Category: News 2020

Transition House expansion into CCI

John Draper

Covid-19 has meant that Transition House has been “unable to operate at full capacity while meeting public health guidelines” but the Ford Government is supporting a local move to expand the capacity using space at the Cobourg Collegiate Institute (CCI).  This is possible because schools are closed until April 5 and perhaps longer.  The temporary shelter is the first of its kind in Ontario and came about because of work by MPP David Piccini coordinating the County, the School board, the HKPR Health unit and Transition House. This follows the closing of the Police Station Comfort centre because of Covid-19 concerns.  Bob Sanderson, Warden, Northumberland County said “In this time of uncertainty, residents can be assured that public organizations and… Read complete articleTransition House expansion into CCI

Update from Cobourg News Blog

John Draper

The news scene in Cobourg has been dominated lately by the Covid-19 Virus epidemic and simultaneously Cobourg News Blog is experiencing technical problems so comments are mostly not possible. The Covid-19 page is being updated several times per day as things happen – but some people wait for the news email so this post provides a summary for them. With many of the businesses on King Street now closed (primarily Restaurants and bars), and others heeding the call to stay home, parking is easy and it’s easy to achieve the recommended social distance.  Lineups (e.g. at a bank) are short.  Last Thursday and Friday, supermarkets (and their parking lots) were crowded with people buying toilet rolls and hand sterilizer so they are… Read complete articleUpdate from Cobourg News Blog

Last Council meeting in March

John Draper

At the Council meeting on March 16, Councillors decided to cancel the following meeting scheduled for March 30 so that the next meeting will be April 6 which is about the date when most of the Covid-19 restrictions will either stop or be renewed.  At the March 16 meeting, Interim CAO Ian Davey reported on what the Town has been doing – most of which has been already reported publicly.  There was nobody in the public gallery and no media were there – no doubt they heeded the advice to watch the meeting online.  But Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf was there and in response to questions from Councillor Emily Chorley, spoke about how the Police were responding, particularly in regard… Read complete articleLast Council meeting in March

More Funding for an Efficiency Review

John Draper

The County recently received funding from the Province to find efficiencies in the multiple Fire Departments in the County (see report in link below) and at the Committee of the Whole meeting on 9 March 2020, Town Clerk Brent Larmer announced that the Town itself had received a grant of $86,496 from the Province to do a review of “service delivery” so as to achieve cost savings and efficiencies.  Brent’s memo to Council said that “This Provincial program [Ontario’s new Municipal Modernization Program] is intended to help municipalities become more efficient and modernize service delivery while protecting front line jobs.”  The report must be made available to the public by September 18, 2020.  The work will be done by the… Read complete articleMore Funding for an Efficiency Review

First Confirmed Case of Covid-19 at NHH

John Draper

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit today confirmed the first positive case of COVID-19 in the region. The affected individual is a woman in her 60s who is a resident of Northumberland County. The individual was seen at the Northumberland Hills Hospital on Wednesday, March 11 after presenting with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection and travel to Spain and Portugal. The woman had travelled on Air Transat flight 337 from Lisbon, Portugal to Toronto on March 6, 2020. The patient was discharged home and remains in self-isolation with follow up from the HKPR District Health Unit. Health Unit nurses have been in contact with the woman and are working with her to identify anyone she may have… Read complete articleFirst Confirmed Case of Covid-19 at NHH

Town closes CCC and postpones Municipal Events

John Draper

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Town of Cobourg is postponing all Town-events, programs and classes taking place at the Cobourg Community Centre, Concert Hall at Victoria Hall, Venture13 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre and Victoria Hall. This includes all classes, recreational programs, facility spaces, March Break camps, gymnasiums, rinks and walking spaces. The CCC will be closed effective 8:00 am Friday 13. Minor Hockey will also be suspended.  Full refunds will be issued for all payments that have been received for cancelled programs. Victoria Hall and other Municipal buildings will remain open but citizens are discouraged from gathering there.  As yet there is no word on whether entertainment events booked at Victoria Hall are affected (they do involve gatherings!) –… Read complete articleTown closes CCC and postpones Municipal Events

Town of Cobourg Provides Updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Protocols

John Draper

Usually, for news published on Cobourg News Blog, I take the information from sources and rewrite for clarity, brevity and additional information. But in this case, it seems necessary to pass on the source info without such changes. This ensures that the message is not diluted in any way. Today the Town of Cobourg issued the following: Cobourg, ON (March 11, 2020) – The Town of Cobourg would like to inform residents of the numerous precautions it’s taking across all departments and divisions to prevent against COVID-19 (formerly called novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV) within the corporation itself and its many highly visited facilities. Although the risk of becoming ill from COVID-19 continues to be low in Ontario, the Haliburton, Kawartha,… Read complete articleTown of Cobourg Provides Updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Protocols

A1 Taxi out of Business

John Draper

On 21 February, the Town of Cobourg revoked the taxi licence for A1 Taxi because of undisclosed infractions against the Taxi bylaw No.014-2014. But the owner, Verander Gill, filed an appeal which was heard on Monday afternoon by the full council.  The appeal was chaired by Aaron Burchat in his role as Protection Services Coordinator but most of the meeting was conducted by Town Clerk Brent Larmer.  Although the appeal was not in a courtroom and there were no lawyers present, Brent used his legal knowledge (he’s a qualified para-legal) to present the documented evidence.  He started by quoting laws that gave the Town authority to govern Taxis and continued with documented evidence from Police and Bylaw officer reports showing multiple… Read complete articleA1 Taxi out of Business