Tag: County

Now we have a Dumping Problem

John Draper

The County’s Dumps (now called Community Recycling Centres or CRC’s) have been closed for a while and selfish residents have taken to dumping their garbage in Parks, streets and alleys. The good news is that effective next week, the CRCs will reopen although they will have restrictions.  The Town of Cobourg issued a notice yesterday reminding residents that “Northumberland County and Town of Cobourg Bylaw Enforcement Officers and the Cobourg Police Service will be fining anyone caught illegally dumping. Common areas for dumping will be monitored on a regular basis. Illegal dumpers can face a minimum fine of $105 or a maximum fine of $5,000.”  Downtown store owners complained during their recent meeting that there was a lot of illegal… Read complete articleNow we have a Dumping Problem

Hefty fines possible for failing to self-isolate

John Draper

Most of us will have ventured out into the new world of social distancing and staying home but most of us are not infected nor mandated to self-isolate.  But Dr. Lynn Noseworthy, Medical Officer of Health for the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit says they have “heard from many people that there are others who have returned from travel or been confirmed to have COVID-19 and are seen outside of their home, shopping or visiting friends”.  Since this is a serious risk to the community, the HKPR District Health Unit today (April 14) issued a Class Section 22 Order with a penalty of up to $5,000 a day.  The order requires that anyone who has been diagnosed with… Read complete articleHefty fines possible for failing to self-isolate

Cobourg in Partial Lockdown

John Draper

With most stores closed, all entertainment closed, most restaurants doing takeout only, many businesses sending their workers to work from home and others encouraged to stay at home, Cobourg is in virtual lockdown.  I ventured out today (it was a glorious day!) and looked at what’s happening Downtown, at the Mall and at No-Frills.  The first thing you notice is that there’s no problem getting parking anywhere – although it’s free on municipal meters and parking lots.  The next thing is that since stores and banks are limiting the number who can be inside at one time, there are orderly queues outside. One example was a bit strange: Staples looked closed but on closer inspection they had a sign that… Read complete articleCobourg in Partial Lockdown

First Confirmed Case of Covid-19 at NHH

John Draper

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit today confirmed the first positive case of COVID-19 in the region. The affected individual is a woman in her 60s who is a resident of Northumberland County. The individual was seen at the Northumberland Hills Hospital on Wednesday, March 11 after presenting with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection and travel to Spain and Portugal. The woman had travelled on Air Transat flight 337 from Lisbon, Portugal to Toronto on March 6, 2020. The patient was discharged home and remains in self-isolation with follow up from the HKPR District Health Unit. Health Unit nurses have been in contact with the woman and are working with her to identify anyone she may have… Read complete articleFirst Confirmed Case of Covid-19 at NHH

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

Health Team gets funding for Community Paramedicine

John Draper

The Ford Government last year announced that LHINs would be disbanded and instead we would have “Health Teams” and Northumberland was one of the first to form such a team.  One of their goals in the first year was to implement a Community Paramedicine program and now MPP David Piccini has announced that this will be funded by the Province to the tune of  $342,000.  The idea is to take advantage of skills that paramedics already have and do some pro-active health care.  So as well as paramedics responding to 911 calls, they will also do things like “assisting with diabetic care, doing medication assessment, providing flu vaccinations, conducting post-injury or illness evaluation, and other care functions”.  The overall intent… Read complete articleHealth Team gets funding for Community Paramedicine

New Initiatives at Venture 13

John Draper

The focus at Venture 13 is on encouraging Entrepreneurs – especially young start-ups.  But on Tuesday, Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) announced a new program where Cobourg Police are partnering with innovators.  On Wednesday, they also announced a partnership with Telus with a focus on the Internet of Things (IoT) technology.  Both CFDC and Cobourg Police were anchor organizations with the Town of Cobourg in the founding of Venture 13 in May 2018.  (See links below).  Wendy Curtis, Executive Director of Northumberland CFDC, said that the Cobourg Police service is “one of the most innovative in the country” and now they are taking it further with their new PoliceTech Accelerator.  That’s not a new pursuit car but a “test… Read complete articleNew Initiatives at Venture 13

County Budget Brings Changes

John Draper

After a longer than usual review, County Council approved the 2020 budget on 13 February with an increase over last year of 2.61% in the tax levy.  Included in the budget are some key initiatives plus some changes in fees.  This year will see “breaking ground for construction of the new Golden Plough Lodge and Northumberland County Archives & Museum facility” and “continuing with county-wide implementation of the Affordable Housing Strategy, including completion of a detailed design for the Elgin Park Redevelopment Project.” Effective March 30, fees for tipping at Community Recycling Centres (CRC) (that’s the latest name for the waste dumps) will increase from $115 to $130 per tonne and Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) operations at the Brighton and… Read complete articleCounty Budget Brings Changes

GO Bus Service to Cobourg

John Draper

For at least 15 years, local residents have been lobbying for an extension of the Go Bus/Train service to Port Hope and Cobourg (see links below).  In 2015, Mayors from Clarington, Port Hope, Cobourg and others got together to commission a study and subsequently the Province announced that the train would be extended to Bowmanville.  But the hope of lobbyists is that the Go Bus service which currently terminates in Newcastle would continue on to Port Hope and Cobourg’s Northumberland Mall. To do this, they must first convince Metrolinx that there is a viable business case. This recently stepped into high gear when Northumberland County added a goal to its current Strategic Plan to “Advocate for extension of GO Transit… Read complete articleGO Bus Service to Cobourg

County Taxes for 2020

John Draper

At the County Council meeting on 18 November, the focus will likely be on the election of a new warden for 2020 but also on the agenda is a report from Glenn Dees, the County’s Director of Finance.  With 44 pages, the report details the rationale for the County’s 2020 budget, how it is structured, how the money is spent and where it comes from.  Although it has much less detail than Cobourg’s Draft budget (which has also just been released), it uses more graphics and is more user friendly in its explanations.  It also shows a high concern for long term trends and viability.  But their targeted levy increase was 3% and that is what is proposed for approval. … Read complete articleCounty Taxes for 2020