Category: News 2019

New Police Officer and Weekly Report

John Draper

Last week was eventful for Cobourg’s Police Service.  They now officially have a new Chief (Paul VandeGraaf) and on 19 August Abigail Amos was sworn in as a regular Constable; she had been a Special Constable since 2017. Her swearing in took place at the Ontario Court of Justice – see photo below.  Chief VandeGraaf said “We pride ourselves on hiring the right people for the right job and it was clear that Constable Amos was perfect for the job and we’re proud to have her as a member of our complement.”  On August 1st, Abigail completed a grueling 13-week program at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer along with 444 others.  On a side note, you may be interested… Read complete articleNew Police Officer and Weekly Report

Andrew Scheer Campaigns in Cobourg

John Draper

It was a big event for Conservative Party candidate Philip Lawrence – Andrew Scheer visited Cobourg.  It started with some people gathering at Philip’s office on King Street at around 6:00pm last night – then everyone walked to the Lions’ Pavilion in Victoria Park.  At around 6:30, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer arrived and gave a short speech to the crowd.  His first comment was to answer the question – “what’s it like to have a 5th child?”  He quipped “picture yourself drowning and someone tosses you a baby!”.  He then went on with campaign comments starting with “We can’t afford another 4 years of Justin Trudeau”.  He said that Justin was not as advertised.  He talked about some of his… Read complete articleAndrew Scheer Campaigns in Cobourg

Province Contributes to Cobourg and Port Hope Transit

John Draper

At an announcement on Friday (16 August), MPP David Piccini said that the Provincial Government will provide $413K funding to Cobourg’s Transit and $90K funding to Port Hope’s.  Cobourg will use the funds to help replace three buses and Port Hope will upgrade their Transit accessibility.  Over the past several months, Port Hope and Cobourg have been holding discussions on how to link their transit systems to gain efficiencies and better interoperability.  John Henderson said that this funding will go a long way to helping connect the two Communities.  Both Mayors (John Henderson and Bob Sanderson) and the Warden (John Logel) were at the announcement together with Councillors Brian Darling and Adam Bureau.  Additional funding is expected (hoped for?) from… Read complete articleProvince Contributes to Cobourg and Port Hope Transit

New Recycling Programs Postponed

John Draper

Northumberland County has advised that “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the collection contractor will not be able to offer the new programs starting in September as originally planned.”  This is especially important for the green bins – do not use the new green bin for food waste until December 2nd, 2019.  Instead you can continue to use a maximum of three garbage (black) bags instead of the new 2 bag limit.  However, you should use the new Blue and Grey boxes although their contents will initially go into the trucks together.  Meanwhile, using the boxes means fewer plastic bags in the waste system. Delivery of bins and boxes continues: All Green Bins are anticipated to be delivered by the end of… Read complete articleNew Recycling Programs Postponed

August 12 Council Meeting

John Draper

Presumably to reduce summer workload for Councillors and Town Staff, in each of July and August, only one day is set aside to have council meetings.  So on August 12, there were two meetings back to back: a Committee of the Whole meeting and a Regular meeting.  As you might expect a good number of decisions were made – this News blog has already reported on some of these but there are more.  Already reported are 1) acceptance for review of the Coast Guard’s Site plan for a new building; 2) a decision to reimburse William Street brewery for over-charging by LUSI; 3) the publication of the Work Plan to accomplish the Strategic Plan (more on this below) and 4)… Read complete articleAugust 12 Council Meeting

Cobourg’s Bang the Table goes Online

John Draper

Well, they have a better name for it but “Bang the Table” is the name of the software first mentioned by John Henderson in his election campaign a year ago.  It provides for an online forum so that citizens can “Have their Say”.  The idea is that citizens will participate in surveys, provide comments on projects and provide “stories” that they want to share.  There is now a new web site called engagecobourg.ca and there are currently two “projects” up for comment: Waterfront Plan – Campground; Waterfront Plan – East Pier.  In addition, there is “Win a Google Home Mini” which is a competition to encourage people to register. You need to register to participate; if you want to comment… Read complete articleCobourg’s Bang the Table goes Online

Dressler House to get Expanded Museum

John Draper

At Monday’s Committee of the Whole Council meeting, Marie Dressler Foundation (MDF) chair Rick Miller presented plans to expand the existing Museum at Dressler house to include two other Canadian female Oscar winners: Mary Pickford and Norma Shearer.  Rick said that he had firm commitments from partners in the Venture who would supply material for the museum and assist with marketing.  To proceed, Rick wanted the Town to revise the existing lease from just a part of Dressler House to include the entire building.  Some councillors were concerned that the Cultural Plan was not yet complete but Nicole and Adam asked whether there could be any better use than the museum proposed. Background Dressler House was built around 1840 and… Read complete articleDressler House to get Expanded Museum

Work Plan for Town Staff to 2022

John Draper

At the beginning of their term, Council produced a Strategic Plan which outlined their goals for their term. It was finally approved at a Council meeting on 29 April 2019; the copy on the Town’s web site is an earlier draft – see the link below for the final version.  When the plan was approved, council asked that the CAO report on “work, costs, timelines and Division/ Department resources” to implement the plan.  At the Council meeting on 12 August, that report will be provided although there is minimal cost information.  However, it is a useful roadmap of what Town staff see as the work that Council has asked of them over the next few years.  The original document uses… Read complete articleWork Plan for Town Staff to 2022