Tag: County

Update on Brookside

John Draper

As reported earlier, James Bisson gave a presentation at the Community protection and Economic Development Standing Committee on September 4.  He pointed to the fact that there was no County plan for what to do when Brookside was sold – or not.  He asked the Town to address a number of items and he succeeded in getting Council to ask for a report from Staff on these issues (more below).  In the discussion, Mayor Cleveland commented that there has been a lot of talk about what to do about the symptoms (homelessness, increased crime, addictions, overdoses etc.) but there should instead be a focus on the “sickness” – that is, the County’s performance.  He said that Cobourg should be thinking… Read complete articleUpdate on Brookside

Will Encampment Move to a Cobourg Park?

John Draper

With talk of a sale of the Brookside property, people are assuming that the campers will be evicted but are wondering where they will go.  James Bisson will bring this question to the Community Services, Protection, and Economic Development Standing Committee at their meeting on September 4.  Some will no doubt go to the new Transition House due to open in September but others will look for new locations for their tents.  The latest version of Cobourg’s Parks bylaw (022-2016 – see links below) bans tents in Parks with an exception that allows the County CAO to “permit such individuals [in need of shelter] to erect and be within temporary structures, on municipal lands without a permit”. James will be… Read complete articleWill Encampment Move to a Cobourg Park?

County Annual Report 2023

John Draper

What exactly does the County do?  And where do they get their money?  Each year, the County issues an annual report which explains how they are organized, what each department has done in the year, how much was spent and where did the money come from.  The report for 2023 has now been released. Included are detailed financial reports but unless you are an accountant, summaries are easier to understand.  The budget at $213 million is much bigger than Cobourg’s ($42 million); breaking this down: operating cost is $128 million, $9.2 million is for “future strategic and infrastructure needs” and $75.6 million is for “capital and critical infrastructure”.  Taxes bring in $68 million, $60.2 million comes from grants and subsidies… Read complete articleCounty Annual Report 2023

County Communications Master Plan

John Draper

The decline of printed local newspapers does not mean that there is a decline in the public interest in what Governments are doing.  Recognizing this, in 2023, Northumberland County hired Redbrick Communications to produce a “Communications Master Plan”.  This will be presented to the Corporate Support Standing Committee meeting on July 30 for approval at the August 14, 2024 County Council meeting.  The County already makes a significant effort to communicate with the public with a communications team of five employees: a Director (Communications and IT); Manager, Communications & Creative Services; Communications Officer, Capital Projects; Grant Writer; and Specialist, Digital & Document Accessibility.  Although not strongly spelled out, Redbrick rate the current performance highly although they do list improvements that… Read complete articleCounty Communications Master Plan

Pilot of Bus connection to Go station to end

John Draper

For about 20 years, residents of Cobourg and nearby have been asking for a Go Bus service to Toronto.  In 2020, Northumberland County decided to advocate for this and hired AECOM to carry out a business case study. At the time, MPP David Piccini lobbied Metrolinx but they said “that given the length of the route and the relatively low densities, none of the options perform well from a Revenue/Cost ratio stand point. They are modelling around 20% revenue coverage of costs, which puts these options in the lowest performing GO bus route revenue categories.” Then in April 2022 the Province and County announced a trial service – the Durham line – connecting Cobourg and Port Hope to Oshawa Go… Read complete articlePilot of Bus connection to Go station to end

Town and County have 310 Division agreement ready for approval

John Draper

An announcement by the County on Tuesday, June 18, provides details of a proposed agreement between the Town and the County on how the new Transition House at 310 Division should be managed.  There are some significant changes (outlined below) but the Town does not appear to be backing down on the requirements set out in their by-law on the issue.  Also announced was an update on renovations at the facility. However, some will be disappointed that Transition House WILL be relocating to 310 Division and that there is no explicit recognition of community concerns that although there is general sympathy for the homeless, the potential residents of Transition House include drug addicts and others who do not get community… Read complete articleTown and County have 310 Division agreement ready for approval

Statement by Warden Brian Ostrander about recent online commentary

John Draper

In the interest of reporting all sides of a news story, I am reporting on a statement issued by the Warden of Northumberland County about the encampment. It’s good to get an update from the County – the following text is provided unedited from Warden Ostrander’s statement issued at 1:18 pm on June 14. Northumberland continues to face the significant challenge of rising homelessness. Today, like communities across the province, we are witnessing the convergence of multiple crises – an opioid addiction crisis, a housing affordability crisis, and the residual effects of a global pandemic, including a dramatic rise in the overall cost of living. These issues have been building for years, and people have been hard hit. This reality… Read complete articleStatement by Warden Brian Ostrander about recent online commentary

County Report on Homelessness

John Draper

The annual “Housing and Homelessness report” was presented today (June 5) at the Social Services Committee meeting. The report provides details on the number of people looking for affordable housing plus what the County is doing about that.  The report states that “the waitlist for social housing continues to be 10 years in some communities and has grown more than 300% in the last 10 years, with over 1,100 households on the waitlist. In 2023, the average vacancy rate in Northumberland was 1.3%. This vacancy rate is close to the 2023 provincial average of 1.7%.”  The report lists the new housing being built and lists buying 310 Division as an accomplishment but does not mention the encampment.  It’s as if… Read complete articleCounty Report on Homelessness