Venture 13 – Progress

With an aggressive schedule, the contractor for the Venture 13 project (Dalren) has started work and the expected move in date is on track for April 2018.  One of the groups occupying space in the new Building will be Makers Northumberland and they got a boost today with a $30,000 loan for start-up costs and equipment outfitting for the MakerLab.  That’s a 40ft x 23ft space set up to allow prototyping, custom manufacturing, 3D printing etc. – it’s a microfactory for hardware startups. The money will be supplied by Northumberland CFDC which is funded by the Federal Government so both CFDC’s Wendy Curtis and MP Kim Rudd were at the announcement this morning.  Also at the announcement were Mayor Gil Brocanier,… Read complete articleVenture 13 – Progress

County Budget for 2018

At the County Council meeting today (Wednesday December 13), Hamilton Township Mayor Mark Lovshin was elected as the new Warden since Mark Walas has completed his term. This is Mark Lovshin’s second term in this position. A major item for Mark and his council will be approval of the budget for 2018. There are two major differences between the County budget and the budget for the Town of Cobourg: 1) The budget is presented to Council before the start of the year instead of late January and 2) there was only one “open house” and that was to discuss budget processes with taxpayers (11 residents came to it). Budget details (numbers) were not discussed although they are made available online after… Read complete articleCounty Budget for 2018

Last Council meeting of 2017

The last Council meeting of 2017 had no major decisions; we did not see the long-awaited waterfront study, the YMCA merger with the CCC is still up in the air and there were no contentious decisions made.  All C.O.W. decisions were implemented without debate except as noted below. But there was a fuss made over Lorraine Brace on the occasion of her retirement as Town Clerk.  This month the Town service to be highlighted will be Lorraine’s responsibility, Legislative Services.  Lorraine spoke about that as the first Agenda item (see below).  Gil Brocanier then made an emotional speech about how he admired her professionalism, helpful attitude and warm smile and wished her a happy retirement.  Later, all the councillors echoed… Read complete articleLast Council meeting of 2017

DBIA Upbeat at AGM

The Board of Cobourg’s Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) reported to their members last night at their Annual General Meeting (AGM).  There were about a dozen members (downtown business owners) in the audience and although they had some concerns, it seemed that the DBIA is in better shape than a year ago.  The board was new at the start of 2017 (see link below to access list of members) and stable.  There were no resignations or criticism of board members. In fact, Council representative Deputy Mayor John Henderson said that the board was “Cobourg’s most improved committee” and that he had “never seen so much cooperation between the Town and the DBIA”.  Mayor Gil Brocanier, who was in the audience,… Read complete articleDBIA Upbeat at AGM

Preserving History Captured by Northumberland Today

Wally Keeler has written a letter to Council asking that they demand that Torstar and Postmedia restore access to the stories of our community no longer available due to their recent closure of 33 newspapers – including Northumberland Today (which has a history going back to 1831).  It will be on the Agenda at Monday’s council meeting. The Library or the Archives or even the Newspaper’s new owner will surely have hard copies for future historians to peruse but Wally’s focus is on the web site and the lost links from Facebook pages and the lost articles posted by local organizations.  Wally is quite eloquent in his plea for support from the Town. He writes: Ever since news went digital… Read complete articlePreserving History Captured by Northumberland Today

Benefit of Sport Tourism to Cobourg in 2017

At the last Committee of the Whole Meeting, Dean Hustwick, Director of Recreation and Culture reported on four major Sporting Events that were hosted in Cobourg and that provided Cobourg with significant economic benefits.  Dean said that the report is a collaborative effort involving several members of his team – both Community Services Manager Chris Elliott and Sports and Events Coordinator Ashley Haynes spoke on the subject.  Chris made it clear that he would continue to look for revenue opportunities and make sure they were then Marketed successfully.   Ashley said that the participants in the 2017 events were strongly encouraged to go out into the community and she knew that they did in fact visit the beach and restaurants –… Read complete articleBenefit of Sport Tourism to Cobourg in 2017

Ongoing Battle to get Parking on Kerr Street

Residents of a Townhouse condo development at the far west end of Kerr Street are unhappy with the Town and with their developer (see links below to earlier reports).  Their homes are on Kerr Street but they are not allowed to park in front because Kerr street is designated as a future major arterial road.  (They are allowed right now but will eventually be barred).  The developer designed their houses with a rear lane and rear garages with a second parking spot in the rear.  But because of a slope they were not told about, access from the garages requires stairs and therefore is not compatible with the limitations of many of the mostly older residents. The residents feel that… Read complete articleOngoing Battle to get Parking on Kerr Street

Fundraising launched for new Northumberland Hospice

In May 2017, Northumberland Community Care announced that a new Facility would be built locally to care for those needing “End of Life Care” (see link below).  The timing was because the Provincial Government announced that they would pay $315,000 annually towards operating costs – enough for 3 of the 6 beds planned. On 22 September 2017, it was announced that Ontario Street in Hamilton Township had been selected as the site and on November 29, the fundraising was officially launched.  The $7 million to be raised will cover the cost of building plus the remainder of operating costs not covered by M.O.H. for the first three years.  At the fundraising launch, campaign co-chairs Gord and Patti Ley said that… Read complete articleFundraising launched for new Northumberland Hospice