Town closes CCC and postpones Municipal Events

John Draper

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Town of Cobourg is postponing all Town-events, programs and classes taking place at the Cobourg Community Centre, Concert Hall at Victoria Hall, Venture13 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre and Victoria Hall. This includes all classes, recreational programs, facility spaces, March Break camps, gymnasiums, rinks and walking spaces. The CCC will be closed effective 8:00 am Friday 13. Minor Hockey will also be suspended.  Full refunds will be issued for all payments that have been received for cancelled programs. Victoria Hall and other Municipal buildings will remain open but citizens are discouraged from gathering there.  As yet there is no word on whether entertainment events booked at Victoria Hall are affected (they do involve gatherings!) –… Read complete articleTown closes CCC and postpones Municipal Events

Town of Cobourg Provides Updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Protocols

John Draper

Usually, for news published on Cobourg News Blog, I take the information from sources and rewrite for clarity, brevity and additional information. But in this case, it seems necessary to pass on the source info without such changes. This ensures that the message is not diluted in any way. Today the Town of Cobourg issued the following: Cobourg, ON (March 11, 2020) – The Town of Cobourg would like to inform residents of the numerous precautions it’s taking across all departments and divisions to prevent against COVID-19 (formerly called novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV) within the corporation itself and its many highly visited facilities. Although the risk of becoming ill from COVID-19 continues to be low in Ontario, the Haliburton, Kawartha,… Read complete articleTown of Cobourg Provides Updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Protocols

A1 Taxi out of Business

John Draper

On 21 February, the Town of Cobourg revoked the taxi licence for A1 Taxi because of undisclosed infractions against the Taxi bylaw No.014-2014. But the owner, Verander Gill, filed an appeal which was heard on Monday afternoon by the full council.  The appeal was chaired by Aaron Burchat in his role as Protection Services Coordinator but most of the meeting was conducted by Town Clerk Brent Larmer.  Although the appeal was not in a courtroom and there were no lawyers present, Brent used his legal knowledge (he’s a qualified para-legal) to present the documented evidence.  He started by quoting laws that gave the Town authority to govern Taxis and continued with documented evidence from Police and Bylaw officer reports showing multiple… Read complete articleA1 Taxi out of Business

Vigil to Remember Overdose Losses

John Draper

On Sunday afternoon in front of Victoria Hall,  Greenwood Coalition held a “community-led vigil for loved ones lost to overdose”. They called it “They Were Here”.  Led by David Sheffield, a steady stream of people spoke of their experiences – there was a lot of emotion and passion.  When I was there around 2:20 pm, there were about 35 people; some spoke and others were simply supportive.  Attendees were invited to “create and hang a flag of hope to commemorate a loved one who has died”. (See photos below).  Apart from talking about their personal experiences, some also spoke of the misunderstanding that the public seems to have.  Councillor Adam Bureau initiated Council’s actions on the opioid crisis and he… Read complete articleVigil to Remember Overdose Losses

Review of Fire Department Efficiencies

John Draper

In 2015, all seven municipalities in Northumberland consolidated their dispatching and contracted with Peterborough Fire Services to provide dispatching of all calls for Fire Department services.  This raised the subject of whether there are other efficiencies to be found although the obvious idea of a single department is unlikely since several Towns are primarily Volunteer operated.  But the Province has now provided $95K in funding to look into “service delivery efficiencies” and the County and Municipalities will now be doing this review.  A steering committee led by Hamilton Township has issued an RFP for a consultant to see what can be done.  All municipalities are represented, including Mike Vilneff, Cobourg’s Fire Chief.  The intent is to create efficiencies and reduce… Read complete articleReview of Fire Department Efficiencies

Coffee with the Police Chief

John Draper

On February 19 Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf issued an invitation to have coffee with him at the Dutch Oven on Wednesday evening, March 4.  Then on February 20, he issued a statement that “Members of the Cobourg Police Service including Officers, Auxiliary Officers, Special Constables and Volunteers will be present throughout the Downtown core on foot for extra visibility.” (See link below). The Dutch Oven event turned out to be mostly a public Q & A session where Paul (he prefers to be called Paul) explained his view of what’s happening in our Town.  His focus was on Downtown (King, Covert, Albert) and the area near Transition House but other concerns were also addressed.  The session was scheduled for 5… Read complete articleCoffee with the Police Chief

Second Year for Cobourg Sport’s Hall of Fame

John Draper

The second eight inductees of the Cobourg and District Sport’s Hall of Fame were announced on Sunday, March 1st  to an audience of about 80 people. The ceremony was held in the Grand Hall of the Cobourg Community Centre CC with MC Joel Scott introducing the board and other speakers; Joel then read out short bios of all the honoured athletes (see below). The display cases were also doubled and as well there were some new exhibits in the existing cases. Other speakers included board president Ross Quigley, Mayor John Henderson and Alderville First Nations Chief Dave Mowat. There are now 19 different sports recognized and 98 organizations represented.  About 1000 memorabilia are available with just some of them housed… Read complete articleSecond Year for Cobourg Sport’s Hall of Fame

Staff Reports on Natural Waterfront Park

John Draper

Last November, Richard Pope (with Margaret Bain) of the Willow Beach Field Naturalists made presentations to four Advisory committees, to Council and to the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority (GRCA) suggesting that a Natural Park should be declared that encompassed the West Harbour, the West Beach, the West Headland and the Ecology Garden.  His idea was referred to Town staff for a report and Dean Hustwick will present that to the Council’s next Committee of the Whole meeting on March 9. In the meantime the GRCA has reported and “do not support the proposal in its current form.”  The short version of Dean’s report would be that the idea is mostly already covered by existing master plans so establishing a new… Read complete articleStaff Reports on Natural Waterfront Park