When KPMG issued their Organization review (or was it the Service Delivery Review?), they included a recommendation that the current governance be reviewed – that is, should Cobourg continue with the assignment of coordinator roles to Councillors or should it use a system of “Standing Committees” similar to that currently used by Northumberland County? This would mean there would not be Committee of the Whole meetings – instead a few (3?) councillors would be assigned to responsibilities (e.g. as Coordinators are now) and they would meet in separate meetings. Chaired by one of the Councillors and getting input from relevant staff, they would develop recommendations for action by a regular full Council meeting. The committees would not have citizen members… Read complete articleCouncil Debating Governance

Tonight, there were more than 100 people in Victoria Hall to witness the swearing in of the new Council and the new Mayor’s inaugural speech.  Lucas was impressive and his speech was not too long.  The meeting included not only the necessary ceremonial aspects, it also included the first order of Council business which was to appoint the Mayor (Lucas Cleveland) to represent Cobourg on the County Council and the Deputy Mayor (Nicole Beatty) as the alternate.  Before the meeting started, the Concert Band of Cobourg entertained and then the event started with a piper leading the new Council elect into the Hall.  The band then played the National anthem followed by our Town Cryer Mandy Robinson doing her thing. … Read complete articleCouncil Inauguration 2022

By my count, dating back to 2011, Cobourg has 8 “Master Plans” detailing how staff and Council should manage key Town attributes and features plus there is also a 2019 – 2022 Strategic plan. Some seem to be consigned to a shelf and others are used to rationalize something that needs to be done. But there is no apparent integration of them – e.g. references to Master Plans in the Strategic Plan. In April 2021, Councillor Emily Chorley said: “there are staffing gaps” and “some plans just don’t get done.” A review of the Strategic plan in April 2021 actually wanted two more plans (IT Strategic Plan and Climate Action Plan).  The Town’s web site helps a bit – there… Read complete articleAre Master Plans followed?

With the end of the Council Term, it’s not just Councillors who are subject to change but also Advisory Committee and Board members.  There are 2 boards and 9 committees with nominally 64 new members required.  If you read the fine print (actually the by-Law) you will see that re-appointments are possible since Council is empowered to decide and it’s hard to imagine that 64 citizens who have never been on a committee will emerge.  On Thursday, the Town issued a call for applications to all the boards and committees and said all positions were vacant.  But Council ultimately chooses so if incumbents apply, they may well be re-appointed.  But as we have seen in the last 4 years, there… Read complete articleAll Committee and Board Members need to re-apply

One good initiative that Brent Larmer brought to Council a while back was a detailed follow-up on unfinished business with a tracking report included in both CoW and regular Council meetings.  That’s the positive.  However, these are rarely discussed at meetings – presumably councillors must read them at some other time.  A review of the 16 items reported in October shows that most are late with some originating early 2019. It’s likely that Staff would blame Covid and under-staffing for the delays but maybe Council could spend time prioritising these items.  Or maybe the fact that items are late indicate that staff are giving them low priority?  In any case, action items should either be actioned promptly or a decision… Read complete articleUnfinished Business – October 2022