Author: John Draper

All-Candidates Meeting

John Draper

A group of local organizations concerned about sustainability have announced that they will be organizing an all-Candidates meeting.  Chambers of Commerce from Northumberland are organizing one but it’s just for members so it’s good that the sustainability group are organizing this event which is open to everyone.  It will be via Zoom but will allow Q and A.  All Candidates have confirmed.  The idea is to get the position of all candidates – and presumably their parties – on where they stand on “the climate crisis, sustainable communities, and the human right to a healthy environment”.  To participate, you must register via Event Brite although tickets are free.  When you register, you get an email with a link to the… Read complete articleAll-Candidates Meeting

Changes Proposed to Cobourg’s Animal Control

John Draper

Currently, the management of lost and stray cats and dogs is done by the Joint Animal Control Municipal Services located on Theatre Road – generally called the “Shelter of Hope”.  This facility and service is jointly managed and financed by Cobourg, Hamilton Township, Port Hope and Alnwick/Haldimand – the cost to Cobourg is $104,000 in 2021 or an average of $9.56 per household.  But other municipalities pay an average of $4.82 to $4.63 per household and a recent KPMG report suggested Cobourg could save $40K per year. In addition, Cobourg staff felt that current performance was not satisfactory.  The current agreement mandated 2 years notice and in February 2020, the Town gave notice that it would withdraw from the agreement. … Read complete articleChanges Proposed to Cobourg’s Animal Control

About Cobourg’s Web sites

John Draper

This post is a little different – it’s about web sites serving Cobourg – and particularly about ones that entertain. Most web sites provide information but some do more. This post will attempt to help guide you. Many people use Facebook pages for information. These are really personal web sites and some are even used by businesses instead of conventional web sites but Facebook sites are limited. I will point you to easy ways to get news, information on clubs, information on the Town and I’ll highlight a few neat stories about Cobourg that you may or may not have heard of. Did you know that a commercial passenger plane once landed here?  And that there was a public hanging?  Did you know that Cobourg… Read complete articleAbout Cobourg’s Web sites

Council has second thoughts

John Draper

Cobourg’s Council meetings come in pairs.  First comes the Committee of the Whole (CoW) where items are generally first raised and debated; then at the regular Council meeting comes a confirmation including any necessary by-Laws. At Monday’s regular Council meeting, Councillors revised two significant decisions from the previous CoW: 1) when deliberating the budget, what the target should be for the base levy increase and 2) whether to resume in-person Council meetings.  Other motions from the CoW passed as expected.  Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin said that since the target was based on the inflation rate and that this was now higher (July was 3.7%), the new target became 5.25%.  However, the high target was approved with no debate other than… Read complete articleCouncil has second thoughts

Town of Cobourg reports 2020 Financials

John Draper

At last Monday’s Committee of the Whole Council meeting, the audited financial statements for 2020 were presented.  The audit was clean – KPMG signed off saying that the statements were truthful (that’s really what an audit does – looks for untruths or errors).  Jennifer Heslinga, from the Town’s Finance Department made a long presentation and apart from a few interesting items, it was all about esoteric accounting details with an emphasis on what the pandemic did to the numbers and how the reserves work.  Frankly, I did not understand the details on reserves so I’ll just report the interesting items. For example, where did the money come from and where did it go. Big picture? Cobourg gets only 47% of… Read complete articleTown of Cobourg reports 2020 Financials

Walkway to Cobourg’s Lighthouse too Expensive

John Draper

At the March 8 Committee of the Whole (C.O.W.) Council Meeting, it was decided to ask for an estimate of the cost of making a walkway from the East Pier out to the lighthouse.  At the C.O.W. meeting on Monday, this estimate was provided and discussed.  According to the Town’s Engineering Manager, Terry Hoekstra, adding a pathway would cost about $3 million (+30%, more detail below). This is in addition to the cost of repairing the breakwater under the path. It seems that a breakwater can be allowed to move a little but a path must not. This means piles would be required as well as the armour stone. It also means that it would cost even more if done separately to fixing the… Read complete articleWalkway to Cobourg’s Lighthouse too Expensive

Travel Lift rejected – again

John Draper

You would think the subject would be dead by now, but it won’t die.  Once again, Council were asked to consider a report on options for lifting boats out of the Harbour at the end of the season and one of the options was a Travel Lift.  Ted Williams spotted it on the Agenda of the Committee of the Whole Meeting on Monday and made a presentation that objected to the idea – his concern was that the cost would be subsidized by taxpayers who would not be using the service. Ted pointed out that the big advantage of a Travel Lift is that it could be used at any time and not just at the start and ending of… Read complete articleTravel Lift rejected – again

Council to Resume In-Person Meetings

John Draper

At tonight’s Committee of the Whole Council Meeting, Council considered two options for resuming in-person meetings.  Option 1 required all Councillors to be physically present in Council Chambers in Victoria Hall while Option 2 allowed some to participate via Zoom.  Most Councillors supported Option 1 and were unhappy with Option 2 since there was no detail provided such as how many could be virtual, for what reasons and how often.  Councillor Aaron Burchat said he might not be able to physically attend all budget sessions so preferred option 2.  As well as Councillors, the Municipal Clerk, Deputy Clerk and Chief Administrative Officer would also be there.  Other staff, Members of the Public and Delegates and Presenters would attend via Zoom. … Read complete articleCouncil to Resume In-Person Meetings