(Today’s Northumberland file photo)
Following a decision to cancel the monthly Business Pulse Survey for 310 Division Street at Wednesday’s Northumberland County council meeting, Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland put forth a suggestion to also end the shelter’s Community Liaison Committee.
Things have been going well since the operational changes at 310 Division, he said, and that “while these individual community members and staff have done an incredible job with the CLC, perhaps now is the time to move forward. We’ve already today decided that the Business Pulse Survey has been cancelled and my suggestion is this CLC move on the same lines.”
Alnwick/Haldimand Township Mayor John Logel said he wanted to hear opinions from County staff on the matter.
Acting CAO Glenn Dees suggested there’s still merit in having the CLC as changes to the shelter model continue at 310 Division and reassessment of the committee could take place in the new year.
Cleveland said his concern is the CLC isn’t actively representing the business community in the area.
“The reason the Business Pulse Survey was launched was because there were no members of the business community on the CLC,” he said.
“And so when we look at the makeup of the CLC and if we’re actually worried about integration with the community, my concern would be since there are no members of the Cobourg business community on the CLC that it’s not actually working on the full scope community liaison basis.”
Cleveland said he was also concerned with the amount of County staff time and resources used for the CLC.
“We’ve learned from a single-person survey, that’s up to 10 hours of staff time. I can’t imagine the kind of work that’s being caused by the CLC meetings and the CLC work and how much better those staff resources could be redirected to actual service delivery,” he said.
Deputy Warden Olena Hankivsky, the mayor of Port Hope, suggested council request an accounting of the resource implications for the CLC, like it had for the Survey, and get a report from staff at the next council meeting.
Associate Director of Housing and Homelessness Rebecca Carmen clarified Cleveland’s comments, noting there are business representatives on the CLC.
“One of the designated spots from the various supporting agencies is the (Cobourg) Downtown Business Improvement Area and we’ve had a member from the DBIA sitting on that since inception of the committee,” Carmen said.
“They have resigned in this last month, but the DBIA is looking for a replacement. They resigned based on personal time conflict.”
Carmen said staff have also recruited new members for the committee. “We had three business representatives apply to be a part of the CLC. One of those business representatives identified a conflict of interest in joining the CLC so we have proceeded with offering the two other business reps spots on the committee.”
Carmen said a report about staff time with the committee would be completed but gave some insight.
“As it is a community-run committee, the agendas and minutes are taken by non-staff members so our work is when we are looking to recruit new individuals, participation in the meetings on a monthly basis and then, of course, uploading those CLC minutes into council for receiving for information.”
Cleveland responded with “yeah, I guess we’re going down that path” and asked how many CLC members live within a 500-metre radius of 310 Division.
Carmen said “I think that question has been asked previously. My understanding, I can bring it up to the report, but all members of the CLC live in Cobourg and the majority do live within that 500-metre radius, outside of those professional organizations where they’re there representing an agency.”
Cleveland asked what the percentage is of community members to professional members on the CLC and “would the time of the professional community services not be better spent not at a meeting but actually providing the services to the community members.”
Carmen said there are more community members than those representing agencies.
“In terms of other professional agencies, I can’t speak to that specifically from other perspectives, but we do know that when we sit on community tables where we’re working towards navigating a common area that it’s something that we do value as part of our work when we’re there.”
Cleveland asked Dees if there is a Cobourg bylaw coordinator hired by the County to navigate the town’s ECE bylaw, why is the CLC required.
Dees said the position was created to ensure the County is in alignment with Cobourg’s ECE bylaw, but it’s also evolving as the shelter transitions to a new model.
The acting CAO said Cleveland’s questions can be addressed in the staff report.
Related story: https://todaysnorthumberland.ca/2025/10/15/northumberland-county-business-pulse-survey-discontinued/
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
