2022 brought the inauguration of a new County Council for the 2022-2026 term, including six new members representing East Zorra-Tavistock, Ingersoll, Norwich, Tillsonburg, and two from Woodstock. Each new term, County Council elects among its members a new County Warden for the full four-year term. Marcus Ryan (Mayor, Zorra Township) was elected Warden at the inaugural meeting of Council on November 23, 2022, and Jerry Acchione (Mayor, Woodstock) was elected Deputy Warden for a one-year term.

County Council is made up of the mayors of all eight area municipalities and two additional councillors from the City of Woodstock. The Warden serves as head of council with the Deputy Warden serving in his place as needed. See Warden Ryan's inaugural address

Oxford County's Community Paramedicine Program was officially launched in 2022, providing at-home support to patients including assessment, referral, treatment, and the Remote Patient Monitoring Program that allows patients to self-manage their conditions under supervised care. 

Community Paramedicine is a new and evolving model of community-based health care that aims to address a lack of access to primary care by providing in-home support for people with complex chronic health issues. Through the program, paramedics work alongside public health, primary healthcare, and preventive services to help people stay in their homes while reducing 911 calls and hospital admissions. 

Oxford County continued to undertake speed management, traffic calming, and road safety measures in 2022 to improve safety on County roads, particularly in rural communities that have experienced increased traffic and speeding concerns. Road safety improvements last year were put in place in Beachville, Tavistock, Thamesford, Uniondale and Delmar. More

Tourism Oxford initiated several programs in 2022 that help to strengthen and broaden Oxford County’s economic base. In 2022, this included a call for businesses to join the award-winning Oxford County Cheese Trail, a collective of than 30 cheese makers, retailers, restaurants, museums and artisans; two grants of $3,000 to local businesses that develop or expand tourism experiences, offered in collaboration with Community Futures Oxford; and the inaugural Oxford Tourism Awards of Excellence that recognizes exceptional tourism businesses, organizations and individuals. 

Advocating to provincial and federal governments on behalf of municipalities, particularly for small urban/rural municipalities like Oxford, is often a point of discussion at County Council, with the current term of Council expressing its strong intent to advocate for Oxford residents. Increasing affordable housing, addressing homelessness, and managing growth are some of the key issues that surfaced in 2022, in addition to responding to new requirements for municipalities under the More Homes Built Faster Act and Bill 39, Better Municipal Governance Act.

 Updating the Transportation Master Plan

Work on the 2024 Transportation Master Plan, Oxford County's long-term strategic transportation plan, began in 2022. A key area of focus in this first year was public consultation on the County's transportation priorities, encompassing road safety, commute times, costs, the environmental impact of transportation, connectivity among travel modes and more. When completed, the master plan will set out Oxford County’s broad vision and goals for the transportation system for the next 20 years, allowing for regular updates and revisions to ensure it continues to meet the needs of our communities. More

Oxford County's long-awaited Cycling Master Plan continued its community consultation in 2022, drawing on community volunteers and members of the cycling community to develop recommendation to help foster a bike-friendly community. The completed plan builds on Oxford's current cycling initiatives, identifies opportunities for commuter cycling, and provides on-road connectivity and off-road trail networks to support active transportation. More 

A new OxfordCounty.ca

Oxford County launched a new version of www.oxfordcounty.ca in June 2022. The new site is faster, friendlier for mobile devices, builds on e-commerce, and allows for more news highlights and features. In addition to the information it offers about Oxford County programs, services and County Council, the website can be used to access a wide range of services: purchasing bag tags for garbage collection, accessing library services, paying provincial fines, planning applications and more. 

Oxford County supported six area municipalities in 2022 in their planning for Additional Residential Units (ARUs). ARUs-- which are smaller, self-contained dwelling units within a residential property, like basement apartments or attached suites-- provide housing options to residents and increase the housing supply in the community. Public consultation for the City of Woodstock began in 2021 culminating in a public meeting and  amendment to the Oxford County Official Plan in February 2022, followed by Woodstock's zoning amendment in April 2022 to allow ARUs. Consultation for ARUs in Oxford's five rural townships (Blandford-Blenheim, East Zorra-Tavistock, Norwich, South-West Oxford and Zorra) took place between June and August 2022. Amendments to the County's Official Plan were approved in early 2023, paving the way for the townships to adjust zoning by-laws in their communities to allow ARUs. 

Approved by County Council in August 2022, the Renewable Energy Action Plan outlines Oxford County's road map for how it can reach the 100% renewable energy goal through its own operations. The plan includes steps to decreasing energy dependence and greenhouse gas emissions and increasing renewable energy generation. Oxford County Council unanimously committed to achieving 100% renewable energy by 2050 as a broader community goal in 2015. More

Construction on a second weigh scale and new scale house at the Oxford County Waste Management Facility began in 2022 to improve traffic flow and customer wait times when entering and exiting the site. All vehicles disposing of waste are weighed for reporting, monitoring and, depending on the type of waste, calculating fees. While garbage and construction and demolition materials are usually charged a tipping fee, residents can dispose of most recycling, special waste, and leaf and yard waste at no extra charge. More

Oxford County undertook a review of its environmental resource policies in 2022 to ensure these resources are protected and sustainably managed for the long term, and that the County is prepared to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of a changing climate. The County's environmental policies outline how it will protect, manage, restore and enhance natural heritage, water resources and soils. The review was part of Phase 2 of Oxford County's Official Plan update, a process undertaken regularly to ensure it remains consistent with provincial legislation and policies and reflect local planning principles and objectives that help to shape the community. More

The 2022 Asset Management Plan released last year is part of the ongoing inventory and strategic framework that guides Oxford County's future investment in municipal infrastructure and how its long-term sustainability is managed. While the 2022 update focused on roads, bridges and structural culverts, water, wastewater and stormwater systems, municipal assets and infrastructure extend beyond to facilities, vehicles, major equipment and more. The state of the County’s assets can be an economic development driver and is a determinant in the wellbeing of our communities. More

 Creating awareness of the importance of family history

Oxford County Archives released its Family History and Memory Book in 2022, a fun and meaningful way for anyone to record their personal or family history through stories and recollections of special moments. Copies of the book remain available to the general public, with an option to have the completed book scanned and preserved as a digital record. Oxford County Archives developed the Family History and Memory Book in collaboration with Woodingford Lodge, then donated copies to interested residents of the long-term care home. More

Oxford County Library and Oxford County Archives teamed up last year to create a new Local History Speaker Series. The first session featured the curator of Annandale National Historic Site, Patricia Phelps, with a riveting presentation celebrating the 150^th anniversary of the Town of Tillsonburg, "Tillsonburg 1872: The Action-Packed Story of Town Incorporation." The event shared the story of how Tillsonburg went from a Police Village in 1871 to an Incorporated Town in 1872. More

In November 2022, ahead of Remembrance Day, Oxford County Library partnered with Ingersoll Cheese & Agricultural Museum to mail 100 postcards to the addresses of previous soldiers. Each of the "A Hero Lived Here" postcards detailed the life of one of the 100 local soldiers enlisted in World War I and World War II, helping to memorialize veterans and to connect residents with their local history. More

Oxford County launched “An Oxford Minute” in 2022, a new video series featuring County employees sharing their expertise on the work they do every day to serve the community. The series was launched with four videos: Oxford County Archives and the role of an archivist, with tips on how to preserve family photographs and history; Public Works Waste Management staff with information about using “Green Cones for food waste”; “Safe driving through a construction zone” with Roads staff; and “To flush or not to Flush?” with Water and Wastewater staff. The one-minute videos are posted to YouTube and the County's social media platforms— check them out and share! 

Master Housing Strategy

Oxford County is committed to addressing the need for affordable housing and is putting plans into place to achieve this aim. The 2022 Master Housing Strategy provides a comprehensive and outcome-based strategy for addressing housing needs throughout the County. The strategy supports Oxford County’s 10-Year Shelter Plan, which sets objectives and targets to support the vision of affordable housing for all. More

Becoming an accredited long-term care home

Woodingford Lodge started its accreditation journey in 2022, setting the long-term care home on a journey of assessing its standards of excellence, identifying strengths and areas for improvement, and creating solution-based action plans. As one step in the accreditation process, Woodingford carried out its Patient Safety Survey in October 2022 during Patient Safety Week to seek employees' perceptions and opinions on resident safety. By participating in Canada’s Long-Term Care (LTC) program, Woodingford joins other long-term care homes in a continuous quality improvement process to deliver safe, high-quality, and reliable care to their residents.

 "My Second Unit" helps homeowners become landlords

Oxford County's "My Second Unit" program, launched in 2022, helps homeowners plan and finance a secondary, self-contained dwelling unit in their home with an interest-free, forgivable loan from the County. Second units-- defined as single, self-contained, rental apartments with their own entrance, kitchen, sleeping area and bathroom-- provide homeowners with additional rental income and increased property value while helping to address the shortage in affordable housing options. More

 Protecting water systems from backflow

Oxford County began the process of developing a backflow prevention program and by-law in 2022 to further protect the County’s water systems from potential contamination due to backflow. Backflow can happen when there is a reversal of the normal flow in a water system that draws water from a private connection into the municipal drinking water system. Work in 2022 focused on public consultation, particularly among those groups most affected by the by-law: industrial, commercial, institutional and multi-residential water customers. More

 Municipal Modernization Fund projects to improve service delivery

Oxford County carried out 12 Municipal Modernization Fund projects in 2022, the second year in a multi-year provincial initiative to help small and rural municipalities deliver more modern and efficient services, often through the use of technology. Three of the 2022 projects were for service delivery reviews focusing on joint paramedic services deployment, the transportation network, and water and wastewater. Other projects included a review of subsidized housing processes, an emergency management notification system, automated software for accounts payable, scheduling software for Woodingford Lodge, nutritional services at Woodingford Lodge, digital management of insurance claims and certificates, improved access to digital archival records, and software to support how work-related injury claims are managed. To date, Oxford County has received $1.78 million in total Modernization Funding over three years to carry out 25 modernization projects focused on more efficient services and future cost savings: 11 projects in 2021, 12 projects in 2022, and two projects expected to be completed in 2023. More

A new role to advance diversity, equity and inclusion

Response to the COVID-19 pandemic continued into 2022, although the Government of Ontario’s Modified Step Two of the Roadmap to Reopen did allow gradual adjustments to services like Oxford County Library, Archives, the landfill at the Waste Management Facility, and Woodingford Lodge. Throughout 2022, the pandemic required a number of procedures and policies for employees to help protect clients and customers and the greater community, while the County's healthcare services continued work on the front lines of the pandemic, keeping long-term care residents safe through enhanced vigilance and precautions at Woodingford Lodge and supporting needs in the community through the Oxford County Paramedic Services new community paramedicine program.