For the last two days, Cobourg’s Council have been debating their Strategic Plan – that’s a document that will establish their priorities for their term.  Most of the session was closed but a short summary was provided to the public when they finished.  It didn’t say much – just listed the three highest priorities, defined the relationship between Council and Staff and talked a bit about KPIs (Key performance Indicators).  They also reviewed the list of unfinished business and declared that all except one were either complete or being actioned. Councillors were assisted in their work by Capital Plan Consulting who said that there was still work to be done to complete the plan but it should be ready to… Read complete articleStrategic Plan Update

Although most advisory committees are currently not active, one exception is the Accessible Advisory Committee and at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting they had two requests: 1. Free parking anywhere in Town in any space if you have an Accessible Parking Permit and 2. Transit to be operated directly by the Town and not by a contractor.  Councillor Darling pointed out that previously, the same committee said that those with mobility challenges did not want special treatment on payment for parking – so what has changed?  It seems that “Pay and Display” means a walk there and back which is a problem for some.  And why not just handicap spaces?  Apparently parking is hard to find and any space… Read complete articleAccessible Advisory Committee asks for Changes

At a special meeting tonight, the result of the online survey were reported plus Council heard from 7 residents – five gave presentations and two were in writing.  There were 8 people in the Gallery.  The biggest concern was the planned reduction in the number of advisory committees with a special concern by Gigi Ludorf-Weaver and Warren McCarthy about the disbanding of the Sustainability and Climate Change Advisory Committee since then their group would lose a voice giving input to Council.  Judy Smith’s written submission agreed with them.  But a “hybrid” approach suggested by Councillor Aaron Burchat seems to be getting some attention – that’s where all Councillors would go to all Standing Committee meetings. This would be like having… Read complete articleCouncil Reviews Public Input on Governance

For a second year, Holdco delivered a report on their activities to Cobourg Council – and it was public.  When former MPP and Baltimore resident David Tsubouchi was appointed Chair of HOLDCO in May 2021 he said he wanted to improve transparency and he has delivered. In July 2022, Holdco and its subsidiaries gave their first report/ presentation to Council in a public meeting (see link in resources below) and on 15 June, 2023, they once again reported on their performance.  There were reports by David – an opening overview and to close, a look to the future – Lakefront Utility Services Inc. (LUSI) Chair Robert Bell reviewed performance, Lakefront Utilities President Dereck Paul (standing in for Chair Gil Brocanier)… Read complete articleHoldco and Lakefront Utilities Report – 2023

With a “Governance Review” planned, it would be easy to overlook the multiple changes in Council meetings that have already happened.  If governance is changed, it would mean that several committees would be set up instead of the single Committee of the Whole so Council Meeting Agendas (and schedule) would look quite different.  But even before that, there have been a number of changes to meetings.  Some were no doubt due to the Covid disruption, others are likely at the request of the new Mayor and one (unfinished business) is directly related to the planned Governance change and strategic Planning sessions.  They didn’t all get changed at once; they happened over many months. But since I report on all Council… Read complete articleChanges in Council Meetings

At yesterday’s Committee of the Whole (CoW) Council meeting, Cobourg resident Ben Burd diplomatically suggested that the Town’s communication staff needed training so that they could do a better job of finding out what citizens really wanted.  The main thing that Ben wanted was that the Committee set up to decide on Governance should not meet until after the planned public meeting on June 19th had heard from citizens. It looked like decisions would be made before hearing from the public. However, Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty said that the committee had not yet met.  Ben also pointed to a low attendance of about 10 at the Public information session (Brent Larmer said that there were in fact 12 attending) and only… Read complete articleBen Burd Asks for Better Citizen Engagement