Oxford Council of Six Seeks Volunteers

Volunteers were on the agenda of Oxford Town Council at last night’s regular monthly meeting.

In a review of boards and committees memberships, Council was told that some openings are available for folks who would like to lend their talents.

At the top of the list, the "All Saints Community Health Care" committee representative position is vacant. Meetings of that committee are held once a month at the Springhill hospital.

The town's Recreation Commission remains in the hands of Councillor Chrystal MacNutt, who is actively looking for people interesting in lending a hand as various activities and programming is organised in Oxford. 

The most pressing of these events is the upcoming Christmas Parade on November 25th. The committee's work this year will have the added support of the town's new Municipal Physical Activity Leader (MPAL), Jimmy Ward, but there are many tasks to share. If you would like to help make Oxford recreation something special, kindly reach out to the town office.

Discussion over the past couple of council meetings on the topic of how many councillors Oxford needs to represent the town was put to rest, with a decision to stick with the existing six seats. Councillors and Mayor Henley had batted about the idea of possibly reducing the size of council to four, with research by town staff showing other communities of similar or larger size had managed well enough with a reduced council. In the end, as Councillor MacNutt noted, there would be little cost savings given the small size of the honorarium paid to councillors. She added that keeping six representatives helps ensure a certain level of diversity of opinion in the event some members could not attend a given meeting due to other commitments. 

In previous debate on the subject, concern had been expressed regarding the town's elections, since the 2021 trip to the polls resulted in a shortage of candidates and required a by-election to fill two empty seats. That by-election cost the town around $10-thousand.

The idea of moving to a council of four was floated as one way to avoid that expensive situation.

In other Council news: Councillor Arnold MacDonald was chosen for another term as Deputy Mayor.

Mayor Greg Henley reminded residents of a public meeting on police services scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Capitol Theatre at 6:30pm.

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