Author: John Draper

Council Approves New Taxi Fares

John Draper

In January 2020, Council approved new rates for taxi-fares – but they were only a minor change.  The senior’s discount was reduced from around 30% to 10% and the wait charge no longer required being stopped for 2 minutes.  But at Monday’s regular Council meeting, Kelly Paton, owner of Cobourg Cabs, made a passionate plea for an increase in fares.  She said it was not to make her rich but a matter of survival.  She said she took only $100 a week in wages for herself.  She said that she employed 9 drivers with 3 licensed cabs.  The increased cost of insurance, increases in the minimum wage and currently high gas prices made her business not viable.  Choices are increased… Read complete articleCouncil Approves New Taxi Fares

Downtown Commercial Property Update

John Draper

Cobourg’s Real Estate market has been volatile – especially on the residential side (see link below) – and Commercial properties are no exception.  Despite Covid, sales are happening – some quickly and some slowly. Unless you are in Real Estate, it’s impossible to keep close tabs on what’s happening but some highlights of the Downtown market are worth looking at. I’ve also included some information on properties that have sold although details are not generally publicly available. Some sales are of the building, some of the business and some both. Although my focus is on Downtown, there is not much happening elsewhere anyway.  Note that market information (“on market for x days”) comes from web site realtor.ca – properties could have been listed… Read complete articleDowntown Commercial Property Update

Council Salaries Debated

John Draper

When the subject of Council Salaries came up at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, Councillors were initially not in agreement.  Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin made a motion that seemed to end discussion but was controversial.  The motion (see link below) would mean that all councillors would get a $2000 increase in the next term of Council BUT the extra amounts ($6.8K) paid to the Mayor and Councillor Burchat for their participation on the Police Board would be stopped since there is no other payment for participation on Advisory Committees. The net budget impact would be zero. But other Councillors were not happy with this idea; the previous idea of an ad hoc committee was not favoured; instead the CAO confirmed that… Read complete articleCouncil Salaries Debated

Harbour Update

John Draper

It’s somewhat confusing but there are two major Harbour projects being discussed at Council and they both get mentioned at next week’s CoW meeting.  The first is fixing the harbour walls and breakwaters for a total of $12.8M and the second is rehabilitation of the East Pier (budget estimate for 2024 is $3.6M) – that is, to make it an attractive place.  Work on the East Pier rehabilitation cannot start until at least the harbour walls and East Breakwater work is done.  The two consultants involved are making presentations:  Shoreplan is providing a walls and breakwaters project update which is essentially the same as provided in the Engage Cobourg Survey information and reported here on 29 January – see link… Read complete articleHarbour Update

Town Issues RFP for Campground Upgrade Design

John Draper

In 2018, Council approved a Waterfront Study that included recommended upgrades to the Trailer Park – now called the Campground.  The approved 2022 budget includes $50K for this study; the estimated cost of doing the work in 2023 is $750K. The justification given in the RFP is that:  “This design plan is necessary to update failing aged infrastructure and transform the campground back into (an) asset that can provide the requirements of current guests while continuing to remain a viable tourism destination and economic engine to the municipality.”  The RFP says that: “The campground currently consists of 43 trailer sites with Hydro, Water and Sewer, 28 trailer sites with Hydro and Water and 5 unserved tent sites.”  The  Request for… Read complete articleTown Issues RFP for Campground Upgrade Design

Review of Public Works Efficiencies

John Draper

As a result of the KPMG Service Delivery Review, Council has asked Staff to report on possible efficiencies in several departments and at the next CoW Council meeting, CAO Tracey Vaughan will deliver several status reports starting with the Works Department.  Specifically, this will cover Parking, Fees for Storm Water Management and Transit.  The intent is not to reduce “services” and their associated cost, but to get more revenue.  These projects were previously the subject of Council discussion and decisions and Cobourg News Blog reported on them – see Links below.  The key point is that in each case, Council has approved increasing user fees.  However, revenues still mostly fall short of costs.  Below are summaries of the Staff reports… Read complete articleReview of Public Works Efficiencies

Post-Covid – Cobourg Opens up

John Draper

Yesterday (March 1), the Province relaxed most restrictions and the Town has been quick to follow. An announcement on Tuesday seemed to say that Cobourg is now finished with Covid restrictions but look closer. Masks are still required indoors unless you can maintain two metres separation, people should still check for symptoms and some businesses may elect to still ask for proof of vaccination. But there’s no capacity limits, businesses like restaurants need not ask for proof of vaccination so it’s almost back to normal.  As a result, the Town has announced re-opening Victoria Hall, the Community Centre, the Library, the Art Gallery and Venture 13 – details below. Covid-19 has not gone away but Health authorities – in Ontario… Read complete articlePost-Covid – Cobourg Opens up

Councillor Salaries back on the Agenda

John Draper

In early 2018, Council thought that their remuneration (salaries and benefits) should be reviewed so they established an Ad Hoc Committee to do that.  This committee reported on April 30, 2018 but recommended little change.  In a delegation, the Cobourg Taxpayers Association made a strong case that there should be significant increases and some councillors agreed (see table below) – but not all.  The issue was discussed by Council several times and along the way, Council asked that there be a review of salaries in the third year of their term – that is, in 2021.  Staff are now belatedly bringing this to Council at the Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting on March 7 and asking for direction.  In… Read complete articleCouncillor Salaries back on the Agenda