Thank you for this responsibility.

The Municipal Act is clear that one of the primary roles of head of council is to deliver effective and efficient council meetings.

All councillors need to have a voice, whether we agree or disagree. If we’re going to disagree, let’s disagree constructively and try to find a way forward for residents. If we can, let’s find a compromise. If we can’t, and we lose, we lose, and we move on. Because residents don’t care about the drama that happens in this chamber, they care about the services that we deliver. The result of our deliberations in here is the services that residents receive.

In order to deliver on those we need to develop a very clear, robust strategic plan that gives clear policy direction to staff. That will be a message to residents: that this Council has a clear direction of where it wants to go … what policies and what services are a priority and what are not … how we are going to fund those as we go forward. It will give us, residents and our staff a clear lens to look at as to where our priorities are for the next four years. Our staff are excellent, but when we don’t give them clear policy direction through a strategic plan, we are dramatically under-utilizing one of the greatest resources this Council has to deliver services to residents.

I suggest for that Strategic Plan we utilize a Triple Bottom Line approach, where we analyze policy decisions through a lens of financial, environmental, and social consequences. All ten of us, indeed all 130,000 residents of Oxford County, will weigh those three criteria in different ways in different areas. If we use those three criteria to evaluate a strategic plan, we will get to the best place to deliver services for residents in a way they expect us to do.

The Municipal Act says that Oxford is an upper tier municipality. I respectfully disagree with that. Oxford is a different sphere of jurisdiction of municipal government. We have no oversight over area municipalities, we have no veto over area municipalities. We have a different and separate sphere of jurisdiction for services from the area municipalities.

Likewise, the 10 of us are not here to represent our area municipalities. The names on the wall here are the names of wards, essentially, in Oxford County. We’re here to represent the residents of the wards we’re here for, not the corporations we also got elected to in the municipal election. We are a regional government with a specific sphere of jurisdiction.

On that, Bills 23 and 39 are now the single largest issue in municipal government in Ontario. They threaten the very existence of local democratic government.

The More Homes Faster and Better Municipal Governance acts will increase property taxes, undermine local government independence, threaten farmland and the environment, and move control of our communities’ future to bureaucrats in Toronto.

They will not build more homes faster, or result in better government-- quite the opposite.

We ARE a responsible and accountable level of government. We know our communities better than the Province does, and we should not be shy about saying so.

I commit to focusing on efficient and effective council meetings on behalf of this Council. I suggest we use those meetings to focus on efficient and effective service delivery for residents,

and being the most knowledgeable and strong voice for Oxford County residents on the services they receive.

“Warden” is a French word that derives from the term, “guardian,” or a government official. Or, an official in charge of prisoners. So, I leave it to you to choose which is the most appropriate in the circumstance; maybe it will take four years to decide… 

But I do want to thank you all again. I’m really looking forward to the challenges and opportunities we’re going to have. I think this Council is well-suited to work together and I’m confident up to those challenges and opportunities and we will find a way to deliver for Oxford County residents. 

Warden's address from the Oxford County Council Inaugural meeting held November 23, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.

Watch now (19:14-minute mark)

Members of the 2022-2026 County Council were sworn in at the November 23 inaugural ceremony. The new Council elected Marcus Ryan, Mayor of Zorra Township, as Warden for the 2022-2026 term, and Jerry Acchione, Mayor of Woodstock, as Deputy Warden for the 2022-2023 one-year term.

County Council is made up of the mayors from each of Oxford’s eight area municipalities and the two County-City Councillors from City of Woodstock. From back left: Philip Schaefer (East Zorra-Tavistock), Deb Gilvesy (Tillsonburg), Warden Marcus Ryan, Deputy Warden Jerry Acchione, and David Mayberry (South-West Oxford).

Front, from left to right: Brian Petrie (Ingersoll), Mark Peterson (Blandford-Blenheim), Deb Tait (Woodstock), Jim Palmer (Norwich), and Bernia Wheaton (Woodstock).