Category: News 2019

What’s happening about getting a Poet Laureate?

John Draper

Last October, Council initiated setting up an Ad Hoc Committee to decide on who should be appointed to be the Poet Laureate for the next 4 years.  This is needed since Ted Amsden’s 8 year term has expired. Candidates for the citizen position were solicited with four applications received but then nothing happened.  This week, Poet Wally Keeler emailed Mayor John Henderson and other councillors asking “Is there a Poet Laureate Ad Hoc Committee?” and adds a comment: “A bit of openness and transparency is called for here, or some action taken.”  Others copied on the email were supportive.  John Henderson responded and pointed out that the upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting on April 23 has this issue on… Read complete articleWhat’s happening about getting a Poet Laureate?

Police Upgrade Communication with Public

John Draper

Cobourg Police are continuing to improve their transparency and efficiency and for those reasons recently hired Laurie Debattista as their Corporate Communications Coordinator.  As well as freeing up officers from this work, Laurie is also upgrading the process.  As well as being sent out by email, information on activities is now also sent out via Twitter and added to the police web site.  The web site is also being re-vamped with a new version scheduled for this summer. Cobourg News blog does not report on every incident – for that you should follow the Police Twitter account or maybe go to Pete Fisher’s Today’s Northumberland – but sometimes I do report to give an overview on how well our police… Read complete articlePolice Upgrade Communication with Public

William Academy Open House

John Draper

Since William Academy took over the old CDCI West building, there has been interest amongst residents of Cobourg who want more details.  An open house on Saturday April 13 provided information on what it’s currently doing and its future.  The owner, Jeff Weng, is promoting the building’s heritage and CDCI West’s heritage; he is also working hard to strengthen the relationship with Cobourg: Mayor John Henderson spends time monthly with the school and its students.  John likes to recount how he took a group of students for their first visit to a Tim Hortons and all the questions they asked.  The School’s Principal, Louise Nadeau, was coaxed out of retirement after finishing her career in Cobourg.  At the open house,… Read complete articleWilliam Academy Open House

Float your Fanny 2019

John Draper

It was a sunny Spring day and the crowd was big – no exact estimate but I’d say bigger than last year.  The Float your Fanny down the Ganny event was as entertaining as ever and by my count, more spills for canoes than previously and additional drama from the several paddle boards.  I had a good spot for taking videos up until most of the crazy craft came down – my 15 minute video is below.  Although there were lots of spills, the Port Hope Fire department had three pairs of officers who helped many – some needing help but others seemed OK just floating down the Ganny without their canoe or paddle (around 8:10 on the video).  The… Read complete articleFloat your Fanny 2019

Cobourg Civic Awards – 2019

John Draper

Once again I am amazed at the number of talented people in Cobourg who volunteer their time to make Cobourg that much a better place to live.   It’s one of Cobourg’s “feel good” events.  It’s organized by a committee of citizens (see photo) which includes Toni Galea, executive assistant to the Mayor and CAO – she seems to do a lot of the behind the scenes work as did Petra Hartwig before her.  They are helped by a second committee who select recipients of the awards.  This year, the MC was Olinda Casimiro, Director of the AGN.  Awards were handed out by Councillors and Sponsors.  I managed to get photos of all recipients and they are collected in a video… Read complete articleCobourg Civic Awards – 2019

Paying for Sewer Service

John Draper

A lot of people advocate “user pay” – that is, if you use something you should pay for it.  That is difficult for a public beach but is implemented for some roads using tolls.  It is also normal for electricity, gas and water use.  In many municipalities and certainly in Cobourg, your sewer usage is also “user pays”.  But since there is no way to measure waste water, the amount of waste water consumed is assumed to be directly related to the water usage as measured by your water meter.  This is true as long as you don’t use a lot of water on your garden or lawn.  In that case it gets absorbed and does not show up in… Read complete articlePaying for Sewer Service

Citizens Want More Engagement

John Draper

As evidenced by the extensive consultation planned, Mayor John Henderson and other councillors seem determined to engage with citizens on where they should go in the next 4 years. The Strategic plan will define what they hope to accomplish and up until the weekend, there were already 35 written submissions from citizens.  By the time of tonight’s Public meeting, there were two more and there were seven verbal presentations at the meeting – but only about 20 in the gallery.  Although Council is engaging a lot more than previous councils, it seems to not be enough – as well as the usual criticisms of specific plans, the process was also under fire. Ted Williams, Dennis Nabieszko and Keith Oliver (and arguably… Read complete articleCitizens Want More Engagement

Strategic Plan Public Meeting

John Draper

On Monday April 8, Cobourg will have a public meeting to accept comments from residents about the proposed Strategic Plan for the next term of council – 2019 to 2022.  Basically, the Strategic Plan lists what the Council hopes to achieve although it does not specifically address budgets.  Council spent a good day and a half in February developing the plan – see the report in the link below.  Since then, the Town’s web site has had the plan available for comments.  The Agenda for Monday’s meeting lists 35 written submissions. I have listed all of them below (including links) plus a summary of each.  Many of them object to even thinking about adding boat slips in the West Harbour,… Read complete articleStrategic Plan Public Meeting