Category: News 2022

What’s Happening at the Mall

John Draper

The short answer is “Not much”. I called the Mall Leasing VP and all I got was “No we’re not planning any residential”.  If you look at what they say online, you’ll see that Michael’s is coming soon, that another “pad” is planned next to the LCBO and that there are a lot of vacancies.  Before the pandemic, Rainbow cinema was planning an expansion but right now they are working on reduced hours with two shows on 4 days, one matinee on Sundays and closed Mondays and Wednesdays.  Although many spaces are empty (but not all), some others are getting renovated (see photos below).  It’s not clear where Michael’s is going: Trinity’s map shows them on the East side of… Read complete articleWhat’s Happening at the Mall

Unusual Request for Citizen support

John Draper

Usually, when people are asked to support a project it means they are being asked for money – but not this time.  Five Counties Children’s Centre (FCCC) has a property in Cobourg at 800 Division Street that has a large “backyard” which would be great if kids in their program could use it but they cannot.  They say that: “There are safety and accessibility issues from a nearby drainage ditch [South boundary] and traffic from an adjacent driveway and parking lot. The vision is to put up fencing and install an accessible playground, sensory play equipment, accessible garden area, gazebo, storage space and eventually a track.”  But all that will cost $255K.  They have so far raised 40% of that… Read complete articleUnusual Request for Citizen support

Are Master Plans followed?

John Draper

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?

All Committee and Board Members need to re-apply

John Draper

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

Police Update – October 2022

John Draper

Cobourg Police are continually improving their reporting but you have to look for it.  Apart from their annual report, they have also recently published their budget before it’s approved and now they have added reports that give detailed Statistics of their activities more regularly. (See Resources below for links to articles about what they did previously).  Currently, Communications Coordinator Lisa Munday issues a limited bi-weekly report (that’s every second week, not twice a week) but if you look at Police Board meeting Agendas on escribe, you can find detailed reports that cover recent months.  My review below of the “August 2022- CPS Monthly Operational Report” as available in the Agenda for October 18 will give you some idea of the… Read complete articlePolice Update – October 2022

Unfinished Business – October 2022

John Draper

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

Cobourg News Blog Report – 5 years

John Draper

About 10 years ago, Cobourg Internet started to include Cobourg News on its web site and allowed comments. But the technology was limiting so a new separate site (this site) was launched in September 2017 and continues to this day. For some reason that I can only speculate at, the site has become a community forum with the audience continually growing. Not all comments are positive but unless they break the rules of the blog, they are encouraged in the interest of free speech. A statistic from the last few days is interesting: 48 different people contributed the last 100 comments! Some posts attract a limited number of contributors but others get a widely diverse audience. But let’s look at… Read complete articleCobourg News Blog Report – 5 years

Cobourg Election Shakeup

John Draper

Lucas Cleveland campaigned with a promise to lead instead of manage and to do things differently. Although he has no Council experience, he’s now our new Mayor, narrowly defeating incumbent John Henderson.  And that’s not the only change:  Nicole Beatty beat incumbent Suzanne Séguin for the Deputy Mayor’s position.  In Council, there are two new councillors: Miriam Mutton and Randy Barber – although both have had some previous experience as Councillors (Miriam in Cobourg in both 2006 and 2010 and Randy Barber in Markham). Full vote numbers are below.  I was surprised with three results:  Nicole Beaty beating Suzanne Séguin and both Michael Sprayson and Mark Mills losing. The only certain thing that can be read from the results is… Read complete articleCobourg Election Shakeup

Culture on Back Burner in Cobourg

John Draper

It seems that “Culture” is no longer something that concerns residents of Cobourg.  There was a time when it did.  On June 25, 2018 Council decided to award a contract for $65,000 to consultant MDB Insight to prepare a Cultural Master Plan and after 2 public meetings and consultation with Cobourg’s “culture” organizations, a Cultural Master Plan was presented to Council on 15 October 2019.  Council passed a motion asking staff to bring recommendations forward to council.  We are still waiting.  To be fair, the plan was vague – other than improving communication and promoting what we already have, there was no grand new idea although there was vague talk of looking into “a Town-operated multi-purpose cultural facility, which includes… Read complete articleCulture on Back Burner in Cobourg

Police Budget for 2023

John Draper

Setting of the Cobourg Police budget is not interrupted by the Council election so their timetable means that their 2023 budget will be ready for approval in November 2022. On Monday, the Police released a draft budget for public feedback – “draft” because it’s not yet approved. I don’t recall this being done in previous years. It’s only the operating budget but in recent years Capital items have been funded from their Business services. The key thing to note is that “Funding from the Town of Cobourg Tax Levy is currently estimated at $6,913,302, a 3.89% increase from the contributions for 2022.” Most of the Police cost is salaries and that has increased because of “contractual requirements”. It’s an easy… Read complete articlePolice Budget for 2023