Call for Civic Award Nominations

Each year the Town has an evening where awards are made to citizens who have made significant contributions to the community. These are mostly for volunteers but also include sporting achievements and bravery.  Professionals and town employees are not eligible. The selection is made by a committee chaired this year by Karen Chalovich and they are now accepting nominations.  Any citizen can make a nomination but it’s not a trivial task since you need to get supporting documents from others who agree with your choice.  You can get the necessary forms from the Town by download (link below) or pick them up from the Town Hall.  The “Theme” this time will be “Arts and Culture” so cultural organizations are encouraged… Read complete articleCall for Civic Award Nominations

Big Success for Habitat – Fund-raising Goal Exceeded

On November 22, Habitat for Humanity Northumberland launched a campaign to raise $20,000 to build local affordable homes in Northumberland County.  Since it’s their 20th anniversary, they set the goal to raise $20K for their 20th in 20 days, ending on December 11th.  They announced yesterday that this campaign had raised $35,000 – easily beating their goal.  As well as their lead sponsor (Spoolon) who made a significant contribution, they had 10 “day sponsors” who contributed $1000 each and 3 “half day sponsors” who contributed $500 each.  There was also a raffle held in conjunction with the Gingerbread Festival which raised $700 and of course a number of people donated to make the campaign a big success.  This included the… Read complete articleBig Success for Habitat – Fund-raising Goal Exceeded

First County Council Meeting with new Members

At the first meeting of the new Northumberland County Council on December 12, newly elected Mayors will be on board.  As well as Cobourg’s John Henderson, others on Council will be: William Cane (Hamilton – new),  Robert Crate (Trent Hills), John Logel (Alnwick-Haldimand), Mandy Martin (Cramahe – new), Brian Ostrander (Brighton – new), Robert Sanderson (Port Hope).  They will be asked to receive the budget for 2019 including the county’s levy increase – that’s a polite name for tax increase.  In addition to the 2019 budget, they will also see a 10 year Financial plan showing expected budgets to 2028.  The next County Council meeting will be on January 30 and it’s expected to get approved then – that’s months… Read complete articleFirst County Council Meeting with new Members

Book Launch at Victoria Hall

Newly elected Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin operates a publishing business with her husband Gerry Brown and Gerry has now written a book focusing on stories about the Cobourg boys who went to fight in World War I. These are stories of individuals told from the perspective of Arthur Gerson, a fictitious observer living at the time who was not eligible to fight himself. Inspired by the recently finished Armistice 18 project, Gerry has collected some human interest stories of these men. The book is called Memories from a Grey Wooden Box, Cobourg Stories from the Great War and it was launched today in the Lobby of Victoria Hall in front of the plaque dedicated to WWI soldiers from Cobourg who made the… Read complete articleBook Launch at Victoria Hall

DBIA announces 2019 Attractions

The new DBIA Events & Communications Coordinator Jenna Leslie has now announced the 2019 Downtown events with a few changes.  Gone is the Busker Festival on the second Saturday in June but in its place is “Saturdays on Second Street” for four Saturdays in June. The Art Walk in August returns with the same format but loses the accompanying Pub crawl.  In its place is a new OctoBEER pub crawl in October.  Also returning are favourites including the February Pub Crawl (I guess we like our beer!), the Girls Night Out in May, the Food and Music Festival the weekend after the Waterfront Festival, the Sidewalk Sale on the August long weekend, the Harvest Festival late September and in November,… Read complete articleDBIA announces 2019 Attractions

Venture13 opens to Telecommuters

Venture13 is owned by the Town of Cobourg and jointly managed by them and Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC). It’s located in Northam Industrial Park and now that the Park’s Mortgage has been paid off, the Mayor and CAO can turn their attention to this new boost to local Economic Development.  Newly elected Mayor John Henderson mentioned Venture13 in his inaugural speech on Monday and on Tuesday, CAO Stephen Peacock joined CFDC’s Wendy Curtis in announcing an expansion of an area in Venture13 called the NewVenture Zone.  That’s the area intended for new entrepreneurs needing work space. Called the VentureZone Inn, it’s a new type of VentureZone “Membership” aimed at individual professional telecommuters whereas regular VentureZone members are entrepreneurs… Read complete articleVenture13 opens to Telecommuters

New Council Sworn in

It was more of a declaration that they would work to the best of their ability, be honest with no improper payments and be loyal to the Queen.  At a special Council meeting tonight, the new Mayor, Deputy Mayor and all Councillors made their declarations in front of Justice of the Peace Jack Le Blanc and finished with the statement that this was “of the same force and effect as if made under oath”.  The ceremonies started with the usual Town cry from Mandy Robinson and a poem by Ted Amsden – who finished with the exhortation to Councillors to “Have Fun but never at our expense”. There were about 200 citizens at the event but both MP Kim Rudd… Read complete articleNew Council Sworn in

Reindeer Run

It must be getting close to Christmas because the latest fundraiser had a Christmas theme – that’s if Reindeer count.  The YMCA and the NHH Foundation jointly sponsored a Reindeer run in Victoria Park this morning (that’s Saturday December 1st).  There were about 150 participants in 4 events all starting at around 9:30.  The first was for toddlers who just wanted to join in; the second was a 1km Reindeer dash for kids (they followed a costumed “reindeer”) and the other two were a 3km and 5km run although many participants took it easy – walking or even strolling with a stroller.  The route for the runs is shown in the map below and the photos give an idea of… Read complete articleReindeer Run

News Sources in Cobourg

With the closing of Northumberland Today and with Northumberland News only published once a week, Cobourg residents are looking for alternative sources of daily local news.  About 160 people came to a public meeting on 20 March 2018 and a group was subsequently formed to try to do something about it.  The result has been Northumberland Hub – a web site that provides links to the latest local news reports.  The intent is to help people find online news sources. Although local news is now covered quite well, it’s more scattered and you have to work at getting all the same information. The situation with traditional newspapers seems to get worse each year with many of them moving online and… Read complete articleNews Sources in Cobourg

CTA complaint supported by Ombudsman

On May 4 2018, four members of the Cobourg Taxpayers Association (CTA) attempted to attend a Parks and Recreation Advisory Steering Committee meeting but were refused by Director Dean Hustwick.  He was supported by the Municipal Clerk and Mayor Gil Brocanier who insisted the meeting was not open to the public. Then at a council meeting on 4 June 2018, Dennis Nabieszko of the Cobourg Taxpayers Association – backed by Debra McCarthy – asked why steering committee meetings for the waterfront study were not public. Dean Hustwick said that the steering committee was not an advisory group and not public. In fact, the “steering committee” role was assigned to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee whose meetings are generally open to… Read complete articleCTA complaint supported by Ombudsman