In September 2018, County Council approved a joint submission with Alderville First Nation to host the 2019 Ontario Indigenous Summer Games.  Applications were submitted to the Aboriginal Sport & Wellness Council of Ontario (ASWCO) by the deadline date of September 28, 2018 and applicants were to be advised of their success (or otherwise) by November 2018.  But notifications have not happened – the ASWCO web site says: “The bid process is now closed, and the Ontario Indigenous Summer Games Bid Committee is currently in the process of conducting site visits and scoring communities on the bid matrix.”  So now the County and Alderville First Nation are withdrawing their application since there is now insufficient time to prepare.  The cost of… Read complete articleSubmission to Host Indigenous Summer Games Withdrawn

At the first meeting of the new Northumberland County Council on December 12, newly elected Mayors will be on board.  As well as Cobourg’s John Henderson, others on Council will be: William Cane (Hamilton – new),  Robert Crate (Trent Hills), John Logel (Alnwick-Haldimand), Mandy Martin (Cramahe – new), Brian Ostrander (Brighton – new), Robert Sanderson (Port Hope).  They will be asked to receive the budget for 2019 including the county’s levy increase – that’s a polite name for tax increase.  In addition to the 2019 budget, they will also see a 10 year Financial plan showing expected budgets to 2028.  The next County Council meeting will be on January 30 and it’s expected to get approved then – that’s months… Read complete articleFirst County Council Meeting with new Members

Starting September 25th and continuing until the end of February, 2019, two groups of 100 homes in the East end of Cobourg will participate in a pilot project to determine the parameters and viability of recycling glass in separate bins.  Yellow bins will be issued to these homes and they will be asked to use them for the bottles or jars now put in with other recyclables. This is separate and additional to the planned twin bins for recyclables and separate collection of organic waste planned to be implemented 1 Sept 2019 (see link below).  The pilot project is required so that the Waste Management people at the County can learn just what the volume would be and whether it is… Read complete articlePilot Project for Recycling glass

With an election due in October, Cobourg Council recently went through a long process to review Council Salaries but finally decided to reject the Ad Hoc Committee recommendations and approved significant increases.  Now the County is recommending increases too.  They have not appointed a citizen committee but instead Staff are making recommendations at the County Council meeting on July 18 and the increases will be substantial.  Since the county councillors are in fact the Mayors of each of the constituent municipalities, the total salary for Cobourg’s Mayor will be significantly higher in 2019 than in 2018.  Other provisions of the proposed new bylaw include an annual CPI adjustment, an increase in allowed expenses for conferences and an implementation of the… Read complete articleCounty Councillors to Get Pay Increase

Effective September 1, 2019, the County intends to make major changes to its recycling and waste collection program.  Instead of one type of recyclable waste, there will be two: paper and containers. In addition, organic waste will be collected separately. Residents will be given blue, grey and green boxes.  It will get complicated so expect a major educational program.  The motivation for the dual-stream recycling is the cost of recycling when it’s contaminated with non-recyclable material.  Currently in Northumberland County, contamination of recyclables is around 20-25% – with dual stream, it can go as low as 3%.  Because of this contamination, the price paid for recycled paper has dropped from $100 per metric ton to $5 per metric ton. The… Read complete articleChanges coming to re-cycling in 2019