At Monday’s Council meeting, correspondence from Hope Bergeron generated discussion on Cobourg’s Transit system. Hope was unhappy with the on-demand system and wanted a return to a fixed route system.  She called the on-demand system “illogical and exclusionary”.  She accepted that it was needed while we had the Covid pandemic but now “life returns to normal”.  She said that she had written “two months ago in Nov 2022” which she said was not read out or acknowledged.  I could not find any online reference to that but I did find that she had written to Council on the same subject November 2021 although it was received as a community grant request.  Both of her hand-written letters are available below. A… Read complete articleMore Transit Discussion at Council

The Committee of the Whole Council meeting on 9 January was probably the shortest ever (less than an hour). The big item on the Agenda was a review of unfinished business from the previous term but Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty moved that consideration of it be moved until after Council had met to create a new Strategic Plan. This would mean that action schedules and even “disposing” of actions could be set in line with Council priorities. Councillor Miriam Mutton wanted to discuss several items but in the end voted with other councillors to accept Nicole’s deferral.  She wondered about the Strategic planning session schedule (not yet set) and whether it would include the Governance review (No).  The dates for… Read complete articleShort Council Meeting

In the first Committee of the Whole Council meeting with the new Council, questions by the Mayor and Councillors raised some key issues.  In a delegation, Carol Leighton said that the Albert Street Transit Shelter is occupied by drug users; in another delegation, Dave Tunstead said that “free” downtown parking is not free; both Mayor Lucas Cleveland and Councillor Miriam Mutton asked about the new stormwater fee; the Mayor asked about costs for the Harbour so profitability could be determined and Director Geerts wanted immediate approval to start on Harbour repairs with a new estimated total cost of $15M to $20M.  Council also dealt with several other issues – a busy meeting. I will attempt to cover some of them… Read complete articleBusy First Council Meeting in New Term

Starting January 2023, the charge for water and wastewater will increase by an amount said to cover the cost.  In addition, in January, the cost of supplying stormwater drains will be charged directly to properties instead of being recovered by taxes.  Both these changes were previously approved by Council but now by-laws are needed to implement them and Council will be asked to do that at the December 12 Committee of the Whole meeting (COW – Governance has not yet changed).  Water rates will increase 7.2%, wastewater rates will increase 4.6% so that the average residential customer will pay an extra $48.82 per year for a total $884.90 per year. Charging directly for stormwater is a significant change and was… Read complete articleWater Rates to increase – plus Stormwater Charge

A new survey for Cobourg residents is now available – the Town wants to know what they need to do to improve customer service. Customer Service Professionals Network (CSPN) has been hired to assist and created the survey. Their mission is to “help organizations answer two questions. How do we make happier customers? How do we make more engaged employees?” Another notable change, because the survey was created by CSPN, it does not use Bang the Table – otherwise known as Engage Cobourg – which was started by the previous mayor. Instead, the survey uses the popular Survey Monkey and links to it are prominent on the home page of the Town’s web site. There are 17 survey questions –… Read complete articleTown of Cobourg Surveying Residents on Customer Service