It’s not just Cobourg who is developing a Strategic Plan for the next term of Council – Northumberland County is now seeking resident input.  It’s notable that the County is approaching creation of its plan differently – they are starting with a survey instead of Cobourg’s approach of asking for comments on a draft plan.  The survey has only three questions and they are very general – see below.  Compare this approach to Cobourg’s (as outlined in an earlier Post), and Port Hope’s which asks for an update on their 2019-2022 plan and Brighton who are holding four public meetings where residents help create their plan.  But residents of Cobourg are also in Northumberland County so this is a survey… Read complete articleCounty Strategic Plan Survey

In 2019, Doug Ford’s Provincial Government decided to transfer responsibility for waste recycling from Municipal Governments to the companies that produced the waste. This would save municipalities the cost plus give the producers of the waste an incentive to minimize it in the first place.  The timeline for Northumberland is for it to be fully in effect on January 1, 2024.  There are two parts to this: 1. Transferring management and ownership of the Material Recovery Facility in Grafton away from the County and 2. Transferring blue and grey box pickup to a new organization.  The County has now announced part one: the County has accepted a conditional offer from Emterra Environmental to purchase the Material Recovery Facility in Grafton…. Read complete articleCounty Selling Material Recovery Facility

At the County Council Meeting on 25 January, Brighton Mayor Brian Ostrander made a  motion to “approve a budget of $75,000 to retain a consultant to update the 2007 ‘Policing Study Final Report for Northumberland County’, in order to investigate opportunities for a consolidated police service in Northumberland County.”  His motion was seconded by Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland and passed with the support of Port Hope Mayor Olena Hankivsky and Alnwick/Haldimand Township Mayor John Logel.  In an interview, Lucas said that there are increasing problems with officers being on long term disability because of PTSD and that Cobourg Police are having difficulty with recruiting and that a larger Police force would make it easier to resolve this.  Mayor Cleveland sees… Read complete articleCounty looking at Northumberland Police Force

After a lot of lobbying and much political wrangling, a bus service taking Northumberland County residents to other Towns and to the Go Train in Oshawa is now in service for a one year trial. Called “Commuter Connect” you first must register then you must buy tickets online or by phone.  The service operates two routes (lines) connecting at Northumberland Mall and there are four return trips per day – Monday to Friday.  Tickets start at $3.00 one way within a community (but there’s only one stop in each community – so huh?); $9 for Multi Zone one way (Travel to other Northumberland communities) and $13 one way for the Durham line which connects to the Go Train in Oshawa… Read complete articleNorthumberland County Pilot Bus Service

Cobourg Council recently seemed to catch on that homelessness and affordable housing are a County responsibility.  One action that came out of the recent Special Council Meeting on homelessness was that two councillors (Nicole Beatty and Aaron Burchat) would make a presentation to the relevant County Committee and then to the full County Council.  This happened at the County Council meeting on July 20.  The County does not record their meetings and I did not watch it live, however, you can see the Agenda item (see resources below). Also, 93.3 News reported that in response to a suggestion to use existing buildings, “Deputy Warden Mandy Martin pointed out that the buildings were abandoned for good reason – often because making… Read complete articleCounty Debates Affordable Housing

For almost two decades, Cobourg and Port Hope residents have been asking for GO Transit to extend their service to Cobourg.  Up until recently, Metrolinx has said that there is not a business case even though they only want 20% of costs covered since Transit is generally subsidized.  The biggest potential number of riders would be by workers commuting to Toronto – these have often gone by VIA but currently VIA has no trains at times suitable for commuting (see Resources below).  But today, MPP David Piccini announced that starting in July, 2022, there will be an on-demand GO bus service connecting all of Northumberland.  The Bus will be “On-Demand” and not a fixed route and will connect to the… Read complete articleGO Bus Coming to Cobourg