In new blogpost from Brighton Councillor Jeff Wheeldon he explains a couple of things that have happened lately and gives an excellent narrative and explanation why Cobourg’s ECE bylaw prevents proper operation of any warming room located in Cobourg. But more than anything he states very firmly why he is correct in speaking out against the present operation of the warming room – because it is a Northumberland warming room and he lives in Northumberland!

Cobourg Council’s ironical hypocrisy in this situation is illustrated in one quote from Jeff – “In their statements at the emergency meeting held last week, Cobourg continues to insist that people sleeping in a warming room would violate the fire code, building code, and zoning, despite their new insistence that they are pro-sleeping in the warming room.” 

As well as describing how the operation of the warming room is not just a Cobourg problem but a County one he then goes on to tell us all that a three page motion from Councillor Cleveland (the Mayor of Cobourg) that amongst other things will rewrite the rules for the operation of the Social Services department of the County is on the agenda of the next regular County Council meeting. He is asking that a third party consultant be selected to examine the system and all parties in the system.

Jeff, in his summary of the motion states “While the motion does note reductions in funding for critical programs like safe supply, by calling for a third party to completely redesign our social services system it implies that the structure of the department (a supposed and unexplained “silo approach”) is the reason for their ineffectiveness, insofar as they have not been able to eliminate homelessness at a time  when:

• homelessness is exploding across North America;
• funding from higher levels of government is about 5% of what is required to actually eliminate homelessness using the programs at our disposal; and
• regulation from below (i.e., the ECE by-law) continues to complicate and frustrate social services staff as they do their best with the limited resources available to them.“

Looking at all of these moves from Cobourg’s Mayor supported by an subservient (in this case) and acquiescent Cobourg Council all we can conclude is that when this motion, previously described as “an arrogant approach” by one of his fellow County Councillors, is rejected by his fellow Councillors on Wednesday morning (Dec 17th 9.30am) he will go off on a rant describing how the rest of his colleagues still don’t like him and he is the only person the room trying to bring the County into line with new ways of doing things. It will be an interesting response to watch for.

But the bottom line here comes from Jeff’s blog: “Perhaps most importantly, the (ECE) by-law requires that the shelter obtain a license from the town; licenses can be revoked, so the county-run shelter can only operate at all with the town’s ongoing permission. If the town determines that the county is not meeting their standards, they can cause the shelter to be closed entirely.” There should be no way that this can happen in the real world – the tail wagging the dog. It may please the Mayor and his rabid mad-dog supporters that Cobourg is seemingly controlling its own destiny but not at the expense of the Majority of Northumberland County’s Citizens.