Sometimes, not much happens at Council meetings – an example was last night’s. Arguably, the only item taxpayers would care about was an update on negotiations about the new Transition House location – 310 Division. As reported previously, the intent is to end up with a three way agreement between Transition House, the County and the Town and a draft agreement was provided that went a long way towards what was wanted. Written by County CAO Jennifer Moore, and reflecting her discussions with the Town’s CAO Tracey Vaughan, there were two contentious points beyond Tracey’s responsibility: 1) A request to repeal the recently passed licensing by-law and 2) the agreement would terminate “if the Town makes efforts to regulate shelters through any other bylaw or permitting process.” These would need to be addressed by Council.
The County asked that the bylaw be at least delayed until an agreement had been reached but Council declined to do that – so the licensing bylaw reported here is now in effect.
The draft agreement is long and can be downloaded here but as usual, I’ll list the highlights.
There are four parts:
Northumberland County commitments from Transition House management.
- Provide wrap-around services
- Pets allowed and governed per Town by-Law
- Transition House will be a Low Barrier Shelter with a code of conduct including complying with the Town’s Nuisance Bylaw. That includes a prohibition on “the unlawful use, sale, furnishing, or distribution of alcoholic beverages or controlled or illegal substances;”
- A safe injection site on premises will be prohibited.
- A Community Liaison Committee will be established with representation, at a minimum, from the Town of Cobourg, community, and County.
Direct Northumberland County commitments
- Review use of “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design”
- Expand existing security patrols of County facilities to include 310 Division St. Patrols are generally limited to overnight hours and risk-based scheduling and will periodically observe and report activities on the site.
- Commitment to 24/7 onsite security for the first year of operation.
Town of Cobourg commitments
These are the two items not agreed by the Town – at least not yet.
- Agrees to the repeal of the Emergency Sheltering bylaw before this agreement is in effect.
- Agrees that this agreement will terminate if the Town makes efforts to regulate shelters through any other bylaw or permitting process.
Commitments by both the County and Town
- The Town and County will discuss potential cost sharing where the Town can demonstrate increasing and excessive costs directly caused by operations at 310 Division St.
There was no discussion by Councillors or the Mayor other than the Mayor’s statement that there is no need to repeal the Licensing by-Law. This is obviously a sore point with the County. Negotiations will continue but it seems likely that some will be in closed sessions at both the town and the County.
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