Joel Scott to Run for Council

John Draper

Joel is a lifelong contributor to Cobourg, the community he calls home, and he brings over two decades of experience in media, business, and the charitable sector, together with a deep, personal commitment to the people of Cobourg.  He was raised in Cobourg, and together with his wife Anne, raised his family in Cobourg. In announcing his candidacy he says: “I’ve spent my career being a trusted voice for my community. Whether it was on-air with the greater community, in private with my mortgage clients, or in service volunteering, my focus has always been the same: show up, listen, and do what’s best for the people around you. That’s exactly what I intend to bring to council.” Experience Joel’s professional… Read complete articleJoel Scott to Run for Council

Adam Bureau to Run for Deputy Mayor

John Draper

After 2 terms as Councillor and two years as Police Board Chair, Adam Bureau has filed nomination papers to run as Deputy Mayor in October’s election.  Adam says that he wants “to continue working hard to serve the community, but also take on new challenges just as I have during my first two terms as a councillor”.  He made the announcement on Facebook but you can read the text by downloading a pdf in Resources below.  The announcement proudly lists Adam’s accomplishments including his work on the DBIA and the Police Board.  He plans to launch a web site soon which will include more information about his campaign.  The Town’s election information page also lists the three people who have… Read complete articleAdam Bureau to Run for Deputy Mayor

Draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan Open for Comments

John Draper

Citizen concerns about 117 Durham, the West headland and West Beach Nature Park ended up with a consultant being hired to create a new Parks and Recreation Master Plan with the instruction that they should get input from a specially formed ad Hoc citizen committee – sorry, “Task Force”. Then on 28 January 2026, the consultant presented a preliminary report to Council and now a draft plan is available for comment on the Town’s web site. The full report has 199 pages so an Executive summary was written which is still quite long at 16 pages with 167 “ideas to help guide Cobourg over the next 10 years”. It’s well written and the recommendations include a wide range of actions… Read complete articleDraft Parks and Recreation Master Plan Open for Comments

Cobourg Police Select New Chief

John Draper

On December 3rd, Paul VandeGraaf announced his retirement as Cobourg’s Police Chief effective June and a search was started for a replacement. The Police Board has now announced that his replacement will be Chris Leather who is currently a senior officer with the RCMP. Paul had been a Police officer for 35 years and Chris has 36 years of Policing experience but apart from extensive high level Police experience little is known about his personal details such as where he lives and will he relocate to Cobourg. The announcement talked about continuing “to support a professional, responsive, and community-focused police service,” and that Chris will “continue the strong tradition of professional, community-focused policing established within the Service.” Download the full… Read complete articleCobourg Police Select New Chief

Cobourg Family Treating Autistic Son

John Draper

Some families have more challenges than others – one example is the family of Alan and Suzee Lapp. They are doing their best to care for their son Noah who has an extreme form of autism. He is now 13 but was showing symptoms from the age of 18 months and was diagnosed when he was two. Unfortunately, the best effective treatment is stem cell therapy which is not covered by OHIP and a Canadian doctor who does this charges $78,000. However, a clinic has been found in Panama which does the treatment with the total cost per treatment (including travel) being a still high amount of $40,000. Noah has so far had four treatments and an additional one is… Read complete articleCobourg Family Treating Autistic Son

Community Grants Approved for 2026

John Draper

At the Corporate, Finance, and Legislative Standing Committee meeting on May 14, Community Grants of $37,390 for 12 organizations were approved.  In a regular Council meeting last December, a motion was passed asking staff to find a community disbursement partner for administering the Grants Program.  However, an RFQ only got 2 responses and they did not clearly articulate how the proponent would meet stated requirements (see full staff report in Resources).  Therefore staff made choices although their choices were easy: they were the only applications (out of 18) that met eligibility requirements as spelled out in the Grants Policy (Download from Resources).  Grants are awarded for Operational expenses (not capital), community projects and special events.  In addition, organizations must meet… Read complete articleCommunity Grants Approved for 2026

Free Print Newspaper Coming to Cobourg

John Draper

Stewart Grant, owner of Grant Haven Media, has announced that a free weekly print Newspaper will be coming to West Northumberland (that’s Cobourg and Port Hope) starting September 3. To be called the West Northumberland Independent, it will be available for free at 100+ pickup locations in the area (grocery stores, coffee shops, retail stores, community spaces, etc.) and in both PDF and Flipbook format at the Grant Haven website. You can subscribe to an email version and for those seeking the convenience of mail delivery, subscriptions will also be available for purchase.  Supported by local Advertising and staffed with local residents, Stewart has announced his plan to publish after successfully publishing twelve other newspapers in Western Ontario.  He has started… Read complete articleFree Print Newspaper Coming to Cobourg

Idea Factories Proposed

John Draper

Local resident Diane Manol thinks that Northumberland should do a better job of getting input (Ideas) from residents. She is particularly concerned about “gaps in our community’s healthcare” and “the crisis surrounding our unhoused community.”  To gather the thoughts of residents, she has proposed establishing two “Idea Factories” – “Northumberland Healthcare Idea Factory” and “Northumberland County Unhoused Idea Factory”.  It’s effectively establishing Advisory Committees on these issues.  Diane would then collect ideas into Community Engagement Initiative reports and submit them to MPP David Piccini and to Northumberland County Council. Diane says: “It’s time for residents to get involved in the conversations to engage and champion OUR Community. Healing takes time, but I believe a season of restoration and rebalance is what’s… Read complete articleIdea Factories Proposed

Recruiting More Volunteers

John Draper

A group called MASS Civic Innovation Labs (MASS CIL) is asking the Town of Cobourg to be a participant in their “Service Ballot Initiative”. The idea is to use the Municipal election process as an opportunity to ask people if they would like to volunteer and if so, what are they interested in. The suggested mechanism is a second ballot – a “Service Ballot” – that would be offered to voters. It can be thought of as a survey concurrent with the election. Since Cobourg is using an internet only voting method, it might be integrated into the voting software – perhaps a pop-up. At the Council meeting on April 22nd, Council heard a presentation from MASS CIL which explained… Read complete articleRecruiting More Volunteers