Oxford County Council Composition Review

Thursday, 18 June 2020 12:30

Residents of Oxford County are being asked if they want to keep the status quo with council, or if they should be adding more seats and if the public should be electing a Warden.

OXFORD COUNTY - Residents of Oxford County are being asked to give their feedback on a Council composition review that will look at the number of members on Council, the election of the County Warden, and how voting is carried out during Council meetings.

The topic recently came up at a meeting and almost all of the members on council are happy with the status quo. Tillsonburg Mayor Stephen Molnar however does want to see another member from Tillsonburg at the table and would like to see the Warden elected by the public.

Currently the Warden is elected by a council that has 3 members from Woodstock and 1 from each of the other municipalities and towns.

Warden Larry Martin says they do a council composition review every term and they had actually started last year.

"At least once every term, we have to review the composition of the members of County council and we want the feedback, we want to hear from the public, because the public has to be involved in this process because they are the public. If they are happy with what they have got fine, and if they want to seek changes, that is fine too. We started this process in 2019, then we got hit the Regional Review at that point in time and we thought, there is no sense in doing this now, if we are going to go through the Regional Review and everything changes."

Martin says they are anxious in hearing what the public has to say, however he is happy with the status quo.

"We went through the Regional Review in 2019 and the reason for that, was to get rid of politicians, so I don't know how it is going to work if we start adding to them, but that is up to the public."

To have a say on the Council composition review, residents can visit www.oxfordcounty.ca/speakup to fill out a short, 7-question survey or submit a comment. Feedback can also be sent directly to the County Clerk at clerksoffice@oxfordcounty.ca.

Speak Up, Oxford! includes more information on the review, including a timeline and the June 10 Council report with full details. An online public meeting on the Council composition review will take place on Wednesday, July 8 at 9:30 a.m.