It's coming - the next Municipal election for Cobourg Council, and it promises to be a yawner.
Only three of the seven incumbents have filed yet and one newcomer, although this will be his third attempt to get on, have filed.
This is appalling and shows that the Citizens of Cobourg have little interest in their own governance. To have three incumbents who have not made their intentions known is either arrogant or ignorant. Arrogant because they think they don't have to campaign to keep their seats and ignorant because they are blocking a spot for somebody else if they are not going to run again.
Let's face it this Council has to be the worst I have ever seen in my watching in the past thirty-five years. Driven by lacklustre leadership, the present bunch don't have much faith in the Mayor, and it shows but none of them have the balls to run against him. Thus perpetuating the situation of stagnancy if they all get re-elected.
I just hope that none of them try to run on their records - they don't have any achievements to brag about. All of them ran on the homelessness issue and promised to do something in the next four years, four years ago. They have have done nothing substantial and in fact the situation has become more dire for the street people. What they have done, by hiving the issue off to the County, is to throw their collective hands up in the air and cry "Uncle". "Let the County do it" is the mantra - disgusting.
For a Council of taxfighters - well most of them say they are, they appear to have given up the ghost on that one. Preliminary discussions indicate an increase of the inflation rate - 8%. Given that they have increased the payroll in City Hall by Hundreds of thousands what do we have to show for it? A promise of a better future!
So this is an appeal for people to decide whether to run for Council. We need a new approach with diverse opinions, people who are willing to go out on a limb to tell the Citizens of Cobourg how they are going to make their lives better and cheaper. Are those people out there and if not will the incumbents decide now to speak out, instead of being placeholders on a Monday night. After all the learning period is now over, With a Council term being longer than a University education they must have learned something in the last term that is transferable to the next one.
Prove me wrong - get off your butts and file for election, let's see some action!
