First City Council Meeting in Woodstock

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Friday, 18 November 2022 at 14:15

By Brad Kraemer

Mayor Jerry Acchione stopped by the Heart FM studio to share his thoughts on the meeting.

WOODSTOCK - The new Woodstock City Council's first gathering was a success.

Mayor Jerry Acchione stopped by the Heart FM studio to share his thoughts on the meeting.

"It went fantastic. I'm really proud of all the new Council members, you can tell they did their homework, it went really smoothly and great questions were asked. I would expect that from the previous councillors with four years of experience under their belt but I think we just proved that we're going to work really well together."

The highlights of the meeting included the Capital Budget review, a notice of motion regarding reinstalling tables and benches downtown, appointments to advisory committees and boards and determining council meeting times.

Council meetings were at 7 p.m. pre-COVID, and during the pandemic, they took place at 1:30 p.m., always on the first and third Thursdays of the month.

To get the best of both worlds and appease everyone, Council decided to have 1:30 p.m. meetings on the first Thursdays, and 7 p.m. on the third Thursdays. In a month like December, when there is only one meeting due to Christmas, the sole meeting will be at 7 p.m.

As for the notice of motion, Councillor Kate Leatherbarrow requested that city staff reinstall benches in Museum Square effective immediately. Also, she requested any remaining benches as well as picnic tables be reinstalled throughout the rest of downtown in Spring 2023.

Mayor Acchione said he's always been in favour of benches downtown.

"I was never in favour of the benches being removed in the first place so this is definitely a motion I was in favour of. Having the benches there is fantastic. We don't want to punish people that want to use them. We want people downtown."

Mayor Acchione added that when the motion is brought to the floor in the December 15th meeting, it will be debated on and a decision will be made. He encourages the public to join.

Lastly, decisions for most of the committees and boards have been sorted out. The rest of the appointments will happen at the next Council meeting on December 15.

Here is the list provided by the City of Woodstock:

Art Gallery Advisory Board
Councillor Connie Lauder

Woodstock Board of Management - Downtown Improvement Area
Councillor Kate Leatherbarrow

Woodstock Hydro Legacy Fund Committee
Mayor J. Acchione
Councillor Connie Lauder
Councillor Deb Tait

Police Services Board
Mayor J. Acchione
Councillor Connie Lauder

Woodstock Public Library Board
Councillor Deb Tait
Councillor Kate Leatherbarrow
Councillor Bernia Wheaton

South Gate Centre Board of Directors
Councillor Connie Lauder

Woodstock Hospital Trust
Councillor Connie Lauder

Upper Thames River Conservation Authority
Mark Schadenberg (pending Oxford County Council approval)

Mayor Acchione ended by noting his excitement to work with this Council team.

"I'm really excited going forward with this new Council. You can tell from last night that it's a breath of fresh air of different approaches and different thought processes."