New Oxford Council Gets Right to Work
The Town of Oxford’s new Mayor—the 30th to hold the office—was sworn in last night. Greg Henley took the oath of office at a special Town Council meeting, presided over by outgoing mayor Trish Stewart, who welcomed new councillors Carla Black and Paul Jones.
They join returning councillors Wade Adshade and Brenton Colborne.
The ceremony, conducted over the internet by videoconference, took place immediately prior to the regular Committee-of-the-Whole meeting.
The council is not complete however... due to a lack of candidates in last month’s election, there are two empty seats on council. Residents of the town will have an opportunity to elect the remaining two councillors in a mid-January byelection.
Councillor Paul Jones, who served on a previous Oxford Town Council, wonders if the town could “get by” with just the four councillors who took their seats by acclamation, rather than go through the expense of another election.
Chief Administrative Officer Rachel Jones said that’s not possible under the Municipal Governance Act, but council could look at reducing the number of councillors at the next Municipal Boundary Review, held every eight years. The next review is scheduled for 2022.
Given the challenges Oxford has had in fielding enough candidates for its elections, Jones thinks a good argument could be made for the reduction.
Not having enough candidates for its municipal election costs Oxford a fair chunk of cash: the January byelection is estimated to cost about $7200, mitigated somewhat by $1800 left over from October’s election budget.
It remains to be seen whether there are residents of the town who are willing to put themselves out there as candidates to guide the community through the next four years of significant challenges, not the least of which is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with public recreation programming cuts, a non-operational arena, and a considerable debt-load that affects the town's ability to meet its commitments.
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