Author: John Draper

The Town and Others Add More Restrictions

John Draper

The Province recently mandated additional restrictions because of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 Virus but the Town, the Capitol Theatre and the Loft have gone further.  The Town has asked most of their workforce to go back to working from home and has shut Town buildings – except the CCC – effective Monday December 20.  They also cancelled the New Year’s celebrations and the Levee.  The Capitol has cancelled all remaining performances in 2021 and the Loft has imposed a 50% capacity restriction.  None of these restrictions were mandated by the Province [Update – maybe they were but initially missed] but I sense that people are getting nervous.  You can get details on all these changes in my web… Read complete articleThe Town and Others Add More Restrictions

Cultural Master Plan Buried

John Draper

Whatever happened to the idea that Cobourg should encourage Culture – you know, visual and performing arts? In 2019 a consultant delivered a Cultural Master Plan to Council (see resources below) but it’s now buried – no direct link anywhere on the Town’s web site. When Dean Hustwick was hired in 2016, his title was Director of Parks and Recreation with the idea that his mandate would include Culture and Tourism. That Department is now called Community Services but Culture is not mentioned. The Strategic planning update in early 2021 downgraded the goal labelled “Consider Arts, Culture and Tourism Division” and the only time culture is mentioned is when citizens make a presentation to Council. If there are any Town… Read complete articleCultural Master Plan Buried

Update on Covid-19 – 15 December 2021

John Draper

The Medical Officer of Health for our region (HKPR  DHU) Dr. Natalie Bocking, today provided a comprehensive update on what’s happening locally with the pandemic – and there is a lot happening. It looks like we got our first case of the Omicron variant although that still needs to be confirmed – this variant is expected to be dominant before too long. The bad news is that cases are increasing with the cases per 100,000 population at around 36 compared to around 5 a few weeks ago. The good news is that we are not nearly as bad as other regions – for example Kingston is around 300 per 100,000 population. A lot of the cases are younger people with… Read complete articleUpdate on Covid-19 – 15 December 2021

Council Approves Reduced Final 2022 Operating budget

John Draper

As reported previously, Councillor Emily Chorley and Deputy Mayor Séguin voted against the “approved” budget increase of 6.3% over the 2021 Operating Budget since this would have meant a 4.1% net tax increase (after allowing for New Assessment Growth of 2.2%).  Not giving up, Councillor Chorley asked Treasurer Ian Davey if any savings could be found. Ian reported that about $300K in the 2021 budget had not been spent because various people were not hired as originally planned (see list in links below).  He proposed that this be put into a “Tax Rate Stabilization Reserve” which would be used to smooth out volatility in tax rates. But why not this budget? So Suzanne Séguin moved and Emily Chorley seconded an… Read complete articleCouncil Approves Reduced Final 2022 Operating budget

Unfinished Business December 2021

John Draper

The good news is that there is a list, so theoretically, work to be done does not get forgotten – but it certainly gets delayed, some items longer than others. Hopefully the extra staff agreed for 2022 will allow some of it to get done. Also theoretically, projects get prioritised based on the Council’s Strategic plan but in practice that only happens sometimes. The list is provided at the end of every Council meeting but is rarely discussed – it’s at the end of meetings so Councillors are no doubt tired and not interested although the list is gradually getting shorter. One item often missing from the list is a current expected completion date. The latest full list is available in… Read complete articleUnfinished Business December 2021

Demolition by Neglect

John Draper

An architectural gem that is gradually being demolished by neglect is the property on King Street East known as Sidbrook.  It has been empty since 2002 and is in bad shape.  Efforts to force owners to keep it in good repair have gone nowhere  – see link below to my report in 2018 on “Stopping Demolition by Neglect”.  But now, there is another example and Council made it clear that they have no sympathy for owners who try to demolish by neglect.  At the Committee of the Whole (CoW) Meeting on Monday December 6, the owner of the property at 93 Albert Street asked the Town for permission to demolish the building because it’s in really bad shape but the… Read complete articleDemolition by Neglect

Donating Trees and Benches

John Draper

You might have seen plaques on Trees and benches in Cobourg’s parks – these generally commemorate someone and are there because a citizen donated them. But to do that, the donor has contacted the Parks Department and discussed it with them although to date there has not been any policy or presumably, consistency on costs or what is done. But now, the Town’s Parks department is working on establishing a policy and procedure for such donations with the first step being to discuss draft documents with the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee at their meeting on December 7. The cost will be standardized at $3,000 for most benches (including plaque) and $450 for a tree plus $275 for a plaque…. Read complete articleDonating Trees and Benches

Fees for Marina and Campground to Increase

John Draper

At the next Committee of the Whole Meeting (CoW) on December 6, staff are reporting that they have reviewed current fees for the Marina and Campground and are proposing increases so that they continue to cover costs. Most of the proposed Marina increases are around 3% but campground increases range from 2% to 11% – more details below and links to Staff reports. I understand that separately Staff are undertaking a comprehensive “User Fee Analysis” and these increases are interim (for 2022) pending the results of that study. User fees include Development charges, Parking, Transit, CCC fees and others as well as Marina and Campground. A report on parking fees was provided at the November 15 CoW but was referred… Read complete articleFees for Marina and Campground to Increase