(Today’s Northumberland file photo)
By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7/Today’s Northumberland
With the ground-floor services now open for the new Northumberland County shelter at 310 Division St., Cobourg, Director of Public Works Denise Marshall says there is reason to hope actual shelter beds will soon be available.
“We are looking to schedule an occupancy inspection with the town,” Marshall said at this week’s county council Public Works Committee meeting.
It hasn’t actually been scheduled yet, she added, but they’re working on it.
The matter was not on the meeting’s agenda, but Warden Brian Ostrander asked for the update.
And while Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland is hearing complaints from neighbours of the shelter, Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Moore said she is personally unaware of such problems.
At a Cobourg council committee meeting last week, Cleveland said that only hours before he had been talking with a neighbour of the facility who couldn’t sleep for six nights in a row because of unspecified activities on the property that went on into the night. He also said he had one to two dozen e-mails of complaint in his inbox.
When the ground floor opened last month, the county distributed letters to neighbours within a given radius of the shelter offering a means of contacting them with any complaints or concerns. And while no social-services staff were at the meeting, Moore said, “I know I have not seen any correspondence directed to me personally at this point.
“Staff are working really closely with Transition House to make sure the opening is going smoothly, and they have communicated with all the neighbours and the community in that area so they do have the contact information so they can reach out if they are personally experiencing any issues related to the shelter operations. Shelter operators continue to have conversations with any member of the public that reaches out.”
As well, she added, they are close to launching the Community Liaison Committee within the next couple of weeks, another resource for addressing any concerns voiced by members of the community.
