By Cecilia Nasmith

Councillor Adam Bureau was so encouraged by the Oct. 1 roundtable event on opioid addiction that he organized Oct. 1 that he is planning a follow-up in the new year.

“My thanks to everybody who did participate,” he said at Monday's committee-of-the-whole council meeting.

“It was truly heart-warming to see how many people actually cared about their community and want to help,” Bureau said.

“It is a problem, and we are working on it. I know it's slow, but we are making progress.”

Bureau had supplied council with extensive documentation, including summary notes from the event, the presentation made at the event on the Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland Drug Strategy, summary notes from a conference call between Bureau and Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Michael Tibollo, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario publication Addressing The Opioid Overdose Emergency In Ontario: Municipal Recommendations For A Provincial Response, and the 2018 coroner's report with in the death of Bradley Chapman.

Bureau's motion called for endorsing the HKLN Drug Strategy's four-pillar approach (harm reduction, prevention and education, treatment and justice, and enforcement) to inform the town's future role and response to the crisis, and endorsing the recommendations from the AMO document.

Finally, the motion calls for key town staffers to host a community-wide summit in partnership with the Cobourg Police Service to be held in February 2020 about the opioid crisis as a way to educate and engage the public on the matter.

Council should consider allocating $10,000 to support developing partnerships for a co-ordinated community response at the local level during 2020 budget deliberations, the motion continued.

And staff are to be directed to publish a communication piece summarizing what the town is currently doing to support mental health, community safety and affordable housing.