The relationship between the Art Gallery of Northumberland (AGN) and the Town of Cobourg has not always been happy nor well defined since the AGN was established in 1960.  The AGN occupies all of the third floor of the West Wing of Victoria Hall plus some storage locations on the second floor and the basement for a total floor area of 3,299 square feet.  Up until recently, they have been charged $45,000 per year for rent but then granted that money in each year’s budget.  Each year they also submit a request for about $170K more towards their budget of about $300K.  The process of coming to an agreement has not been well defined so at the next Committee of… Read complete articleAGN MOU, Lease and Budget

Tonight, October 28, Council had a special Committee of the Whole meeting to review the Organization changes proposed by the CAO, Tracey Vaughan.  It was preceded by a two hour closed session to discuss a subject that was not disclosed although there was talk of “Cost Savings”.  The general impression I got from the meeting was that Councillors were generally accepting the recommendations with no major objections.  In fact, Councillor Emily Chorley asked that since the By-Law Enforcement manager, the Grant Writer and the additional Building Official were all cost neutral, why not hire them sooner than July 1?  Councillor Brian Darling made a motion to that effect which passed.  Council then discussed each new position and this provided some… Read complete articleUpdate on Organization Review

At the Committee of the Whole (CoW) Meeting on Monday, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Tracey Vaughan provided her recommendations for implementing the changes and additions proposed by consultant KPMG.  As mentioned in a previous post, these changes would cost around $1M and are major changes in structure and ways of working.  Tracey delivered her detailed report in time for Monday’s CoW meeting and for 2022 budget deliberations but despite a closed session meeting before the CoW meeting, Council were not ready to discuss it and voted to defer discussion to two more meetings on Thursday October 28: a closed session meeting at 4:00 pm and an open session at 6:00 pm.  My quick look at the published draft budget seems… Read complete articleSpecial Council Meeting to discuss Organization Review

In July 2020, an application was made to convert the old Medical centre at 316 King East (opposite the High School) for use as a live-in rehabilitation centre. Because of its proximity to the school and because zoning for this use was not clear, a decision was deferred until zoning could be reviewed.  Meridian Planning consultants were hired to do that review and they made a presentation to Council in July this year – see the link below.  Before the new by-law is drafted and presented to Council for approval, a Public meeting was scheduled for October 18.  Only two individuals asked questions at that meeting and both were concerned with the implication that the people using the centres were… Read complete articleRe-zoning for Treatment Centres

At each Council meeting, a list of unfinished business is provided but is rarely discussed.  Many topics are way past their due date and in general, the list illustrates the problem highlighted by KPMG in their organization review: that Staff do not have the capacity to keep up with new tasks given to them by Council. The full tracking table for the October 25 Committee of the Whole meeting is available from the Links below but this post will provide a summary – including some additional information not provided on the tracking table. The good news is that the list is getting shorter (11 items – with 2 completed) compared to 6 months ago when there were 14 items with… Read complete articleCouncil Record on Unfinished Business is Improving