At the January 10 meeting of the Standing committee for Community Services, Protection, and Economic Development, Dr. Hillary Allen & Mr. Jeff Crowley asked Council to implement an agreement with Northumberland County and Transition House similar to the agreement made by Whitby and Durham. The committee endorsed the idea – or to at least to look into the idea – and it came up again at the Regular Council meeting on January 31. This time there was a delegation from Transition House management: Board Chair Neil Ellis, Board Treasurer Meaghan Macdonald and newly appointed Executive Director – Ike Nwibe. They tried to re-assure Council and residents that they would be good neighbours. Although they did not directly address the idea… Read complete articleCouncil to Pursue Agreement with Transition House

Mayor Lucas Cleveland started last night’s Town Hall meeting with a longer than promised review of the last 12 months. The meeting was held in the Gym at the CCC where about 400 chairs had been provided. The room was about half full. Lucas was nearly finished when an audience member interrupted because she wanted to get on with the question period. Lucas said there were 60 online questions – I counted a total of 18 questions were asked/answered including maybe 4 of the online questions. Key points made by Lucas were that: 1) Council needs to start with a strong foundation; 2)  He was elected on a mandate of change yet people do not like change; 3) People want… Read complete articleMayor Cleveland Answers Questions

As Mayor Lucas Cleveland said at Monday’s Council meeting, people only want to hear about one issue: the encampment.  It’s all consuming. “No-one is paying attention to other good things being done by Council.”  However, Lucas responded to this and spoke about what is happening on the encampment.  He said that the community seems to think that Councillors are burying their head in the sand but “that is not at all what is happening”.  Further, “this council is working with every single member of the community involved: Police, County, Province, MPP and MP”.  “It’s not a simple problem.”  But “Council cannot come forward with information that’s being discussed in closed sessions.” “Council has to follow certain rules and regulations and… Read complete articleMayor announces Town Hall Meeting

In 2023 budget deliberations, Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty moved that staff be directed to use funds allocated to address the Opioid crisis ($35k) to “explore options for outreach support service towards the Town’s Homeless response.” At the DBIA management meeting on 6 November, Brent Larmer presented a “Welcoming Streets and Neighborhoods Pilot program” to respond to this direction. Not everyone is happy with this plan. Basically, it would require hiring someone to patrol downtown and look after problems “that do not require police intervention, with a longer-term vision to achieve an increased sense of safety and inclusion in the downtown core.” The intent is to improve the relationship between Business Owners and “community members experiencing homelessness or facing mental health and/or addiction challenges”. Brent… Read complete articleTown proposes joint DBIA program for Homeless