Oxford's Regional Review

Thursday, 14 February 2019 08:14

It's a wait and see approach for Oxford County when it comes to the province's regional review.

OXFORD COUNTY - Oxford County is waiting to hear back from the results of the province's regional review.

Oxford County Council was presented with a letter written by Minister Steven Clark during a meeting on February 13th.

Warden Larry Martin says the letter states the region is going through a review and they're waiting on the outcome.

"Basically what that is saying is that we're going through a review and I think it was July they came out and said that all the regional governments should review their numbers this year, and basically that is a reminder saying that they did that. But they want to remind us, Mr. Fenn and Mr. Seiling, when we're doing the interviews with them, that we're not doing anything yet at this point in time or we are doing and what stage we're at. Right now as far as Oxford County goes, we have done nothing and we're going to wait for the outcome of that, the review, so we'll know where we're headed at least."

Martin adds it's a wait and see approach for right now.

"It's the provincial government looking for cost savings and it's going through a review, and at this point in time, nobody really seems to know what that review is going to bring forward. We're all sitting back waiting, quite anxiously, to find out what is going to happen. Now, we've all had our input as far as members of council here go, but whether they're going out to go out and meet with the public or whether they're going to go out and meet with senior staff, I'm not determined whether that's going to happen or not so we'll have to wait and see what happens with that then."

Oxford County was among the regions included in the regional review from the provincial government. A review on Oxford County hasn't been done for 50 years.

The review, which is examining 82 municipalities across Ontario, will focus on governance, service delivery and decision making.