Motion to cut bag tag cost disallowed by Oxford Warden

Sights like these are becoming common around Woodstock as the problem of illegal dumping continues to grow. A notice of motion at a recent county council meeting that could have reduced the cost of a bag tag next year was ruled out of order by Warden Marcus Ryan. (Lee Griffi Photo)

Lee Griffi, Editor

In what could be described as somewhat of a procedural mess, a notice of motion read at Oxford County Council two weeks ago that could have reduced bag tag costs was ruled out of order.

Woodstock Mayor Jerry Acchione attempted to introduce the motion, which, if allowed, would have been debated at next week’s meeting. If passed, it would have resulted in the cost of a bag of garbage at the curb dropping to $1 in 2027, down from the current $3.

Warden Marcus Ryan ruled the motion a request for reconsideration, which could only be introduced by a councillor who had voted in favour of increasing the fee from last year’s $2 rate. Acchione, along with Councillors Deb Tait (Woodstock) and Deb Gilvesy (Tillsonburg) voted against it.

The issue of illegal dumping in Woodstock has worsened this year, something Acchione said is a direct result of the higher price of taking garbage to the curb. He explained his motion was not one of reconsideration, nor was it meant to be.

“County council regularly approves increases in fees and never once has this approval required a reconsideration of the motion to approve the previous fee. There should not be a different set of rules for when a motion comes forward to decrease fees.”

Acchione and Coun. Woodstock City/County Councillor Deb Tait challenged the warden's ruling, which put the question to the council as a whole for a vote without any discussion.

“Unfortunately, our procedural rules prevent discussion or debate on the question. In a recorded vote, council supported the warden’s ruling with Coun. Gilvesy, Councillor Tait, voting against. In my opinion, we witnessed a failure of governance and democracy at county council.”

Acchione said he is working with county staff to produce different wording that would be accepted at the next meeting on Feb. 25.

“The mayor and I both said we would not give up helping residents with this high cost and the high level of dumping of garbage,” added Tait.

Ryan said he stands by his decision 100 per cent. He added the motion came late to the clerk, and he alerted Acchione he would be ruling it out of order because it was a reconsideration.

“At a certain point, you have to say we have planned and we have to move on. As an example, you think we should buy and plant purple flowers, I think we should buy and plant yellow flowers. We debate, a motion wins, and we plant purple flowers.”

He said at the next meeting, he isn’t allowed to come back and debate the motion again. Once Ryan made his ruling, several minutes of confusion followed over the process that seemed to confuse many elected officials and staff members around the horseshoe at the Oxford County Administrative Building.

“People did not know what they were doing and I think that is not okay. As the warden, I would apologize to residents that council should have known what it was doing. This is our procedural bylaw, not one we inherited from previous councils. This council adopted almost an entirely new one.”

Ryan said his decision had nothing to do with the potential of a garbage tag dropping from $3 down to $1.

“I am still one member of council, and I still want certain issues to turn out in certain ways, but at the same time, I have to ensure there is fairness and equitable access for every member of council to bring forward concerns from their residents.”

He added there are mechanisms in place to ensure the county doesn’t have a rogue or power-hungry head of council who does their own thing, outside of the rules.

“To be clear, there are several mechanisms for (Acchione and Tait) available to bring this forward. The way it was done was not the most efficient way to bring the motion forward. There were other ways available then and other ways now to advance this.”

No word yet if or when Acchione will attempt to present a similar motion at an upcoming meeting. Woodstock city staff were directed at a recent council meeting to prepare a report for council that will look into the increasingly problematic issue of illegal dumping, particularly in the city’s downtown core.