Oxford Town Council met this past week, in the first Committee-of-the-Whole session following the summer break.
The COW meeting is where department heads provide their monthly reports on the past month’s activities — in this case, the past couple of months. The details of the Fire Department, Public Works, MPAL (Recreation) and committee reports can be found in the Council Agenda package for September 9th, 2026. There was also a Special Council Meeting immediately afterward (agenda). Minutes are posted following the subsequent council meeting, once reviewed and approved.
The ever-boisterous MPAL Marion Abbott delivered a lengthy report on the summer activities of that department. Activities included the Capitol Theatre Awards, Oxford’s Summer Market, four Summer Camps (one of which left colourful decorations all over town), Recreational and Team soccer, Games in the Park, Fitness Classes, Movie showings at the Capitol Theatre (with support from the Oxford Lions Club, which pays the screening fees), two theatre productions, a Canada Day dance, and community-wide “Oxley Hunt”. Abbot also updated council on plans for the Fall, including the upcoming Terry Fox Run and initiatives to make greater use of the trails around town.
The Oxford Volunteer Fire Department (OVFD) had a busy summer, with Fire Chief Bruce Rushton informing council that firefighters responded to 39 calls since June (June: 11; July: 13; August: 15). Nine of those calls were in the Town limits, 13 were in the section of the county that the OVFD covers, and 17 were mutual aid calls to other departments. Rushton says the department just purchased a battery-operated spreader (also known as the “Jaws of Life”) for about $29-thousand, with funds raised through the Nova Scotia Firefighters 50/50 raffle.
Of particular concern to firefighters currently is the condition of the bridge leading into Oxford Junction (known as the Clifton Bridge). The Department of Transportation reduced the allowable weight on that bridge to no more than five tonnes, which means none of the OVFD’s fire trucks are allowed to cross. The typical five-minute response time from the fire station to Oxford Junction is now a 30-minute drive up the 104 highway and in through Thomson and the Jungle Road.
Chief Rushton says the department has been planning response scenarios and carried out a major training exercise in the community, using a water shuttle, portatanks, pumper relay and other department support to find ways to get water into the area should a fire occur. That planning process, he says, led to the identification of a need to have an on-site water supply system in the Oxford Junction neighbourhood. Working with the Municipality of Cumberland County, Rushton says a location has been identified and it is hoped that one will be installed before the winter freeze occurs.
Oxford’s Bylaw Enforcement Officer, Paul MacDonald, had his hands full with chickens, dogs and parking challenges. Oh, and rabbits. Rabbits were running loose on Duke Street too! More concerning, especially for the Oxford Minor Baseball Association, are dog owners who walk their dogs on the playing field, leaving nasty surprises for outfielders to discover at inopportune moments. The ballfield is the scene of another challenge for the town: non-residents making use of the tap that players use to fill their water bottles, but instead are filling large water tanks on trucks. MacDonald spoke with one fellow who was filling up a swimming pool from the town’s supply — a situation that isn’t fair to residents who pay for their own consumption throughout the year. (Town of Oxford Bylaws)
Public Works Supervisor, Larry Reicker reported on his crew’s ongoing challenges. Some workers were off on medical leave during the summer, and the crew still isn’t back up to full strength. Reicker says the public works team was busy with asphalt patching over the past couple of months, as well as handling water line breaks, adding secure fencing to the Little River water tower and the sewage treatment lagoon, culvert replacement and many other daily tasks that keep the department hopping.
Oxford CAO Linda Cloney briefed council on the various administration tasks that kept staff busy — see the agenda package for a detailed report.
The Town is also joining in a call issued by Colchester County Councillor Paul Weatherby regarding non-standard tire disposal. As the Chair of the Northern Region Solid Waste Resource Committee, Weatherby is calling on the province to introduce a process for handling tires such as those from farm equipment and Off-Highway Vehicles (OHVs), which are currently not able to be processed in existing channels. Tires are not accepted at the Oxford Depot, though passenger vehicle tires are accepted at garages and tire retailers (four maximum at a time). The Little Forks landfill facility had been accepting ATV and non-standard tire sizes, but that option is no longer available, leaving disposal of those tires up in the air. Oxford Town Council directed staff to send a letter supporting Weatherby’s request that the province take action on the issue.
One very good bit of news in correspondence from the Minister of Justice of Nova Scotia, the Hon. Scott Armstrong, which addresses a long-standing issue in Oxford: the cost of policing services. Under the province’s new billing model for municipalities, the town’s annual bill for RCMP coverage is dropping from the budgeted $636,632 to $477,474, a 25 percent decrease, which is retroactive to April 1st, 2026. Minister Armstrong’s letter notes that “municipalities will reinvest these savings into complementary public safety initiatives, such as layered policing, community safety programs, alternative response models, and other measures aligned with the recommendations of the Comprehensive Nova Scotia Policing Review (PDF).” This means that while the bill paid to the RCMP will go down, that expenditure is still on the books for the Town, but will be put to different uses than paying the RCMP. What exactly this means in real terms is yet to be explained, as town staff learn more about what kinds of programmes will be considered by the Department of Justice. Could this mean a community safety officer “walking the beat” in the town? Stay tuned to future council meetings and announcements.
And still more news!
Since the Fall of 2025, we’ve been waiting for more details on the proposed development of two three-story apartment buildings for the downtown core, on the South-East shore of Black River (directly across from Water Street) by Casey Realty Ltd.
In documents filed with the town regarding a request to have a six-metre easement surveyed on the lot that the town is selling to Casey Realty Ltd., it was revealed that the intent now is to add a third two-story apartment building to that lot (pending approval from the planning department). If built as described in the plans, this would bring up to 36 new rental units to the community, including a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and bachelor apartments. Final details won’t be confirmed until a development agreement with the town is filed and approved. Hello Oxford will continue to follow this development.
As part of the sale of those lots (PIDs 25210931, 25210923, 25247008), Oxford Town Council approved the expenditure of about $6,000 for surveying work that would clearly identify the easement, as well as approximately $5,000 for work to locate water and sewer infrastructure that crosses under the properties. Some of those pipes run most of the length of a field at the end of Little River Road and Lower Main Street, currently full of a corn crop waiting to be harvested. Identifying underground infrastructure is an ongoing challenge for the town, with Public Works frequently digging up pipes where they aren’t expected to be. An effort begun a few years ago to map the town’s infrastructure (Asset Management) is, little by little, helping staff understand what lurks beneath us.
More Community Centre Benefits
Lastly, the town is going to benefit from a nice, freshly-paved lane — at no cost to taxpayers. The eastlink Wild Blueberry Centre’s board proposed a paving project of the lane off Little River Road that leads into the soccer field and OREC field. The proposal will see the soccer field fence moved a couple of feet inward, with the lane paved and several new parking spaces created that will serve both attendees of events on the field as well as create additional parking for the community centre. The work is slated for early October.
The proposal, accepted by Town Council, will see the lane named “eastlink Centre Lane,” with the town inheriting responsibility to maintain the lane in the future. In discussing the request, CAO Linda Cloney noted that naming and registering that lane will assist with emergency response, as the unnamed roadway did not show up on maps which has been an issue for ambulance response to the recreation fields in the past, as first responders were unsure of how to access that area. The registration of this lane with the civic addressing system will cost the town approximately $1,500.
Councillors will next gather for a Regular Council Meeting on September 23rd.
Video of the Oxford Town Council meetings are available on Youtube.
