At the Committee of the Whole (CoW) Meeting on Monday, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Tracey Vaughan provided her recommendations for implementing the changes and additions proposed by consultant KPMG.  As mentioned in a previous post, these changes would cost around $1M and are major changes in structure and ways of working.  Tracey delivered her detailed report in time for Monday’s CoW meeting and for 2022 budget deliberations but despite a closed session meeting before the CoW meeting, Council were not ready to discuss it and voted to defer discussion to two more meetings on Thursday October 28: a closed session meeting at 4:00 pm and an open session at 6:00 pm.  My quick look at the published draft budget seems… Read complete articleSpecial Council Meeting to discuss Organization Review

In July 2020, an application was made to convert the old Medical centre at 316 King East (opposite the High School) for use as a live-in rehabilitation centre. Because of its proximity to the school and because zoning for this use was not clear, a decision was deferred until zoning could be reviewed.  Meridian Planning consultants were hired to do that review and they made a presentation to Council in July this year – see the link below.  Before the new by-law is drafted and presented to Council for approval, a Public meeting was scheduled for October 18.  Only two individuals asked questions at that meeting and both were concerned with the implication that the people using the centres were… Read complete articleRe-zoning for Treatment Centres

At each Council meeting, a list of unfinished business is provided but is rarely discussed.  Many topics are way past their due date and in general, the list illustrates the problem highlighted by KPMG in their organization review: that Staff do not have the capacity to keep up with new tasks given to them by Council. The full tracking table for the October 25 Committee of the Whole meeting is available from the Links below but this post will provide a summary – including some additional information not provided on the tracking table. The good news is that the list is getting shorter (11 items – with 2 completed) compared to 6 months ago when there were 14 items with… Read complete articleCouncil Record on Unfinished Business is Improving

If Port Hope’s Capitol can re-open for live shows and Film Festivals, why can’t Cobourg’s Concert Hall?  Prompted by someone wanting a wedding on November 27 in Victoria Hall, Monday’s Committee of the Whole Council (CoW) meeting agreed with five delegations that re-opening on November 1st would be a good idea so a motion was passed to do just that.  Re-opening would include the bar and Box-office and would use two of three staff who had been temporarily re-assigned – there are no plans to hire.  The Concert Hall Capacity is 160 but Covid-19 restrictions would limit occupancy to 50% of this – masks would also be required as well as proof of double vaccinations and recording of names.  The… Read complete articleRe-opening of Concert Hall

Over the past 12 months, the Town of Cobourg has commissioned studies of Service Levels (What the Town Does) and Organization (How the Town does it).  Both were done by consultant KPMG with the Service level report being delivered last November.  At Monday’s Committee of the Whole Meeting, Council received the report on Organization review in three parts: a full confidential report received in closed session, a Public report available to the public (see link below) and a presentation to Council by the consultant in open session (also in link below).  An initial early review was presented a few weeks ago and this highlighted some problems such as morale, poor management of priorities and poor delivery of services.  The “final”… Read complete articleOver $1 Million Tax Increase for Organization Changes