Cobourg News Blog

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

At Monday’s regular Council meeting, Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin spoke out about the lack of any reports on the status of Cobourg’s Financial status and the impact of Covid-19 on the Town’s Finances.  Without that she said it was very difficult to plan for the future of our Town.  Since her statement was given as part of her “General Government Coordinator report” there was no chance for a rebuttal but no doubt Ian Davey will point to his dual role as Treasurer and Interim CAO.  But you have to wonder why in this age of computers, snapshot reports at quarter end could not be provided in a maximum of a few days.  Businesses do that regularly; why is it so… Read complete articleDeputy Mayor Disappointed with Financial Reports

The good news is that the Council’s agenda now includes a list of unfinished business from previous meetings which is much improved and very comprehensive.  The bad news is that the list is long and many items are overdue.  At Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting the list had 15 items with seven overdue or running late.  At each council meeting, this list is now reviewed with new dates often (but not always) assigned.  No doubt the Covid-19 virus is a major reason for the delays although no specific reasons are provided when the list is reviewed.  The items cover topics ranging from Affordable Housing to Taxi Licensing to Downtown Parking – some have been on the list for well… Read complete articleCouncil’s Unfinished Business

At the start of the what I like to call the “Covid-19 era”, the Town shut Victoria Hall to the public.  They also made Council meetings virtual but now that we have a gradual re-opening of everything, that has changed.  The Committee of the Whole Council meeting on Monday 14 September was “in person” and held in the Concert Hall instead of Council Chambers. With advance notice, the public were admitted.  However, You-Tube streaming was still available so there was no real need to go to the meeting unless you planned to participate with a delegation. Below are some screen grabs taken near the start of the meeting.  From what I could see, apart from Councillors, all but one person… Read complete articleNew Venue for Council Meetings