By Cecilia Nasmith
Shanna Reid and Patrick D'Almada were among the Lifesaving Society team engaged by the Town of Cobourg for an Aquatic Safety Audit of the harbour – but their report at Monday's committee-of-the-whole council meeting seemed to raise more questions than it answered.
Among the issues raised is the fact that the team paid two site visits, in February and September, neither of which was peak-usage season.
The process also included consultations with staff and three user groups – the Cobourg Dragon Boat and Canoe Club, the Survivor-Thrivers breast-cancer dragon-boat organization and the Cobourg Yacht Club. Yet head coach Jeremy Fowlie of the CDBCC was the most outspoken of the report's critics.
The team delivered 16 recommendations at the conclusion of its work under four broad headings.
Under Training, they suggested standard first-aid training for marina staff, Lifesaving Society guidelines for dragon boating, stray-electrical-current testing by marina staff who, at some point, should also have water-rescue training.
Under Policy Development and Enforcement, no swimming should be allowed in the harbour, as well as development of a harbour emergency-procedures manual, creation and use of user-group agreements, creation and use (and enforcement) of special-events applications, implementation of a craft safety strategy, mandatory use of PFDs by all user groups, and the provision of designated indoor and outdoor space for camps.
Under Equipment and Signage, there should be AEDs, lifesaving stations, enhanced signage in the harbour and marina, egress ladders in the harbour (yellow for easy visibility) and a safety boat (motorized for quick response).
Under Communications, there should be education of and communications with users groups.
They also identified two high-risk areas: the narrow harbour entrance and the busy much-used boat launch. Safety here, Reid said, would best be achieved by some form of scheduling for the various user groups.
At question time, councillors relayed concerns they had heard from user groups and other constituents that the exercise was influenced by town staffers wishing to implement a marina expansion planned long ago and – in the end – not pursued. The councillors had also heard concerns about how some of the recommendations could hamper the user groups' access to the recreational area of the west beach.
Fowlie pointed out that his group always puts safety foremost, adhering strictly to the safety standards of the official dragon-boat organization which addresses matters the audit did not touch upon (such as water and weather conditions).
Furthermore, he said, this is the case in all 80 Ontario municipalities that have canoe clubs, and they accept these official standards.
He was offended at the focus on the CDBCC when nothing was said about the safety concerns caused by the high waters on the marina docks this summer.
And he was apprehensive of the impact of any change – marina expansion or rigid user-group scheduling, for example – on the members of his club, which include breast-cancer survivors and young people aspiring to national levels of competition who require intensive training schedules.
“It would effectively put our summer camp out of operation,” Fowlie stated.
Asked for his response, director of community services Dean Hustwick felt called upon to defend the integrity of his staff.
“Municipal staff are professional sworn civil servants. We dedicate our lives to serving the public. That does not mean serving special-interest groups or individuals,” Hustwick said.
“We are not the enemy. That is our job.
“Every day we try to operate this corporation and provide advice and information and research to council in an objective, fair, honest manner.”
Staff requested the audit as a matter of the due diligence one might expect from a professional civil servant, he said. And the priority was simply the protection of the well-being of members of the public at the harbour while ensuring as efficient and businesslike an operation as possible.
“To promote customer service, reduce financial impact on taxpayers – those are some of the guiding principles we try to follow every day,” Hustwick said.
“As for the suggestion we manipulated the outcome of this audit, that is absolutely ridiculous and undermines the credibility and professionalism not only of staff but the Lifesaving Society.”
Hustwick agreed that proper management and scheduling can only enhance the use of the harbour. He believes it would no more hamper the CDBCC than proper scheduling hampers the Cobourg Cougars at the Cobourg Community Centre or the volleyball players at the beach.
“With respect to the marina expansion, auditors were not asked to consider that,” Hustwick said.
“But we did provide some documentation - including from the CDBCC that happened to be from a previous marina-expansion process, because that happened to be the most extensive information on the group's use of the harbour.”
Hustwick said the expansion of the marina into the west harbour had not been under discussion since council worked with the design in 2018 on the waterfront-users plan.
“We are not doing any work in any capacity on the marina expansion,” he stated.
He also pledged nothing was being done to undermine the operations of the CDBCC, which remains viable with every prospect of continuing for years to come.
He did contest Fowlie's objection that the town does not own the Lake Ontario waters of the west harbour, however, citing an agreement with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that does grant the town ownership.
“As such, it's municipal property and can be regulated by municipal bylaws,” Hustwick concluded.
“We have an obligation to ensure it's properly managed, operated and utilized in a safe and respectful manner for everyone.”
He also contested Fowlie's charge that the marina building was being barred to CDBCC members, especially as an emergency shelter for their young campers in case of inclement weather. But – as it basically consists of a corridor and restrooms – he does consider it an inappropriate place to hold children's programming.
“I feel very strongly we are trying to do what's best for this corporation and what's best for this community,” Hustwick stated.
Given the significant amount of feedback, Councillor Emily Chorley made a motion to refer the audit to the parks-and-recreation advisory committee to obtain feedback on its recommendations.
“The integrity of the report has been questioned, and that needs to be part of the conversation,” Chorley said.
Councillor Brian Darling made an amendment to ask for a staff report as well, one that would include all user groups.
“I think a full report should be coming from staff,” Darling said,
The motion indicated the deadline for the report should be the first committee-of-the-whole meeting in March 2020. In that way, Hustwick noted, staff can work on any implementation in advance of the heavy waterfront-user season.
