Budget Task Force Report has 42 Recommendations

John Draper

In July of 2025, in a move to obtain community input to the 2026 Town budget, Mayor Cleveland established a “Community Led Budget Task Force”. The 10 members held five meetings to discuss a wide range of subjects and came up with 42 recommendations that have now been published. It’s an exceptionally well written report with a lot of “meat” but simply listing the recommendations would not be fair – recommendation #42 says that “any changes implemented ….. should include a fully comprehensive communication outreach to the community”. That’s implying that there could be opposition based on not fully understanding the rationale. So although I will report on highlights, before being critical, everyone should read the report – See Resources… Read complete articleBudget Task Force Report has 42 Recommendations

NHH Enhances Emergency Department Experience

John Draper

Some times when you need medical attention, the Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) is the right answer.  But up till now, one did not know what the wait time would be nor how many people would be ahead of you.  However, effective December 3, 2025, there is a “Dashboard” with answers.  Available at the Emergency Department waiting room and also online, it provides answers including how long you’ll have to wait (more below). Also new is an ED “Self Arrival Kiosk” so patients can “self-arrive” at the Emergency Department. The kiosk will be used for patients visiting the ED, while all other outpatient visits will continue to register at the ED or Central Registration desks. Individuals who prefer not to self-register… Read complete articleNHH Enhances Emergency Department Experience

Cobourg Update

John Draper

People ask me: why are there few blog emails lately?  There are two reasons, first not much exciting is happening and second, other news reporters are filling the gap.   Cobourg News Blog has a community of people who comment and that’s good but not all news is controversial or bad – some news is good news.  Have you seen Pete Fisher’s videos?  Three recent ones highlight some good things happening in Cobourg: Light up ceremony, CPKC Train and Santa Parade – see below.  There are still Council meetings but nothing much happens.  An example was the Special Council meeting on December 1 when Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf made the Police case for why their budget increase of 20.5% is needed… Read complete articleCobourg Update

Police Send Unchanged Budget Back to Council

John Draper

At the most recent Cobourg Council meeting on 12 November, the Police submitted a budget for 2026 that required a 20.5% increase but it was rejected and sent back to the Police Board for re-consideration. The Police Board then called a special meeting on November 19 to consider their response.  At that meeting, although board members Sean Graham and Nicole Beatty wanted to “look at options”, there was no serious move to reduce the budget increase of 20.5%. Member Ronald Kerr said that a “mistake” made last year needed to be fixed and it was clear that any significant reduction would require reducing head count. There was also a consensus that the recent MOU should be respected and no more… Read complete articlePolice Send Unchanged Budget Back to Council

Chief VandeGraaf wants Bail Reform

John Draper

In a statement released on November 12, Cobourg Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf criticized the current bail system.  He wants repeat and violent offenders to be held accountable with “Stronger bail provisions, tougher sentencing, clear and enforceable conditions”.  Supporting his statement, he released Bail Statistics for 2025 Year to date plus the impact on the 2025 budget.  He stated that “the current bail system presents real challenges, especially when individuals facing serious charges, such as weapons offences and drug trafficking, are released and re-offend. Each case impacts not only our police service but also the courts and the community at large”.  Further: “Our officers work tirelessly to protect Cobourg, but the cycle of release and re-offending strains resources and puts victims… Read complete articleChief VandeGraaf wants Bail Reform

Mayor Cleveland Moves to Stop Councillors’ Conflicts of Interest

John Draper

Councillors are elected to represent the interest of constituents but in addition to their primary roles as Councillors, they can also represent taxpayers interests on “boards, agencies, and commissions”. But if they are chosen as chair or vice-chair of those entities, Mayor Cleveland is concerned that there is a conflict of interest – or at least a perception of a conflict. At the upcoming Special Council meeting on November 12, Mayor Cleveland is therefore moving a motion that Staff draft a bylaw to ban this practice in the next term of Council. One example of this is the current role of Councillor Adam Bureau as chair of the Police Board although I note that Lucas does not mention this example… Read complete articleMayor Cleveland Moves to Stop Councillors’ Conflicts of Interest

Planning Department’s Efficiency Opportunities

John Draper

On July 11, 2025, Mayor Lucas Cleveland issued his first directive using his Strong Mayor power and it directed staff to come up with recommendations to “make building of homes in Cobourg less costly, more effective and more efficient “. Twenty “opportunities” were to be identified and then 4 to 6 of these would be selected for detailed reports (they chose 5). At the next Council meeting on November 12, Staff will report on their response to this directive. To be clear, this is a planning responsibility so the report is written by Chris Challenger, Director of Development and Victoria Heffernan, Manager of Planning – Development Review, and the focus is on how they can speed up approvals so more… Read complete articlePlanning Department’s Efficiency Opportunities

Warming Room for Homeless

John Draper

A special meeting of County Council was called for October 28 to decide on a location for a warming room for homeless people in the County.  Port Hope Mayor Olena Hankivsky made a special point to emphasize that all councillors wanted a warming room, there was never any intent to not have one – the question is where. A report by Rebecca Carmen published on October 15 listed four possible locations – two in Cobourg on County property, one in Colborne and one at Fenella Hall in Roseneath – see her report in Resources below.  After a relatively short discussion, Warden Ostrander moved to use Council Chambers at the County headquarters at 555 Courthouse Road in Cobourg. Before this was… Read complete articleWarming Room for Homeless

Police Budget for 2026

John Draper

At a special Cobourg Police Board meeting on October 23, Chief Paul VandeGraaf made the case for a $1.6M increase in the Police Budget – that’s 20.5% and a lot more than the 4% target set by Mayor Cleveland.  However, there was little pushback from the board.  The Chief said there was no “meat left to cut” and Board member Ron Kerr said that there was “no wiggle room”.  But there were questions left unsaid – more below.  In his presentation, Chief VandeGraaf said that Police performance and therefore staffing was mandated by Provincial Legislation although legislation specifies goals and not how they are achieved.  A large increase in the budget was said to be needed because of more staff… Read complete articlePolice Budget for 2026