Cobourg Council – Cobourg Looks Ahead on Reopenings
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Case-count numbers dropping and vaccination counts rising equal good news, Cobourg Chief Administrative Officer Tracey Vaughan said at this week’s committee-of-the-whole meeting of council.
The town can be very proud that the clinic set up at the Cobourg Community Centre has administered 28,976 vaccinations to date, Vaughan stated.
And among reopenings that can be anticipated are the town’s municipal buildings.
“We are currently reviewing our safety plans to reopen for in-person appointments when we can safely do so,” Vaughan said.
“We continue to work on our telework policies and gradually bringing staff back while maintaining social distancing and ensuring supports are in place to do so.”
Now is the time to plan, she said. “Significant capital works” are taking place in preparation for an opening plan that is safe and sustainable (such as by-appointment-only visits).
“We don’t want to open the doors, shut the doors, and cause more confusion,” she noted.
They continue to meet with their partners at the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit, as well as the Northumberland-Peterborough South MP and MPP, to get the latest information and ensure it gets out to the public, Vaughan said.
And municipal clerk Brent Larmer said plans are being worked out to return to in-person council meetings.
While a trial run of council meetings in the Victoria Hall Concert Hall took place last summer – prior to vaccines being approved – Larmer said they are planning to return to the third-floor council chambers on some terms. For example, there may be a hybrid arrangement by fall where councillors sit at their old desks and delegations are made virtually. But by January, he expects a smooth in-person council arrangement to be worked out.
