Northumberland County council won’t be pursuing the concept of changing the way police services are being delivered in the county any time soon.

At its monthly meeting on Wednesday (September 18), council received an overview from representatives of StrategyCorp, the consultant that it approved hiring earlier this year at a cost of $75,000 to explore different scenarios for providing policing services in the future for all of Northumberland County’s 80,000 residents.

Currently in Northumberland County, the Cobourg Police Service serves the Town of Cobourg, the Port Hope Police Service primarily serves the urban area of the Municipality of Port Hope (Ward 1), and the OPP’s Northumberland detachment (with locations in Cobourg, Brighton, and Campbellford) serves the rural area of the Municipality of Port Hope, along with Hamilton Township, Alnwick-Haldimand Township, Cramahe Township, the Municipality of Brighton, and the Municipality of Trent Hills.

The report summary from StrategyCorp that was presented to council included three options:

• Transferring the delivery of all police services in Northumberland County to the OPP, which would essentially amalgamate the Cobourg Police Service and the Port Hope Police Service into the OPP.
• Amalgamating the Cobourg Police Service and the Port Hope Police Service into a single service for both the Town of Cobourg and the urban area of the Municipality of Port Hope (Ward 1), while continuing with the OPP for the areas it currently serves.
• Maintaining the status quo.

After an animated discussion amongst county councillors and a delegation from the Town of Cobourg’s police chief, council ultimately opted to receive the study for information only as opposed to moving forward with the second phase of the project, which would have involved a full costing of the alternative service delivery models identified in the study.

Three county councillors spoke in light of the fact that county governments, unlike regional governments, do not currently oversee policing services — that it’s up to the lower-tier municipalities — and they didn’t see the point in moving further ahead.

“We do not have the authority to move forward,” said County Councillor Scott Jibb. “This a lower-tier responsibility and it must stay there.”

Councillors Bob Crate and John Logel shared similar sentiments.

The StrategyCorp report summary projected millions of dollars in cost savings over a 10-year period in both of the first two scenarios, with an estimated savings of $50.7 million if the OPP provided all policing services in the county and an estimated savings of $21.5 million if the police services in Cobourg and Port Hope were amalgamated.

“The status quo (scenario three) delivers adequate and effective policing for each of the communities,” the summary noted. “However, of the three scenarios evaluated, it does so at the highest cost, and with the least opportunity for improved efficiency. This is because the model divides service delivery between three services, two of which are small in scale.”

Last year, council added $75,000 to the 2023 budget to retain StrategyCorp to update the 2007 “Policing Study Final Report for Northumberland County.” The county said the updated study would support municipal planning for effective and affordable policing over the long term, as the community grows and changes, by identifying service delivery options ranging from maintaining existing service structures to exploring a combined model.

The report considered current service delivery models in Northumberland and provided an analysis of potential alternatives. “This report is meant to give county council the information needed to determine if proceeding to the next phase of the project is warranted,” county staff noted in its report.

Municipality of Brighton Mayor Brian Ostrander, who currently serves as the warden of Northumberland County council, earlier told kawarthaNOW that having one county-wide police force for Northumberland instead of three separate services was worth a second look. Ostrander proposed to council the motion of updating the 2007 study.

“Both (County Councillor and Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland) and I put this motion on the floor for this purpose based on a discussion at lunch one day about (how) we should be looking at uploading more services to the county and sharing services better, and emergency services were the discussion we were having,” Ostrander said during the September 18 meeting.

They had discussed both fire services and police services, determining finding efficiencies in seven fire services would be “a heavier manoeuvre” than three police services.

“That’s why we went down this road of investigating this,” Ostrander said. “I concur with my fellow councillors that this is a local-level decision unless we choose to upload it to the county, and I think it makes little sense to go down this road unless we have a willingness to investigate what that upload looks like.”

The day before the council meeting, the Cobourg Police Services Board (CPSB) received a presentation from Cobourg police chief Paul VandeGraaf “that identified exaggerations, misinformation, and incomplete assumptions” in the StrategyCorp report, subsequently passed two motions raising concerns about the consultant’s report, and issued a media release.

The Omemee Legion celebrated its 75th anniversary on Saturday (September 14) by unveiling a exterior makeover of the historic building at 46 King Street East in Omemee, including a new military-themed mural that covers the entire rear wall.

For the past four years, members of Omemee Legion Branch 497 had been planning an rejuvenation of of the building’s exterior, and an $18,500 capital grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation last year made it possible to proceed with painting three sides of the building in the summer.

“The provincial government, through the Ontario Trillium foundation, is proud to support the revitalization of the Omemee Legion Branch 497,” said Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott at the unveiling. “I am happy to see the efforts being made to honour this historic landmark. It is inspirational to see the Legion’s commitment to preserving our heritage for generations to come.”

Branch president Donna Robinson, past president Bill McQuade, and artifacts and grants chair Karen Cooper wanted to honour the 1889 legacy of the building as the town foundry, and chose a Victorian paint colour scheme to mimic its worn and weathered brickwork and to blend in naturally with recent streetscape improvements in the town.

“This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Omemee Legion, and we thought it would only be fitting to combine its birthday with a new look that reflects the building’s 135 years of history,” Cooper said.

As for the mural, the Legion fundraised to hire local artist Trevor Clark to depict a tribute to the dazzle camouflage paint that helped protect Royal Canadian Navy warships during both World Wars.

Also known as razzle dazzle, the complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colours interrupting and intersecting each other were designed to make it difficult for the enemy to estimate a target’s range, speed, and heading.

Clark’s mural also features a life-size representation of a ship’s propeller.

McQuade said the building’s improved aesthetics will allow the Legion to expand its business and rental options, “which gives us additional income security.”

“The Legion has always been the town landmark building and, if it looks well kept and cared for, so does the town,” Robinson added.

The Legion’s building is available for community events and meetings. For inquiries, visit Omemee Legion Branch 497 on Facebook, call 705-799-5095, or email rcl497@bellnet.ca.

The second annual Monarch Butterfly Festival will spread its wings in Peterborough on Saturday, September 21 to raise awareness and funds to keep the monarch butterfly alive and fluttering for years to come.

The free festival, which takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Peterborough’s Millennium Park, features musical performances by Giovanni y Sus Amigos, Indigenous drumming, Zumba dancing, face painting, and environmental presentations, along with a vendor fair showcasing sustainability and biodiversity initiatives.

Before the festival, a fundraising 10-kilometre race and a one-kilometre kids fun run will take place along the Rotary Trail and Otonabee River. Both the race and kids fun run are now sold out, but community members can cheer on the runners along the route.

The festival and race and run are being organized by the Monarch Ultra, a community-led group in Peterborough that raises awareness about the plight of the migratory monarch butterfly, an endangered species threatened by habitat destruction and climate change.

In 2019, the group organized a 4,300-kilometre relay run from Canada to Mexico, followed in 2021 by an 1,800-kilometre relay run within Ontario. The group held the inaugural Monarch Butterfly Festival and Run in Peterborough in October 2023.

Monarch Ultra co-founder Carlotta James spoke with kawarthaNOW about her hopes for this year’s event.

“My greatest hope for the monarch festival and race is to raise awareness about the plight of monarch butterflies, which are in steep decline,” James said. “Community participation through conservation action can have a positive impact not only on biodiversity, but also for creating opportunities for connection and celebration.”

“I want to inspire people to take action, either by donating to our fundraiser for the monarch sanctuary or by planting a garden for pollinators which includes milkweed species, the host plant for monarch butterflies.”

The event is a fundraiser for Nación Verde, a Mexican non-profit environmental organization that is helping to restore habitat loss from deforestation in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a media release about the event noted.

Nación Verde works in several areas including conservation, making schoolyards greener, and protecting the environment.

“We have had the privilege of planting more than a million native trees in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve together with the Indigenous communities that live there,” said Diego Leon, project manager for Nación Verde.

“This effort not only translates into (oyamel) fir trees, which are key to the hibernation habitat of the monarchs, but also into economic support for the people who are responsible for the ecosystem services that we all enjoy thanks to the care they give to their forests.”

Meanwhile, James shared a few details about from where her passion for the monarch butterfly stems.

“Monarch butterflies have inspired me in so many ways,” she said. “Their 4,500-kilometre migration from north to south is one of the longest insect migrations on Earth.”

“I often think of monarchs when I’m running endurance trail races, which give me strength to run further, make me aware of my natural surroundings and to continue fighting for this beautiful species — a symbol of resilience.”

The Monarch Ultra’s epic relay run in 2019 from Peterborough to the Sierra Madre Mountains in central Mexico “wasn’t just about running,” James said.

“It was also about connecting with the activists, artists, and the communities who are working tirelessly to shed light on the pressing threats faced by monarch butterflies. The Monarch Ultra is just a humble reminder that through collective action, almost anything is possible.”

All of the donations raised through the Monarch Butterfly Festival and Run will be directed to Nación Verde. For more information about Nación Verde and to make a donation, visit
raceroster.com/events/2024/87399/monarch-ultra-10km/fundraising-organization/55375.

James noted there are also multiple other ways residents can help save monarch butterflies.

“One way is to plant milkweed (the host plant for monarchs) and other nectar-rich flowers that appeal to a wide range of pollinators. Citizens can also influence their local governments to create better policies that protect biodiversity and wild spaces.”

Finally, this year’s event encompasses an art competition for high school students to showcase the beauty of monarch butterflies while encouraging creativity and awareness for youth, organizers noted. The winner of the art competition will receive a tote bag with art supplies from the Art Gallery of Peterborough. The deadline to submit an art piece is Friday, September 20.

For more information about the Monarch Ultra, including the Monarch Butterfly Festival, visit www.themonarchultra.com.

It is “disappointing” that the City of Peterborough has hired only one of the 16 employees at Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED) who will lose their jobs at the end of the year, when the city is set to take over responsibility for economic development and tourism from the not-for-profit organization.

That was one of the comments made by PKED board vice chair Paul Hickey when he addressed city councillors during their general committee meeting on Monday night (September 16).

While the meeting’s agenda included a report from PKED board chair Burton Lee and president and CEO Rhonda Keenan on the organization’s activities for the first and second quarter of 2024, Hickey’s presentation didn’t address the report. Instead, he shared examples of three projects that have been underway at PKED and raised some concerns about the transition of responsibilities from PKED to the city that are “not normally included in reports.”

“Three months from now, the ball’s going to be in your court from an economic development and tourism perspective,” Hickey said. “I thought the chance to be here and just kind of talk to you face to face would be good.”

As for the three projects, Hickey said “I think they’re really representative of the kinds of work that needs to be continued to be done if we’re going to grow, if we’re going to increase our tax base, and increase our population.”

Using the example of the Farnborough International Airshow that took place in July in the U.K., Hickey stressed the continued importance of the aerospace and aviation sector in Peterborough and demonstrated how attendance at these kind of industry events is critical for lead generation.

“I wanted to vote that that continues to be a really strong priority of whoever’s doing economic development in the future,” he said. “Lead generation is a crucial part of what we do.”

Hickey, who noted that PKED staff attended the airshow along with representatives from The Loomex Group and the Peterborough Airport, said PKED came away with “15 really strong leads,” with 11 of them still “what we would consider hot” for potential tenant agreements at the airport.

Hickey then spoke about the Build & Soar program, which is designed to match local employers with students from the local separate and public school boards’ construction and aviation and aerospace specialist high skills major program, a specialized provincially approved program that allows students to focus their learning on a specific economic sector while meeting the requirements to graduate from secondary school.

“One of the pieces of economic development that often doesn’t get talked about is the economic development for existing businesses, making sure that we’re helping them grow, helping them stay here, helping them find land, increased office space, increased manufacturing facilities,” Hickey said.

Hickey said the Build & Soar program, which has been led by PKED in partnership with the two school boards, the Peterborough & The Kawarthas Home Builders Association, and the Workforce Development Board, provided 42 high school students with summer jobs at 15 employers in the construction and aviation sectors. Editor’s note: PKED has clarified that 35 employers participated in the program; of the 42 high school students, 15 are participating in flight simulator training.

“It’s a great example of the kind of work that needs to be done to bring together students, schools, post-secondary institutions, and companies, and making sure that we’re meeting the needs of companies that are here right now,” Hickey said, noting that the Build & Soar program is intended to expose students to career possibilities that they might not have normally considered.

Hickey then spoke about PKED’s engagement with travel media to drive water-related tourism — specifically for the spring opening of the new Canadian Canoe Museum — by first addressing Mayor Jeff Leal.

“Your worship, with respect to some of your comments a few months ago, when you were waving the CAA (Canadian Automobile Association) magazine and wondering why we weren’t in CAA magazine, I wanted to touch on this for a second,” Hickey said. “It’s an example of some things that just get talked about out there and the overall impression that’s left sometimes is that the people at PKED, or The Canadian Canoe Museum, or Le Boat, or whoever, weren’t doing their jobs.”

Hickey was referring to comments Mayor Leal made during council’s general committee meeting on June 17, when councillors voted to endorse a staff report outlining the city’s plan to assume responsibility for economic development and tourism services.

“You would have thought that somebody would have had the initiative to have a story front and centre about The Canadian Canoe Museum,” the mayor said during the meeting, as he held up a recent edition of CAA magazine. “Isn’t that one of the great destinations that we want here in Ontario and Canada? I’m not a marketing guy but it seems to me that would be a pretty elementary thing to do, to get your story in a magazine that is probably on more kitchen tables than any other magazine that we have here.”

In his presentation, Hickey described how over $2 million worth of unpaid media coverage was generated about the new Canadian Canoe Museum, including coverage in the Globe & Mail, Cottage Life, The New York Times, National Geographic, and more.

“The teams involved in this did an incredible job of getting the news out that The Canadian Canoe Museum had launched, and I think that wasn’t really the flavour of what the public saw,” Hickey said. “Honestly, it was crushing at the time.”

“Continuing to build relationships with water-based travel media in the future is key,” he added. “That’s absolutely something you guys should be holding any future teams accountable (for). We need to be leading the world in terms of talking about waterways and tourism and business.”

Hickey also raised an issue related to the city’s use of the term “in house” to describe assuming responsibility for economic development and tourism from PKED. He said that term left the impression with many local businesses that at least some of the PKED staff would end up working for the city, providing continuity of service.

“The reality was, of 16 PKED employees, you guys have hired one,” he pointed out. “You’ve hired one of 16. The county has hired zero.”

That one employee is Cara Walsh, who worked for almost 12 years in various roles with PKED, most recently as tourism marketing and communications officer. The city hired her in August as a communications specialist with a focus on tourism and destination marketing.

“I’ve been involved in enough mergers and acquisitions and absorptions and whatever you want to call them — it’s super important that you maintain a certain level of continuity, of relationships with outside customers, relationships with suppliers,” Hickey said. “I can’t tell you how disappointing it is to see that, of all of these great people, you snapped up one.”

Hickey then turned to the municipal accommodation tax, which is $880,000 this year, noting to council that a “good chunk of that money” needs to be reinvested in event tourism to support the hospitality industry.

“This money is not meant to fund everything else the city does in addition to tourism and economic development.”

Referring to the famous line “If you build it, they will come” from the film Field of Dreams, Hickey emphasized the importance of having serviced land readily available to attract companies, with a veiled reference to the city’s plan to work with the county to identify opportunities for serviceable land.

“The days are gone where it’s enough to promise you can talk to your neighbours and figure stuff out once somebody expresses some interest,” he said. “That’s just not the way things work anymore.”

A long-standing issue facing PKED was its inability to close leads because of a lack of serviced land.

“All of the lead generation in the world is for naught if you haven’t got serviced land ready to go,” Hickey said.

In summing up, Hickey said PKED is going to continue to show fiscal responsibility in the final three months before the organization dissolves, but PKED also has to support its staff as they search for new jobs.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” Hickey said. “I didn’t think we’d be trying to help 15 people (find) jobs in October 2024.”

Hickey then referred to the transfer of knowledge, expertise, and client files as PKED winds down.

“We’re waiting for you guys on that,” he pointed out, using a sales analogy. “You can’t hand over your territory if you can’t sit down and talk to the person who’s going to take over your territory, talk about who’s important, talk about the local businesses that have been on our backs for the last six months or six years. All of that stuff has to happen, and it hasn’t happened yet.”

While acknowledging the city has not hired all of its economic development staff yet, Hickey said it would be a “huge miss” if PKED was unable to share its insights, customer files, and more with the city before PKED dissolves.

In his closing remarks, Hickey thanked the “passionate, talented group” at PKED.

As for Mayor Leal’s comment about being in CAA magazine, Hickey — who is founder and chairman of Peterborough-based advertising agency Outpost379 — pointed out an ad in the magazine costs $50,000 “and I would never recommend it.”

In his final comment to council, Hickey noted that, in a normal October, PKED staff would be working on media campaigns for the following year.

“That’s not in our bailiwick anymore — that’s for someone else to do,” he said. “We really are anxious to start to sit down with your new people, when they’re announced, to start to transfer over some of this knowledge and expertise.”

With the exception of councillor Alex Bierk, who asked about earned media and the value of lead generation from the Farnborough International Airshow, there were no questions or comments from city council, although general committee chair and councillor Andrew Beamer thanked Hickey and the PKED team for their hard work “for what it’s worth.”

Peterborough city council has endorsed keeping the modular bridge housing community (MBHC) program at Wolfe Street in downtown Peterborough beyond November 2025, along with additional funding to improve security, but has deferred a decision to expand the site with more modular cabins.

Meeting as general committee on Monday night (September 16), councillors considered a staff report recommending the MBHC program continue beyond the originally approved timeframe of November 2025, contingent on continued funding under the Ontario government’s homelessness prevention program, and that the program remain at Wolfe Street rather than be moved to another location.

The report also recommended that council delegate authority to the city’s community services commissioner to make decisions about physical and operational modifications to the site, and that the city spend an additional $75,000 to improve security at the site and allocate up to $1.12 million to expand the site with up to 16 additional modular cabins.

In May 2023, city council approved the MBHC program to operate for 18 to 24 months as a measure to provide supported temporary housing options for people experiencing homelessness, largely in response to a controversial tent encampment at the Wolfe Street/Rehill Lot. By fall 2023, the city had constructed 50 modular homes, shared washroom facilities, and a central service hub operated by the Elizabeth Fry Society with 24/7 services and staff support on site.

According to the staff report, an initial evaluation of the program’s effectiveness shows improvements in the stability of residents, successful transitions to permanent housing, and residents making progress on goals and employment, as well has a safer and more positive neighbourhood environment.

Discussion on the staff report began with councillor Keith Riel proposing a motion to defer a decision on the expansion of the site and an amendment to require the city’s community services commissioner to consult with the council co-chairs for the portfolio that includes social services — Riel and councillor Alex Bierk — on decisions about physical and operational modifications of the site.

Riel’s amendment was carried unanimously by the mayor and the nine councillors at the meeting (councillor Matt Crowley was absent), with discussion then turning to Riel’s motion to defer a decision on the expansion of the site.

Riel referred to a conversation he had with Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith about the province’s recent announcement for funding homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hubs. As part of the August 20th announcement to ban supervised drug consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and child care centres, the Ontario government said it would be investing $378 million in 19 new HART hubs that would add up to 375 “highly supportive” housing units as well as addiction recovery and treatment beds.

According to Riel, MPP Smith told him 16 additional modular cabins at Wolfe Street are not needed as Four Counties Addiction Services Team (Fourcast) is working on a proposal for HART funding that would include transitional housing.

“I’m just bringing that up, the conversation I had with him, that transitional housing is a part of the HART program and he thought that there would be no need for the 16 modulars,” Riel explained. “I said to move it (the decision on expanding MBHC) to a future date because, if that doesn’t happen (the approval of the Fourcast proposal) and we do not get the funding, we may have to come back and revisit this — that we need to put more modulars in or find a place for more modulars to house people.”

After spending some time discussing procedures to separate and vote on the five recommendations in the staff report, councillors spoke to the first recommendation that the MBHC program remain on Wolfe Street beyond November 2025.

“I can’t support the site remaining there any longer than the original 18 to 24 months, so the immediate question is ‘Where do we put them?’,” said councillor Dave Haacke. “We do have other options. I know that there is land at the city boundary.”

Haacke noted that council made a “promise” to residents and businesses in the Wolfe Street neighbourhood when approving the MBHC program that it would be temporary, with a timeframe of 18 to 24 months. He suggested alternative locations, such as land by the Peterborough Airport, could be used as a site.

According to the staff report, it would cost at least $1.68 million to relocate the MBHC to a different site, with additional expenses possible depending on the new site. The current funding under the provincial homelessness prevention program would not be sufficient to cover the cost of moving the program.

In addition to potential costs, the report notes other reasons against moving the program to another location, including minimizing disruptions to the residents at the current location and potential challenges in replicating operational procedures and processes at a different site.

Mayor Leal spoke in support of maintaining MBHC at the Wolfe Street site, saying that it will continue to be needed while other transitional and supporting housing options are being developed in the community. Leal specifically referred to Brock Mission’s recent proposal for a 50-suite transitional housing building.

“If their project is that one that we decide will go forward, it takes time to get the appropriate planning approvals and it takes time to physically build the (units) they want to provide to support people who are making that orderly transition from modular homes into supportive housing into regular apartments,” the mayor said.

In supporting the recommendation, councillor Kevin Duguay said “we’re going to struggle deeply and profoundly” to find another location for the MBHC program.

“The reality is that no neighbourhood in our community will be receptive of a relocation, either in part or in full,” he said, acknowledging that maintaining the MBHC program on Wolfe Street means “we’re kind of going back on our word” to residents and businesses in the Wolfe Street neighbourhood.

After councillors Riel and Joy Lachica spoke in support of the first recommendation, councillors voted 9-1 for the MBHC program to remain on Wolfe Street beyond November 2025, with councillor Haake casting the sole dissenting vote.

In quick succession, councillors then voted unanimously to support the remaining four recommendations.

Councillor voted to delegate authority to the city’s community services commissioner to make decisions about physical and operational modifications to the site in consultation with council co-chairs, after the original recommendation was unanimously voted down and a revised version was introduced that removed a reference to expanding the capacity of the Wolfe Street site.

They also voted to approve $75,000 for improving security at the MBHC site, to defer a decision on expanding the MBHC program with new modular cabins, and to authorize the city’s community services commissioner “to do such things and to execute such documents” for the MBHC program “on terms satisfactory to the city solicitor.”

Items endorsed by general committee on September 16 will be considered by council for final approval the following Monday (September 23), when public delegations will be heard.

Council meetings are streamed live at www.peterborough.ca.