Category: News 2017

Cobourg Budget Performance to End of Q3

John Draper

At the Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, Treasurer Ian Davey will present a report on spending in the first three quarters of 2017 compared to budget.  Council directed in a motion on May 29 that these reports be posted on the Town’s web site but they can only be found in the Town’s Portal, not the main web site.  Details on both the Operating Budget and the Capital Budget are provided – the operating budget is looking OK but very little of the Capital budget has been spent so far this year.  Below are highlights of both – note that the “Revenue” reported is not tax revenue but could be called “other revenue”. Operating Budget Summary –… Read complete articleCobourg Budget Performance to End of Q3

Northam Industrial Park Mortgage Almost Paid Off

John Draper

In December, 2002 the Town purchased Northam industrial park for $13.7M, took out a 15year $14M mortgage and took possession in March, 2003. The site is 121 acres and has 17 industrial buildings which cover more than 836,000 sq. ft.  Since then, although over $13M has been spent on Capital improvements, the mortgage has been paid down and $5M has been paid to the town by way of dividends.  The good news is that in March 2018 the mortgage will be fully paid up and the annual dividend from the park will increase by about $1.25M per year ($940K in 2017).  Over the 14 years, the annual dividend has paid for a variety of things – including long term debt,… Read complete articleNortham Industrial Park Mortgage Almost Paid Off

Venture 13 Tenders come in Lower than Estimate

John Draper

The Venture 13 project to house several entities in Cobourg was approved by Council in May 2017 and a progress report was presented on 20 November 2017 (details at links below).  Tenders were issued for the work on October 24 with a closing date of November 16 – later extended to November 29.  The construction costs for part 1 and 2 of the project were estimated at $1,263,534 for part 1 and $657,635 for part 2 for a total of $1,921,169.  But the lowest cost tender from Dalren Ltd. was $1,520,000 for both part 1 and part 2 – this tender was “found to be complete and the contractor is known to the Town as a contractor that carries out good… Read complete articleVenture 13 Tenders come in Lower than Estimate

Updated Rules for Events in Parks

John Draper

At a meeting on Tuesday Nov 28, the Town announced revised rules for applications to hold outdoor events – e.g. the Rib Fest, Wine and Ale in the Park, etc.  Fire safety rules were enhanced and existing rules will be more strictly enforced.  Deputy Chief Paul Vandegraaf said that they will deploy more officers to enforce rules such as liquor infractions but that Special Constables will be mostly used for this purpose. There are currently 12 Special Constables but this number will increase to 15 shortly. Bylaw enforcement officers and Fire Department Officers will also be deployed. It seems that some requirements that have been in place for some time have not been enforced but they now will be. For… Read complete articleUpdated Rules for Events in Parks

Patrick Brown Starts Election Campaign in Port Hope

John Draper

A few days ago, Patrick Brown, the leader of the Provincial Conservatives, released his election platform and his first stop on his campaign tour was on Monday night in Port Hope.  Organized by the Progressive Conservative candidate, David Piccini, the Town Hall meeting was short, open to everyone and NOT a fundraiser.  The meeting was in the gym at the Port Hope High School and was well organized with a full house of about 150 people. Patrick spoke about his “People’s Guarantee” and kept the tone constructive with little of the negativity we associate with politicians.  His platform has five points and after explaining those in some detail, he opened up the floor for questions. Most of the questions were… Read complete articlePatrick Brown Starts Election Campaign in Port Hope

Murdoch Mysteries Filming back in Town

John Draper

On Monday this week, there were a whole lot of trucks and a pile of people in Town working on the filming for Murdoch Mysteries. There were two filming locations: the West Beach and Third Street adjacent to Victoria Hall.  The parking lot on Second Street was reserved for the filming team, Third Street was closed from King to Albert and the West Beach Boardwalk was “closed”. Residents were in fact allowed to go on the boardwalk but would be asked to wait and not intrude during actual filming.  Photos below give an idea of the activity.  Hopefully some of the businesses in Town benefited,  e.g. the restaurants.  West Beach filming featured a horse, an old car and a temporary… Read complete articleMurdoch Mysteries Filming back in Town

Northumberland Today to Shut Down

John Draper

A press release today reported that Torstar (owner of Northumberland News) and PostMedia (Owner of Northumberland Today) have swapped a collection of newspapers – mostly in Ontario. They also announced that most of the exchanged Newspapers will be shut down and although dates for ceasing publication are not clear, it was explicitly announced that Northumberland Today would be shut down “effective today”. In total, the closures will result in the loss of approximately 244 jobs. Since Northumberland News was not swapped and since it was not included in the papers to be shut down, it seems that the move is a way of consolidating in various markets so Cobourg will have only one newspaper and that will be Northumberland News…. Read complete articleNorthumberland Today to Shut Down

Cobourg Alive for Lights-on

John Draper

Cobourg kicked off the Christmas season on Friday by turning on 130,000 lights in Rotary Park and along the waterfront. Afterwards, there was a party on King Street with live music, vendors and Santa. Starting at 6:30 with a ceremony in front of Victoria Hall, a large crowd then moved to the waterfront and with a countdown, the lights were turned on at 7:00pm. To the surprise of many (including me), there was a short fireworks display to mark the occasion. Soon after there was a live band on King Street, horse drawn wagon rides through the display and a few vendors on Second Street – although they were not there earlier. See the photos below. The DBIA also produced… Read complete articleCobourg Alive for Lights-on