Council creates 'Made in Tillsonburg' Regional Review committee
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The province’s Municipal Regional Review advisors are gathering information, recommendations and reports from communities and municipal governments, including those in Oxford County.
And within Oxford County, the Town of Tillsonburg.
At its Tuesday meeting, Tillsonburg Council voted in favour of creating a new ad hoc Tillsonburg Regional Review Committee, which will include three members of Council – Mayor Stephen Molnar, and Councillors Chris Parker and Deb Gilvesy. Also, a member of the Tillsonburg District Chamber of Commerce, Tillsonburg BIA and the town’s Economic Development Committee will be invited to participate.
The goal of the committee, said Councillor Parker reading his proposal Tuesday night prior to the vote, would be for the Regional Review Committee to develop ‘Made in Tillsonburg’ options to bring back to Council for the purpose of sending a submission to the Regional Review Advisors and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
“After reviewing the information provided in the Regional Governance Review, it is obvious that the provincial government is going to want to see more changes than just finding efficiencies in our service delivery,” said Parker. “We should be looking for efficiencies in the County and Town services on a regular basis anyways, and it shouldn’t take the Regional Review to bring this on. We need to come together and create a Made in Tillsonburg solution before the decision gets made for us, and we lose the ability to manage the amazing things that we have built in our community.”
Deputy Mayor Dave Beres suggested input should be provided to the Tillsonburg Committee by all members of Council.
“My intent is not to meet with the entire Council at the same time, but to meet individually with the Committee to allow input,” said Beres.
“I think, in essence, it’s trying to find additional local opportunity for input,” said Molnar, “which will ultimately parallel the work that the CAOs hopefully will be doing, the County of Oxford would be doing, and all lower tiers.”
“I concur… I will be open to comments and suggestions from other members of Council,” said Parker. “This not just a Chris Parker idea. I would definitely be looking to the other members of Council for information and comment.”
Councillor Penny Esseltine asked whether the new Regional Review Committee would extend an opportunity to Tillsonburg residents to provide input.
“Would this be something that would be tied to that Committee, or are we looking to do that separately?” Esseltine asked. “I thought that we had decided that we would have a (public) opportunity.”
“We have, through resolution, a commitment to have a full open house meeting,” said Molnar. “Basically described as open doors, Lions Auditorium, mics on, very brief presentation, and listen to the people of our community. That’s the level of public engagement, through resolution, that we have committed.”
“If you’re looking for a Made in Tillsonburg solution, I think local people should be able to contribute to that (Regional Review Committeee solutions) as well,” said Esseltine.
The new Tillsonburg Regional Review committee, on receiving a majority of votes from Council Tuesday night, will operate separately from the Service Delivery Review Steering Committee, which is comprised of nine municipal Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) in Oxford County, which Town Council also endorsed at its Tuesday meeting.
Meetings for the Town’s new Regional Review Committee and the proposed public open house had not yet been scheduled as of Tuesday night.
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