Oxford proclaims April Genocide Prevention Month

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OXFORD — The City of Oxford proclaimed April as Genocide and Holocaust Education and Prevention Month.

During a city council meeting on Tuesday, April 4, Mayor Kate Rousmaniere read a proclamation recognizing the conflicts in Darfur, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Myanmar, and Syria. Every April, the Miami University Students Against Genocide along with the Genocide and Holocaust Education Committee organize a week long program to raise awareness of genocide and Holocaust victims and survivors.

Casey Wooddell gave a presentation on upcoming events at Oxford Parks and Recreation.The spring and summer brochure is out and ready to be viewed, both in hard copy and online. The events covered run from April to September.

Parks and Recreation egg hunts began on April 13 and the last one is on April 15. The department began a program called Rec Rewards. A customer gets a rewards card and gets it stamped every time they come in. When they have enough, they get a free item.

He also shared photos from the Community Park opening in 2003.

Oxford Parks and Recreation Department is hiring for summer jobs, including: lifeguards, pool supervisors, concession staff, concession supervisors, and camp leaders. More information can be found on their website.

Peggy Shaffer with the Institute for Food spoke during public participation to share about their program and invite council to a symposium they are holding on April 14.

The university has given the Institute eight acres to have a farm on the corner of Morning Sun and Somerville Rd. They planted seven acres in cover crop and an acre in vegetables. They grew 13,000 pounds of vegetables. They partnered with community food industry to sell that crop.

She said, “Our goal is to link student, faculty, staff with the local community and facilitate these kinds of partnerships and opportunities.”

Council approved a resolution to accept a petition to expand a neighborhood conservation overlay district for Cedar Drive and East Chestnut Street and to refer the petition to the planning commission for recommendation.

Residential Conservation Overlay District legislation was adopted by the city council in 2012 to protect residential neighborhoods, maintain an attractive community appearance, and to provide a desirable living environment by restricting residential properties to be rented to no more than two unrelated individual.

To establish an overlay district a petition must have signatures of more than two-thirds of parcel owners within the proposed district. It then goes before city council for acceptance and the petition is then referred to Planning Commission for review.

The signatures for this petition exceed the two-thirds requirement of the parcel owners of this petitioned area. The signatures represent 19 parcels within the boundary, which is 90 percent.

Council approved a resolution allowing the city manager to release the final ten percent ($7,200) of the $72,000 cash performance bond posted by New Village Construction LLC. As part of the redevelopment of the former Walmart site at 417 S. Locust Street, the developers were required to install new traffic control signals at the site’s entrance/exit. The developer was not able to meet the August 2015 deadline for completion. In order to protect the city’s interest in the competition, New Village Construction LLC. provided a cash bond of $72,000 to the city to ensure the proper installation of the required traffic control system.

In March 2017, the developer requested a 12-month inspection of the improvements and full release of their security deposit with the city. No additional improvements or repairs are required.

Council approved a resolution that authorizes the City Manager to accept the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) Issue One funding in the amount of $189,750 for the reconstruction of the Sandra Drive Bridge over Collins Run and to sign the necessary agreements with the OPWC to facilitate the project.

OPWC has agreed to fund 69 percent of the project. The city will provide approximately $85,250 as the local match to completely fund the project. Staff anticipates awarding a contract for the work in December 2017, for construction in the summer of 2018.

Council approved a resolution accepting the bid and authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement with Barrett Paving Material Inc. for the 2017 street resurfacing and maintenance work at a cost of $339,774.25 plus a contingency amount of three percent of the agreement price, or $10,225, for a total cost not to exceed $349,999.25.

The 2017 Capital Improvement budget includes $350,000 for street resurfacing and maintenance. Several factors were considered in recommending a street for resurfacing including traffic volume, road base condition, curb and gutter condition, drainage conditions, past street and utility cuts, proposed underground work scheduled, and current surface condition.

The streets proposed for resurfacing include: Locust St., Linden Dr., Rose Ave., Walnut St., and Sycamore St.

The city will also be using designated CDBG funds later in 2017 for the resurfacing of select alleys in the Mile Square. This work will be done by a separate contract.

Two ordinances received their first reading:

•An ordinance approving the partial vacation of a waterline easement located within lot 3832 of Bishop Square Phase II.

•An ordinance accepting a waterline easement from EVR Investments LLC.

An ordinance changing the name of the Community Relations Commission to the Civil Rights Commission was approved.

An ordinance amending Ordinance No. 3381 Supplemental Budget Ordinance Number three to make supplemental appropriations for 2017 was approved. This will make adjustment to amend budget for sidewalk improvements on Morning Sun Rd. and recognizes a donation of $140,000 from McCullough-Hyde Trihealth hospital. This will also make adjustment to amended budget for revenue in the fire and EMS fund for township contributions. Finally, it will make adjustment to the amended budget for appropriation in Municipal Facilities Improvement Fund.

The next city council meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 18 at 7:30 in Oxford’s Courthouse.

By Kelsey Kimbler

[email protected]

Reach Kelsey Kimbler at 937-683-4061 or on Twitter @KKimbler_RH

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