Interview with a City Councillor - August 31st, 2026

Monday, 31 August 2026 at 10:43

Councillor Liz Wismer-Van Meer will tease upcoming Woodstock City Council meetings during the municipal election campaign.

WOODSTOCK - It's an interesting time in the world of local politics, with a municipal election less than two months away.

Mayor Jerry Acchione usually joins us on the Heart FM Mornings on the Monday before a Woodstock City Council meeting to let us know what's on the agenda. However, the CRTC has strict rules in place for candidate airtime during a municipal election campaign.

Liz Wismer-Van Meer is the only member of Woodstock City Council that is not running for re-election this fall, so she will be joining us for these interviews for the time being.

This week's City Council agenda consists of 356 pages, but Wismer-Van Meer says a majority of it highlights an Engineering report that explores the idea of implementing an Administrative Monetary Penalties system (AMP). With a system like this in place, Wismer-Van Meer says you would fight municipal bylaw and parking tickets at City Hall instead of the courthouse

"It transfers the bylaw disputes from the courtroom to the municipality through a use of screening and hearing officers who are able to modify, cancel, or affirm penalties. So they would hire people to come and do this on the level of the municipality."

The whole idea is to streamline bylaw enforcement, while also reducing court room congestion.

With council's approval this Thursday, staff will quote how much this change would cost and bring a report back to council.

City Council will also discuss the possibility of having a second Woodstock Public Library branch inside the new multi-use rec centre in the north end of the city. Wismer-Van Meer says council will be asked to include this in the schematics for the project.

"A few years ago, a report showed that the current library does not have enough space and they need to expand. However, expanding Carnegie Library where it currently is does not work."

If council approves adding a library to the schematics, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be included in the final design. It would be considered as one of many possibilities for the space.

This Thursday's City Council meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. and it will be livestreamed on the City of Woodstock YouTube page. You can also find the meeting agenda online here.

Councillor Wismer-Van Meer also discussed the following during her interview this morning:

- A presentation from Oxford County staff that will provide an overview of the new Official Plan project.

- A flag raising ceremony for Terry Fox that will be taking place in Museum Square at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.

You can listen to the full interview below: