Since 2012, Cobourg has used software from iCompass to  organize council meetings and Town documents such as by-laws and minutes but new software from eSCRIBE will be used starting 26 October.  This has advantages in staff efficiencies and accuracy (see list of advantages below) but although the basic cost is lower by about $2K, when additional features are added, the cost increases from $11.6K per year to $19.6K per year.  In Brent’s recommendation to Council on 27 July, he listed 11 steps to create an Agenda with iCompass versus 5 for eSCRIBE.  Minutes are also quicker to prepare. All existing files – including bylaws back to 1972 – will be transferred to the new system and existing links to the… Read complete articleCouncil Meeting Software Upgraded

Council meetings are now held in the Concert Hall in Victoria Hall  with a limited gallery.  Most now watch it from home via the Town’s You Tube site which has worked well so far – except tonight (Monday October 5).  Right from the start, there was no sound at the Committee of the Whole meeting.  The slides from the first two items on the Agenda were shown but there was no sound so no comments or questions were heard.  The first two items were presentations that would normally be on a blog post – but not yet!  Brent was introducing escribe which will be replacing iCompass as the Software managing Council meetings (stay tuned for a Post on this tomorrow)… Read complete articleTechnical problem at Council Meeting

Brock Township announced on Tuesday Sept 29 that Cobourg’s Dean Hustwick is leaving his position as Director of Community Services and going to Brock Township as their CAO.  He will start in his new position on November 2.  Dean joined Cobourg’s staff on April 4, 2016 with his previous position being COO of Sport Alliance Ontario.  The announcement says that Dean is an accomplished and highly skilled leader with a reputation for transforming operations, driving innovation and improving organizational performance. Brock Township is located approx. on the east shoreline of Lake Simcoe with major Towns being Beaverton and Cannington.  Population in 2016 was 11,642. It is the smallest Township (by population) in Durham region. Dean is quoted as saying: “I… Read complete articleDean Hustwick leaves for CAO job in Brock

Launched at a public meeting on December 5, 2019, the Affordable and Rental Housing Community Improvement Plan provides a legal basis for the Town to subsidize housing.  On Monday September 28, another Public meeting (chaired by Nicole Beatty) explained to Council and the public what was being proposed and asked for public feedback.  The “in-person” audience was about a dozen but more would have watched proceedings via You-Tube streaming. Public meetings allow for citizens to support or oppose the idea but in this case, I counted seven presenters, all in favour.  Nobody objected although as Keith Oliver pointed out, this is only a framework or pathway.  Council has yet to approve it and allocate budget.  Although subsidized housing is a… Read complete articleCIP Public Meeting

The agenda for the Committee of the Whole Council Meeting on October 5 includes a report from Treasurer Ian Davey that provides details of the financials for the period to June 30, 2020.  The usual format indicates how much of the budget is left for Revenues and Expenditures but for comparison purposes, he includes the 2019 report for a similar period.  As expected, the numbers are heavily impacted by the effect of the pandemic but revenue is also severely impacted by unusually high successful tax appeals resulting in tax refunds of $1.3M.  Of this, $600K hits Cobourg.  The biggest amounts go to Home Depot and Walmart who had major refunds from 2017, 2018 and 2019.  Surprisingly, the net impact on… Read complete articleFinancials for First Half of 2020 Now Available