By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Mayor Lucas Cleveland stood alone with two notices of motion at Wednesday’s council meeting – forced to make the motion himself for lack of any other councillor doing so, then watching them set aside when there was no seconder.
A third notice of motion was quietly dropped. It was on the agenda as originally published but, when council was forced to adjourn for a previously scheduled planning meeting and then readjourned afterwards, the third notice of motion was no longer on the post-adjournment agenda.
The first notice of motion was a statement that council does not support the Town of Cobourg “being considered a location for any drug rehabilitation centre, HART [Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment] Hub, Drug Campus of Care or any comparable consolidated care facility funded or directed by Northumberland County or the Province of Ontario.”
The second would have requested the Cobourg Police Service Board to commission an immediate and independent “line-by-line operational and financial review of the Cobourg Police Service, examining at minimum: staffing levels and shift scheduling; the balance of sworn officers to civilian staff; supervisory ratios; court security and prisoner transport; the structure, costs and net contribution of the Business Centre; and facilities and fleet – and that the review clearly distinguish those costs the Service is required by provincial legislation to carry from those that reflect local decisions of the Board or the Service.”
The notice of motion withdrawn by the Mayor would have instructed the Clerk (with the Treasurer and Town Solicitor) to “publish Report CM-2024-15 on the town website before the end of the week with any identifiable individuals or other concerns simply blacked out.”
