all forms of racism and discrimination and promote human rights and diversity.” Theresa said that Council is in fact discriminating against various people – for example not approving the Sleeping Cabins and failing to put forward an alternative solution. This discriminates against homeless people.  She also asked that Councillors receive training in “Harm reduction”. In response, Councillor Bureau said that the problem is that Councillors… Read complete articleCouncil Endorses Regular Town Hall Meetings

In 2021, Council commissioned an Organizational review by KPMG and one of the recommendations was that Council should consider changes to Governance – starting with the council newly elected in 2022.  It seems that “best practice” would eliminate the Committee of the Whole (CoW) Council meeting in favour of “Standing committees”. Instruction to staff to review Governance was provided at a Council meeting in November 2022 and the first report on this work will be provided at the next CoW meeting on April 24.  Council will be asked to: “support the following Governance Structure in principle and that the following recommendations be sent for public engagement for initial presentation and feedback”.  Staff have written a 29 page report about their… Read complete articleProgress Report on Council Governance changes

At the beginning of the new term of council, it was decided to suspend the existing governance where Councillors were assigned coordinator roles. We were told that a Governance review would be held but there is so far no news on that. Also planned is a strategic planning session but no word on that either. Meanwhile, the previous system continues. This involves the Council first meeting as a Committee of the whole (CoW) with their decisions being confirmed in a subsequent regular Council meeting. The regular meeting on 11 April managed to cover 27 items of correspondence, pass 15 motions and pass 6 by-laws. Included were decisions on the land proposed for sleeping cabins and the land previously owned by… Read complete articleCouncil Confirms Controversial Decisions