Delegations Heard For Regional Review

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Wednesday, 17 April 2019 07:14

Council Chambers, Oxford County Administration Building

The general consensus at the public meeting regarding the Regional Review is that people are happy with a two tier system in Oxford County.

WOODSTOCK - The special advisors conducting the Regional Review heard from about 10 delegations in Woodstock yesterday.

The presenters had several ideas on how to make Oxford County more efficient, however everyone agreed that we should keep a two tier system. The general consensus from the presenters is that people are happy with a two tier system in Oxford County.

President of Transition to Less Waste Mike Farlow was one presenter who wanted to keep the status quo in Oxford County. He even went so far as to say he doesn't mind paying municipal taxes because of all the services the County has to offer.

"Because of the services that I receive, like I gave the example of the way my street is cleaned, if I have a complaint or a concern, I really feel like my concerns are listened to and they are considered when making decisions, you just can't get that anywhere else in the world."

Farlow says people don't realize how good we have it in Oxford, calling it a paradise.

"Oxford County is paradise, I don't want everyone outside of Oxford knowing that so they flood in, but it really is paradise, I can't think of a better place to live and be happy."

Other presenters had different solutions on how to make the County more efficient. Some wanted to see the number of councillors reduced and others suggested amalgamating some of the smaller townships together. One of the presenters asked the special advisors to let Oxford County make it's own decision, even saying he will donate $10,000 to help pay for the local study being done on how to make the County more efficient.

Here is the Deputy Minister and Founding CEO of regional transportation Metrolinx Michael Fenn's answer when asked if it was possible that one of their recommendations would be to have Oxford County make it's own decision.

"Well we have a mandate from the Government to produce a set of recommendations, ideally by the beginning of July and we are sticking to that time table but the Government itself, is going to take some time to reflect on what we recommend. As part of that, I'm sure Minister Clark, who is regularly in contact with municipal leaders will be taking input from other people too and that would certainly the County of Oxford if they had a set of recommendations that they wanted to make to the Minister, I'm sure he will consider them in parallel, to whatever we recommend."

Fenn is one of the special advisors along with the former Regional Chair of Waterloo Ken Seiling. They will take the input they gathered at the meeting and will use it for the recommendations they will present in July. Ultimately though, they are only making recommendations and the final decision will be made the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steven Clark, and the Provincial Government.

Seiling and Fenn reminded everyone at the meeting that their mandate is not to maintain the status quo and the focus is on providing better services at less cost.