By Cecilia Nasmith
Reviewing the first quarter 2021 report on Northam Industrial Park brought Cobourg council the pleasant news of $550,039 in net income.
Council also heard at the committee-of-the-whole meeting that this puts the facility well on the path to meeting projections of $1,976,597 in net income for 2021.
Councillor Emily Chorley noted that the same company had performed the management role for the park for about 20 years, with management fees running about $148,000 this year. Has there ever been any thought of tendering this job out, she wondered.
Treasurer Ian Davey spoke highly of the work done by Delcom Management Inc.
“Delcom has managed it since the day the Town of Cobourg acquired the park in 2003,” Davey stated.
“It has not been tendered. It was a contract entered into with a one-year annual renewal each year and a 90-day termination clause.
“It has been a tremendous relationship for the Town of Cobourg. The annual report I usually give to council shows, to the end of 2020, the park has generated over the 18-year period in excess of $41-million worth of profit to the Cobourg taxpayers at a cost of absolutely zero tax dollars invested in the park.
“It has been a great, great investment in the town, probably unique in all the province of Ontario, obviously unique for a town our size.”
Councillor Nicole Beatty asked about vacancies and was told by Davey they are “very, very minimal.
“Small, small pieces of a couple of buildings are vacant, but all the large spaces – even through difficult economic times and the pandemic and all those sorts of issues we have dealt with over 18 years – the vacancy rate is very small.”
