Category: News 2019

Cannnabis Facility update

John Draper

The Cannabis facility occupying the old Kraft plant is owned and operated by FV Pharma Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of FSD Pharma Inc.   In March 2018, FV Pharma signed a joint venture with Auxly (originally Cannabis Wheaton) to provide finance to FV Pharma in return for streaming rights to 49.9% of the product that was grown in the facility – but this agreement has now been terminated.  It is not known what the financial penalty might be to FV Pharma.  Work on the expansion of the facility was supposed to be completed by December 2018 but has still not been completed.  Information is limited but it seems that FSD Pharma is in turmoil.  CEO Rupert Haynes has been “terminated”… Read complete articleCannnabis Facility update

Sustainability and Advisory Committees

John Draper

In a planned rework of Advisory committees, the concept of Sustainability was moved from the Planning and Sustainability Advisory Committee and incorporated in every committee. This meant that this committee would drop Sustainability from its title and focus on just planning.  Separately, the Environmental/Active Transportation Advisory Committee would be split into two: a Transportation Advisory Committee and an Environmental and Climate Change Advisory Committee. Brent also suggested that a decision on committees could be postponed until after the Strategic Planning sessions. In a follow up, at the Council meeting on February 4, Gigi Ludorf-Weaver proposed some strategic goals that would help establish a “Culture of Sustainability” in the Town.  But later in the meeting, Council approved the new committee structure with… Read complete articleSustainability and Advisory Committees

Notes from First 2019 Budget Meeting

John Draper

Council has now had their first public Budget meeting for 2019 and although the gallery had only one citizen and there was only one media person (me), it was an interesting session.  Maybe a good number were watching online since the sound now works well (as of 10:30 am Feb 6, there were 55 views). This first meeting reviewed budget requests from General Government Services, Planning and Development and Economic Development departments.  The goal for the budget increase for 2019 has been set at 2% – that compares to the recent 2.3% increase approved by the County.  The meeting format was per Committee of the Whole rules so a Q & A Forum was allowed but no-one took advantage of… Read complete articleNotes from First 2019 Budget Meeting

Changes to Cobourg Council meetings

John Draper

On Monday January 28 , there was a public meeting to obtain input from citizens on what they thought about the proposed changes in Council procedures – this was discussed in three posts on this news blog (see links below).  At tonight’s Council meeting, the bylaw to implement the procedures was up for approval and the draft procedure did not reflect any of the changes recommended by citizens.  But a comment on this blog by Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin said that changes can only be by a majority vote of Council. To underline the need to respect the public comments, Simon Chorley made a presentation to Council tonight that listed the key concerns.  When the bylaw came up for approval,… Read complete articleChanges to Cobourg Council meetings

Changes to Council Procedures

John Draper

On Monday January 28, a public meeting was held to accept public input on Council procedures for their meetings.  The original changes were suggested by Town Clerk, Brent Larmer but at the Committee of the Whole on January 7, Council made some changes (see report on 8 January – link below).  The intent was to then listen to public input and perhaps make further changes and present a final version at the Regular Council meeting on February 4.  At the Public meeting, there were 5 written submissions and 5 verbal submissions – details below.  Although there were several suggestions to move the Council time for meetings, the bylaw before Council for approval keeps times unchanged.  However, the Q & A… Read complete articleChanges to Council Procedures

County Eliminates Bulky Waste Voucher

John Draper

On Wednesday 30 January, the County announced that it had approved a budget within their guideline of 2.3% but to do that, they decided to eliminate the Bulky Waste Voucher program.  Each year at about this time, a voucher has been mailed to all Northumberland residences which allowed disposal of up to 100 kilograms of residential waste at no charge. This has a value of $11.50 and it’s estimated that this will save a total of $268,000 – or rather, the County will collect that much instead of providing the service free.  If my math is correct, that means they are now planning to collect up to $11.50 each from more than 23,000 people who would have used the vouchers… Read complete articleCounty Eliminates Bulky Waste Voucher

Poutine Festival Coming to Cobourg

John Draper

Not too long ago, Labour Day weekend was when the Shelter Valley Folk Festival happened but with its shutdown, there is no major event scheduled for that weekend.  So it was an obvious time to stage a Poutine Feast.  At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, Council approved an application by Poutine Feast Ontario Inc. to hold their event in Victoria Park on that weekend.  It will involve ten to fifteen vendors with their food-trucks “each of them offering their own version of the iconic dish”.  Dessert trucks, a kid’s zone and entertainment will also be a part of the offerings.  It’s not licensed and will be free to enter – that presumably means no fence.  It will… Read complete articlePoutine Festival Coming to Cobourg

Water Park may not happen

John Draper

Because of a motion put by Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin, the installation of a Water Park on Cobourg’s Beach was raised at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.  Although Council agreed last year to approve the idea, installation did not happen last year and no contract has yet been signed.  Jason Pulchinski, President of ATL (At the Lake), the distributor of the equipment, made a presentation to Council and triggered a good debate on the subject.  He explained that last year they had tried to partner with the YMCA to provide lifeguards but that did not work out.  They did manage to hire 5 but they needed 10 so that 4 could be on duty at all times.  It was… Read complete articleWater Park may not happen