Sunshine List – Local Highlights

John Draper

A few days ago, the Ontario Government published the annual “Sunshine List” – that’s where they name every person employed by a Government agency who made $100,000 salary or more in 2021.  It’s justified as being information that should be available to taxpayers who ultimately fund these salaries. They are after all,  “Public Servants”.  There are 244,390 names on the list and it’s easy for interesting facts to get lost.  I have extracted the people who are working for municipalities in Northumberland County and this reduces the list to a manageable 167.  Below are some things we can learn from that list – but note that I focus on job title and not names.  The full list is public so… Read complete articleSunshine List – Local Highlights

Is Cobourg’s Engagement Policy Working?

John Draper

The Town of Cobourg prides itself on its engagement with residents but it has problems.  Currently there is no-one in the position of communications manager – at least not officially.  Ashley Purdy had the job for 10 years but recently moved to the HKPR District Health Unit where she goes by the name Ashley Beaulac.  But she’s still helping out at the Town so she’s still listed as the Town’s media contact – and there’s no visible active recruitment effort to replace her.  Recently, Cobourg citizen Ted Williams wrote to Council with concerns about the Town’s Complaint Policy.  It was shown on the Council’s Agenda for March 14 – item 16.2 but as usual with correspondence, the Town simply accepted… Read complete articleIs Cobourg’s Engagement Policy Working?

Update on Memorial Arena Re-Purposing

John Draper

The Cobourg Community Centre opened in 2011 with two ice pads and made the Jack Heenan and Memorial Arenas on Furnace Street redundant.  The newer Jack Heenan Arena was taken over by the West Northumberland Curling Club and in 2019 the Memorial Arena was shut down. I believe it was Cobourg’s first publicly owned Arena. It’s now 70 years old – it was opened in January 1950 but a fire in 1953 closed it until it was rebuilt in 1954. In 2019, staff thought that the Cultural Plan might suggest uses but that didn’t happen so eventually an Ad Hoc Committee was formed to suggest what might happen to it.  (By-Law 021-2021 was passed 20 September 2021). See links below… Read complete articleUpdate on Memorial Arena Re-Purposing

Police Report for 2021

John Draper

For the last couple of years, Cobourg Police have provided glossy reports with information about their performance.  The report for 2021 was released yesterday and the numbers look good.  Major achievements reported for the year are the hiring of a chief Financial Officer and a Deputy Chief plus the decision to implement body-worn cameras.  Mixed in with all the “feel-good” talk and photos, some key statistics are provided.  There are now 35 uniform members (same as last year), 26 special constables (up from 20 last year) and 11 Auxiliary (volunteers – down from 18 last year).  Calls for service dropped to 10,782 from 10,994 and 11,391 in 2019. The total operating budget of $8.8M was up 9% from 2020 but… Read complete articlePolice Report for 2021

Council Approves New Taxi Fares

John Draper

In January 2020, Council approved new rates for taxi-fares – but they were only a minor change.  The senior’s discount was reduced from around 30% to 10% and the wait charge no longer required being stopped for 2 minutes.  But at Monday’s regular Council meeting, Kelly Paton, owner of Cobourg Cabs, made a passionate plea for an increase in fares.  She said it was not to make her rich but a matter of survival.  She said she took only $100 a week in wages for herself.  She said that she employed 9 drivers with 3 licensed cabs.  The increased cost of insurance, increases in the minimum wage and currently high gas prices made her business not viable.  Choices are increased… Read complete articleCouncil Approves New Taxi Fares

Downtown Commercial Property Update

John Draper

Cobourg’s Real Estate market has been volatile – especially on the residential side (see link below) – and Commercial properties are no exception.  Despite Covid, sales are happening – some quickly and some slowly. Unless you are in Real Estate, it’s impossible to keep close tabs on what’s happening but some highlights of the Downtown market are worth looking at. I’ve also included some information on properties that have sold although details are not generally publicly available. Some sales are of the building, some of the business and some both. Although my focus is on Downtown, there is not much happening elsewhere anyway.  Note that market information (“on market for x days”) comes from web site realtor.ca – properties could have been listed… Read complete articleDowntown Commercial Property Update

Council Salaries Debated

John Draper

When the subject of Council Salaries came up at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, Councillors were initially not in agreement.  Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin made a motion that seemed to end discussion but was controversial.  The motion (see link below) would mean that all councillors would get a $2000 increase in the next term of Council BUT the extra amounts ($6.8K) paid to the Mayor and Councillor Burchat for their participation on the Police Board would be stopped since there is no other payment for participation on Advisory Committees. The net budget impact would be zero. But other Councillors were not happy with this idea; the previous idea of an ad hoc committee was not favoured; instead the CAO confirmed that… Read complete articleCouncil Salaries Debated

Harbour Update

John Draper

It’s somewhat confusing but there are two major Harbour projects being discussed at Council and they both get mentioned at next week’s CoW meeting.  The first is fixing the harbour walls and breakwaters for a total of $12.8M and the second is rehabilitation of the East Pier (budget estimate for 2024 is $3.6M) – that is, to make it an attractive place.  Work on the East Pier rehabilitation cannot start until at least the harbour walls and East Breakwater work is done.  The two consultants involved are making presentations:  Shoreplan is providing a walls and breakwaters project update which is essentially the same as provided in the Engage Cobourg Survey information and reported here on 29 January – see link… Read complete articleHarbour Update