Cobourg council does about-face on raises
By Cecilia Nasmith
The raise Cobourg council voted for itself last week at committee-of-the-whole was defeated this week by a recorded four-to-three vote.
Council approval of the raise last week was reached after lengthy debate and a presentation by Paul Pagnuelo on behalf of the Cobourg Taxpayers Association (in front of a large and approving contingent in the gallery), not to mention extensive studies in 2018.
The motion defeated this week called for the raise to bring the mayor's salary to $48,100, the deputy mayor's to $38,480 and each councillor's to $33,670 effective Jan. 1, 2020, providing it's approved as part of the 2020 budget process. It would have included Consumers Price Index adjustments each July and a full review the third year of each council term.
“Depending on how the budget goes, we may have to cut back or even take another look at this,” Deputy Mayor Suzanne Seguin allowed in putting forward the motion this week.
Last week, Mayor John Henderson and Councillors Brian Darling and Aaron Burchat did express misgivings.
Darling voiced the concern that such a relatively high payment for council might make it more difficult to recruit the volunteer members who work so diligently on the town's vital advisory committees. Burchat wondered if a phased-in approach might be better, recalling council's recent months-long effort to hold a tax increase down to 2% during the budget process. Henderson suggested that perhaps more public feedback might be in order.
The comments emerged out of a thorough debate that contrasted to this week's much shorter, terser consideration of Seguin's motion. Though there was some discussion of whether to increase payments for some of the boards that are paid (such as Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority), treasurer Ian Davey pointed out that the rates on some of these are not set by council.
And there was very little discussion directed at council remuneration.
As the vote was called, Darling asked for a recorded vote. He was joined by Henderson, Burchat and Councillor Nicole Beatty in defeating it, with Seguin and Councillors Emily Chorley and Adam Bureau voting in favour.
Port Hope Council Approves 2019-2022 Strategic Plan
by Brian Coggins
Port Hope Council approved the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan at its meeting on Tuesday evening. It contains 6 strategic pillars: Infrastructure Sustainability, Multi-Generational Community Opportunities, Waterfront and Riverwalk Enhancements, Affordable Housing, Intentional Growth Planning, and Corporate Efficiencies.
There will be quarterly updates, annual strategic plan meetings, and municipal website updates.
According to Mayor Bob Sanderson, “Our Plan is a framework that is intended to guide Council and Staff in the decision-making process and to direct our resources where they are needed the most over this term of Council. Developing this plan has been an exciting and energizing process. From the very beginning, we were committed to ensuring that the priorities for our community were shaped in partnership with our residents and business owners, and it was encouraging to see the common interests, themes and concerns that emerged during our public consultations. Providing multiple opportunities for
the public and Municipal Staff to participate in the development process, from start to finish, has enabled us to build the Strategic Plan with a strong foundation of community input and has better positioned us to confidently make decisions on the priorities set out in the document.”
Hometown girl gives back big
By Cecilia Nasmith
From left: Cobourg Mayor John Henderson, Northeastern University regional dean and chief executive officer Aliza Lakhani, tech entrepreneur and St. Mary Secondary School alumna Takara Small and Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini
One of the newest Venture 13 initiatives is the gift of a hometown girl who believes in giving back.
St. Mary Secondary School alumna Takara Small is now a major figure in the tech world, but she made time to be the keynote speaker at this week's one-year celebration of the opening of Venture 13 – to congratulate the community on this amazing asset, and to explain what her program can offer to the young people of the area who aspire to a career in technology and entrepreneurship.
Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini – Parliamentary Assistant to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities – was present to help make the announcement, along with Northeastern University regional dean and chief executive officer Aliza Lakhani, a key partner in the initiative.
Small is now a technology journalist, consultant, public speaker and entrepreneur who has participated in programming on CBC, CTV, Metro Morning, the Toronto Star, Forbes magazine and even the big international technology conference now going on in Toronto.
Pretty heady stuff for the former fry girl at the Cobourg McDonald's, she allowed, but she did make time to visit her old alma mater.
The St. Mary students of today are filled with a sense of hope and inspiration, she said, “because the next generation are so eager to leave their mark, so eager to do more and be more.”
She now hobnobs with the leaders of Canada's largest industries, like Shopify and Blackberry.
“I know when something is great is happening, and I founded Venture Kids because I truly believe that giving back is important. That's something I learned here in Cobourg.”
Venture Kids provides free coding programs to young people, and teaches them entrepreneurial fundamentals and front-end development.
As well as instruction, it introduces them to leading figures from major companies like Twitter and LinkedIn – the hiring agents, the tech staff, the engineers.
“For young people to be able to have a seat in front of these people is not something that happens every day. “
The amazing things they will learn will not only benefit them as they plan for their future, but will also inspire their friends and contemporaries who share their dreams.
“It's such an honour to be able to do this, and be able to come back to my hometown and make a real contribution that will, hopefully, be replicated year after year,” Small said.
“I truly believe that a next leader of a Fortune 500 company will come from Northumberland, if they have the skills and the people around them to help them succeed.”
The program will have its official launch in June, she said.
“I am so honoured to be part of this initiative. I am so proud to say I am from Cobourg. Everything I have achieved is representative of how a community enables a young person in this town to achieve their wildest dreams.”
MP announces $4.5-million in CFDC funding
By Cecilia Nasmith
Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd has announced an additional $4.5-million in funding for Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation for its work in support of local and regional innovation initiatives.
The CFDC will be launching two projects in the near future. Under a local stream for Northumberland County, one will focus on transitioning small and medium-size enterprises into the new rural economy. Under an Eastern Ontario regional stream, the other will focus on accelerating the growth of existing innovation-driven small and medium-sized enterprizes.
Rudd made the announcement in Cobourg at the celebration of one year since Venture 13 opened, where Northumberland CFDC executive director Wendy Curtis had stated how vital government support had been in maximizing the success of so many clients.
“The reason the money came here is because of the results that have been achieved,” Rudd said.
“It's not like someone filling out an application and saying, 'I would like some money because I have a good idea.' It's because of the success of those achievements – fostering those who are willing to take the risks that have been transformative.
“We must innovate or be left behind. We must make the important investments in the entrepreneurs, the visionaries who see where we need to be going.”
It exemplifies what she means when she speaks of a Rural Renaisance, the MP said.
“The jobs of tomorrow are being created here right now, today, in advancements in 3D technology, aviation, surgical, plastic and advanced manuacturing, to name just a few.
“Companies across this province are making world-class advancements right here in our own backyard.”
Venture 13 has exceeded its vision, MP says
By Cecilia Nasmith
From left: Cobourg Mayor John Henderson, Acting Cobourg Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf, Alex Papanicolaou of the Microfactory, Daniel Sutherland of the CrossWing company and Northumberland Community Futures Development executive director Wendy Curtis
Where not long ago an abandoned board of education building stood empty and costing Cobourg taxpayers $70,000 a year just so it wouldn't fall down, Venture 13 now flourishes.
A year after its grand opening on May 17, 2018, stakeholder representatives and members of the community gathered to celebrate all that has happened in the 12 months since.
Highlights of the year in numbers boil it down to its most basic – 18 new companies started, 60 jobs created (and 10 interns hired), 23 partnerships developed, 21 VentureZone clients, 6,000 foot-traffic visitors, more than 300 child-and-youth engagements, 292 events (183 of them led by Venture 13 partners) and some $2.4-million in wages generated.
It was a think-outside-the-box inspiration generated by three partners, Mayor John Henderson said – the Town of Cobourg, the Cobourg Police Service and the Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation.
It will be a key player in positioning the town as a complementary urban model that can provide the employers and employees of the future a transit-accessible integration of work, housing and recreation, a vibrant and urbanized environment that is powered by green energy and offers an unsurpassed quality of life.
From left: Cobourg Mayor John Henderson, Venture 13 board chair Rick Holmes, Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd and Northumberland Community Futures Development executive director Wendy Curtis
CFDC executive director Wendy Curtis provided a listing of board partners – Northumberland Makers, Northumberland Manufacturers' Association and Fleming College, in addition to the Town of Cobourg, Cobourg Police Service and CFDC.
Their innovation partners include the Spark Centre, the University of Toronto's Impact Centre, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, the Ontario Centres of Excellence, Durham College, Business Development Bank of Canada and the Government of Canada National Research Council.
Their strategy is to position both Northumberland County and the Eastern Ontario region as a centre of technology entrepreneurship and innovation by attracting the talented next generation and ensure their accessibility to the resources, infrastructue and collaborative space that will help them get started.
Banks and other traditional avenues aren't always an option, Curtis said.
“When you are a start-up, somebody has to step up and embrace you as being a crucial part of Canada's future.”
As a proud partner in this effort, she continued, the CFDC provides financing and strategy for entrepreneurs, manages the VentureZone, provides some administrative support to the Maker Lab and runs collaborative entrepreneurial contests such as the competitive Pitch To The Chief and N100 events.
“There's a constant buzz of activity that is happening,” Curtis said.
“The secondary schools are beginning to take note and coming here on a regular basis.”
Opportunities young people have found at Venture 13 include summer and March break Northumberland Makers camps. But the Maker Lab is also a key player in the first-of-its-kind-in-Canada Microfactory Co-op that solves problems through such avenues as small-scale custom manufacturing, prototyping and design services that help its clients bring concepts to reality.
Curtis gave a demonstration of a product that comes from the CrossWing company – a chest-high robot on wheels that can be used for reception duties, teleconferencing, giving tours and even safety-and-surveillance functions (which is why Cobourg Police Acting Chief Paul VandeGraaf hung a badge on a chain around its neck).
VandeGraaf said that the force's Business Services division was operating in full swing on the second floor of Venture 13 where, in 2018, they processed almost one-million criminal-record checks.
This sideline has turned into a major service that is actually offsetting the police budget to Cobourg taxpayers, reinvesting $5.7-million between 2004 and 2018.
“We had $3.2-million in gross revenue last year. Today, upstairs, they are sitting about 40% ahead of last year,” VandeGraaf said.
“We are in the early stages of incorporating new-age AI (artificial intelligence) that will revolutionize the way criminal checks are done in Canada. Not in Cobourg, not in Northumberland – in Canada,” he stressed.
“This was all made possible because our team was fortunate enough to work in a shared space that is an idea-, energy- and opportunity-rich environment.”
Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd had attended the grand opening last year, and recalled the big plans everyone had.
“That vision has not been realized – I would argue it has been exceeded,” Rudd said.
“Under one roof, we are witnessing the collaborations that chart the course for dynamic breakthroughs that may even lead – and I truly believe will lead – to global impact.
“I believe history will be made here. One of our promising start-up companies will grow to touch society in a way that is demonstrably profound.
“This is about history, it's about legacy as much as it is about the future. It's about the stories of possibilities being written here today.”
Northeastern University regional dean and chief executive officer Aliza Lakhani, one of the key players in the new Venture Kids initiative, complimented the growth mindset she saw at Venture 13.
“The integrity, humanity and collaboration that comes from this team – when you leave all the egos and all the agendas aside, that's when things happen,” Lakhani said.
Keynote speaker Tamara Small – a St. Mary Secondary School alumna who went on to become a successful technology journalist, consultant, public speaker and entrepreneur – is a key player in one of Venture 13's newest initiatives, Venture Kids.
“Challenge is everywhere, but opportunity is not,” Small said.
Venture Kids is designed as a boost to young people wanting the best possible chance to prepare for a career in technology and entrepreneurship.
She also shared what she has learned from her work that makes her think the future is promising for her old hometown.
“We are seeing a very unusual thing happening in Canada – American companies are launching satellite offices in Toronto and surrounding area. These companies are looking for talent, but also looking to expand and reach outside the downtown-Toronto core.
“Venture 13 and these areas represent the perfect landing places.”
Sarmiento hired to develop Concert Hall plan
By Cecilia Nasmith
The Town of Cobourg's Community Services Division is pleased to announce that Antonio Sarmiento has been hired to act as an artistic and creative consultant over the coming year to develop a strategic and operational plan for the Victoria Hall Concert Hall.
Sarmiento's background includes a bachelor-of-arts degree in theatre and fine arts from Fordham University at Lincoln Centre in New York, as well as graduating from Valley Forge Military Academy and College, the Hollywood Film Institute and the Disney Institute.
He has more than 20 years' experience in similar roles with a variety of national and international theatres and performing-arts centres – most recently as artistic director and general manager of Port Hope's Cameco Capitol Arts Centre and head of production at Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation.
In his work at the Capitol, he produced a number of live-theatre productions, receiving awards and accolades for his achievements from the Northumberland Centra Chamber of Commerce and the Business Achievement Awards.
The Concert Hall provides a central venue for plays, concerts and musical theatre performed by guests of local, national and international renown, from local folk singer Aengus Finnan to Canadian country-music star Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo fame.
In order to build on the venue's historic past and significant achievements in order to ensure a better position for the future, the Community Services Division will be launching a thorough review for optimal alignment with the impending Cultural Master Plan.
Sarmiento will be leading this review with the support and leadership of the Community Services Division staff.
Director of community services Dean Hustwick noted in the press release that the Concert Hall has been a significant cultural asset for the town (and surrounding region) for almost 160 years
“Antonio Sarmiento has been a cultural and artistic leader in this are for many years, and has had many great achievements throughout his career,” Hustwick added.
“Together, along with our Community Services Division staff, we will position the Concert Hall for even greater success a a cultural anchor in this community.”
Sarmiento stated in the bulletin that he is pleased for the opportunity to continue his creative career in Cobourg, “the place my family and I have been so lucky to call our home for 10 years now.
“The Concert Hall at Victoria Hall is a magnificent venue that's central to our community. I look forward to engaging council, town staff and citizens on how we can continue to deliver innovative artistic experiences we can all be proud of.”
Rudd invites New Horizons proposals
By Cecilia Nasmith
On the heels of a string of New Horizons for Seniors Program grants for seniors' services, Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd has announced an invitation for proposals for the program's 2019-2020 year.
Rudd issued the call on behalf of the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister for Seniors.
New Horizon is a program of Federal grants and contributions with the goal of supporting projects that help improve the well-being and quality of seniors' lives by fostering social inclusion and engagement in all aspects of society.
“The Government of Canada deeply values the contribution seniors make to our country,” Rudd said in the press release.
“We know that when seniors can fully participate in society everybody benefits.”
The MP's press release also included some quick facts of interest, such as the news that seniors are Canada's fastest-growing group. By 2030, its estimated 9.6-million population will represent almost 25% of Canada as a whole.
The New Horizons program's community-based funding stream supports activities that address one or more of five objectives – volunteering, mentoring, expanding awareness of elder abuse, social participation and capital assistance.
Interested organizations can apply for funding under the program's three national priorities:
Preventing elder abuse and fraud, including measures to reduce crimes and harms against seniors.
Supporting health aging in the community, and addressing dementia (including community supports and intergenerational housing).
Counteracting ageism in the workplace to promote labour-market retention of seniors,
