{"id":990,"date":"2026-05-26T15:57:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/?p=990"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:57:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:57:38","slug":"public-consultation-should-happen-before-decisions-are-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/local-watch\/public-consultation-should-happen-before-decisions-are-made\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Consultation Should Happen Before Decisions Are Made"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oxford County has now confirmed it <a href=\"https:\/\/speakup.oxfordcounty.ca\/homelessness-support\">already approved moving forward<\/a> with the purchase of 808 Dundas Street \u2014 the former Woodstock YMCA \u2014 for a homelessness support centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since then, staff have already begun feasibility work, layouts, budgeting, and design planning. Now council is being asked to approve a $250,000 single-source design contract at <a href=\"https:\/\/pub-oxfordcounty.escribemeetings.com\/Meeting.aspx?Id=e03f00e8-a2cc-49ff-a3fd-d4af774e9248&amp;Agenda=Agenda&amp;lang=English&amp;Item=26&amp;Tab=attachments\">the May 27 council meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And yet public consultation is still being described as<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granthaven.com\/post\/oxford-county-council-purchasing-woodstock-ymca-for-homeless-shelter-1\"> something that will happen later<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is the concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Residents are not questioning the need for homelessness supports. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.granthaven.com\/post\/local-reaction-to-dundas-street-homeless-shelter-mixed\">Residents are questioning<\/a> why major decisions appear to be advancing before the public is meaningfully involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordcounty.ca\/news\/posts\/statement-from-the-warden-accountability-transparency-and-council-decisions\/\">Ontario law allows land acquisitions to be discussed in closed session<\/a>. But legality is not the same thing as transparency or public trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once a property is secured, designs are underway, budgets are built, and timelines are established, consultation risks becoming more symbolic than meaningful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oxford County residents deserve to be part of the conversation while decisions are still taking shape \u2014 not after the direction is already well underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next Oxford County council meeting takes place Tuesday, May 27, and this project is <a href=\"https:\/\/pub-oxfordcounty.escribemeetings.com\/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=13003\">once again on the agenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Residents who care about transparency, accountability, and meaningful public input should pay attention, attend, and engage respectfully while decisions are still unfolding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-comments\">\n\n\n\n\n\n\t<div id=\"respond\" class=\"comment-respond wp-block-post-comments-form\">\n\t\t<h3 id=\"reply-title\" class=\"comment-reply-title\">Leave a Reply <small><a rel=\"nofollow\" id=\"cancel-comment-reply-link\" href=\"\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990#respond\" style=\"display:none;\">Cancel reply<\/a><\/small><\/h3><form action=\"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/wp-comments-post.php\" method=\"post\" id=\"commentform\" class=\"comment-form\"><p class=\"comment-notes\"><span id=\"email-notes\">Your email address will not be published.<\/span> <span class=\"required-field-message\">Required fields are marked <span class=\"required\">*<\/span><\/span><\/p><p class=\"comment-form-comment\"><label for=\"comment\">Comment <span class=\"required\">*<\/span><\/label> <textarea id=\"comment\" name=\"comment\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"65525\" required><\/textarea><\/p><p class=\"comment-form-author\"><label for=\"author\">Name <span class=\"required\">*<\/span><\/label> <input id=\"author\" name=\"author\" type=\"text\" value=\"\" size=\"30\" maxlength=\"245\" autocomplete=\"name\" required \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-form-email\"><label for=\"email\">Email <span class=\"required\">*<\/span><\/label> <input id=\"email\" name=\"email\" type=\"email\" value=\"\" size=\"30\" maxlength=\"100\" aria-describedby=\"email-notes\" autocomplete=\"email\" required \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-form-url\"><label for=\"url\">Website<\/label> <input id=\"url\" name=\"url\" type=\"url\" value=\"\" size=\"30\" maxlength=\"200\" autocomplete=\"url\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-form-cookies-consent\"><input id=\"wp-comment-cookies-consent\" name=\"wp-comment-cookies-consent\" type=\"checkbox\" value=\"yes\" \/> <label for=\"wp-comment-cookies-consent\">Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.<\/label><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-subscription-form\"><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"subscribe_comments\" id=\"subscribe_comments\" value=\"subscribe\" style=\"width: auto; -moz-appearance: checkbox; -webkit-appearance: checkbox;\" \/> <label class=\"subscribe-label\" id=\"subscribe-label\" for=\"subscribe_comments\">Notify me of follow-up comments by email.<\/label><\/p><p class=\"comment-subscription-form\"><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"subscribe_blog\" id=\"subscribe_blog\" value=\"subscribe\" style=\"width: auto; -moz-appearance: checkbox; -webkit-appearance: checkbox;\" \/> <label class=\"subscribe-label\" id=\"subscribe-blog-label\" for=\"subscribe_blog\">Notify me of new posts by email.<\/label><\/p><p class=\"form-submit\"><input name=\"submit\" type=\"submit\" id=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" value=\"Post Comment\" \/> <input type='hidden' name='comment_post_ID' value='990' id='comment_post_ID' \/>\n<input type='hidden' name='comment_parent' id='comment_parent' value='0' \/>\n<\/p><p style=\"display: none;\"><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"akismet_comment_nonce\" name=\"akismet_comment_nonce\" value=\"d3d9e5e02d\" \/><\/p><p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_1\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"150\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_1\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\t<\/div><!-- #respond -->\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oxford County has now confirmed it already approved moving forward with the purchase of 808 Dundas Street \u2014 the former Woodstock YMCA \u2014 for a homelessness support centre. Since then, staff have already begun feasibility work, layouts, budgeting, and design planning. Now council is being asked to approve a $250,000 single-source design contract at the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-watch"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/YMCA-Shelter.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":991,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions\/991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}