Modified Agenda at Oxford Council Meet

The Town of Oxford’s regular monthly council meeting was shaping up to be a long, perhaps tedious slog through the town’s audited financials, but we’ll need to wait a couple of weeks to see those numbers.

Oxford’s Senior Accountant, RuthAnn Brookins, was unable to attend, so the presentation by Baker Tilley Nova Scotia is being deferred to the next Committee-of-the-Whole meeting in two weeks’ time.

Mayor Greg Henley noted that he’s seen the documents that were to be presented and everything appears to be going according to plan.Without that major agenda item to cover, Council moved quickly through the rest of the meeting, agreeing to reinstate the dormant Fire Department Committee, with Deputy Mayor Arnold MacDonald and longtime Councillor Brenton Colborne taking on the task of improving the flow of information between the Oxford Volunteer Fire Department and Town Council. The department is hoping to purchase a new-to-them fire truck as a replacement for ageing equipment, with an eye toward the purchase of a new vehicle in the coming years, as budgets allow.

The other focus of discussion for councillors: preparing for this fall’s municipal election. The Town has various options for the creation of the electors list, including the expensive and labour-intensive work of enumeration — the door-to-door canvassing of all local residents to ensure the voter’s list is as complete as possible. 

The other option, the one that Council adopted, was to make use of an existing list of electors from the Province of Nova Scotia. Naturally that list will be incomplete, as would any existing list, with the rapid growth of the Town in recent years and the many new residents who could be eligible to vote. 

Councillors discussed the ways in which outreach could be done in getting the news to new residents about the fall election.  Mayor Greg Henley and Chief Administrative Officer Linda Cloney clarified for those watching the livestream of the meeting that in order to offer as a candidate for council, residents need to have lived in the town for a minimum of six months. Those voting for the town representatives, however, only need to have officially been residents in Oxford for a day.

Oxford has a long-standing challenge in finding enough candidates to fill seats on council, with the last few general elections (and by-elections) seeing candidates confirmed by acclamation due to a lack of competition. 

In order to reach new residents with information on their rights and obligations as residents and voters, the town’s Welcoming Committee will look for ways to engage with the community and perhaps hold a public meeting to generate interest in voting, and in offering as a potential candidate for office.

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