(Today’s Northumberland file photo)
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Year-to-date and other statistics abounded at Cobourg council’s Community Services, Protection and Economic Development Standing Committee meeting Wednesday when departmental updates were shared.
Municipal Clerk Brent Larmer reported on bylaw enforcement, noting that the 360 calls for service represent a 51% increase over this time last year. They include 32 animal-control calls, 84 parking incidents, 79 public nuisance complaints and eight homeless encampments (“not necessarily larges ones”).
As well, the 813 Administrative Monetary Penalty System cases (745 of which were concerned with parking issues) show a 56% increase over last year.
Cobourg now has five vehicle-for-hire drivers, Larmer added, and has issued 200 parking permits (140 of them downtown-monthly).
Fire Chief Ellard Beaven’s statistics included six fires, 15 false alarms, 37 motor-vehicle collisions, 67 assists to other agencies, 127 training sessions, 86 fire inspections and 33 public education events.
Beavan saved an especially happy stat for last – council’s promptness in finalizing the 2025 budget in late 2024 allowed for the purchase of a diesel exhaust system before the tariffs from the US kicked in. As a result, the town paid $150,000 less than it would have paid after the tariffs came into effect
Director of Community Service Brian Geerts reported on filming, with details to be announced soon on the next big project, Muhammad Ali, the Greatest by Amazon Prime. It will involve three days in the downtown (two for set-up, one for shooting).
“For the filming, later this month, you will see some US flags out, as it’s a US-based story for Muhammad Ali,” Geerts added.
Film shoots are nothing new for Cobourg, most notably episodes for Murdoch Mysteries and Ginny and Georgia. The inconvenience is real, he said, but so is the payoff in jobs and revenue.
And then there’s the exposure when these episodes air.
“Ginny and Georgia was the most-watched program worldwide in 2023,” he said
