Hands down, Cheri LaFlamme Szcodronski is the Oxford Downtown Development Authority’s (DDA) pick to fill the vacant executive director position.

On Monday night, the DDA board voted 9-0 to authorize Chairperson Sue Bossardet to negotiate an employment contract with the resident of Hillsborough, North Carolina.

“I like Cheri’s passion. I like her passion a lot,” said DDA member Regina Woodson.

“I think her personality would work well with a lot of different people,” said DDA member Rod Charles.

“She has all the items that we’re looking for in an individual to run the DDA,” said DDA member Elgin Nichols.

Szcodronski was one of three finalists interviewed by the board for the job.

The other two were North Branch resident Dana Walker, director of the Imlay City DDA since October 2014, and White Lake resident Matt Jenkins, executive director of the Ortonville DDA since August 2016.

A total of 20 people applied.

From 2011-16, Szcodronski served as the executive director of Preservation Chapel Hill, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the historic buildings and cultural landscapes in downtown Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina campus and the surrounding historic neighborhoods.

That type of work is her true passion.

“I make sure I work for organizations that I believe in,” Szcodronski told the board. “I’m very passionate about my work. I really get into it. It means a lot to me.”

“I think it’s very difficult to work in a nonprofit, community-engagement kind of role and not have it connected to you personally,” she explained. “I don’t think it should be that way.”

Szcodronski has a master’s degree in history from Middle Tennessee State University with a concentration in public history-historic preservation.

As part of Preservation Chapel Hill, Szcodronski gained experience working with community members, property owners, businesses and developers; building partnerships with other organizations; coordinating events; using historic preservation to fuel economic growth, downtown development and tourism; recruiting and managing volunteers; developing budgets and doing bookkeeping; preparing meeting agendas and packets; and sending out press releases.

“I work really hard. I work harder than anybody I know, really,” she said.

She’s no stranger to grants.

“I write a lot of grants,” Szcodronski said. “Actually, the week I left, I got $22,000 in grants from the National Trust.”

Szcodronski is also no stranger to dealing with the minefield of public opinion.

“The thing about Chapel Hill is that everybody has an opinion and they mean it,” she said. “Everybody’s on one end of the spectrum or the other. The level of diplomacy required just to get through a day working in Chapel Hill is pretty high. So, not much scares me anymore.”

Szcodronski expressed her willingness to move to Oxford and how much she’s liked what she’s seen so far with regard to the town’s historic homes.

“This town is beautifully preserved, even in comparison to Chapel Hill,” she said. “I’m incredibly impressed with the number of original windows that I’ve seen and original cladding, and really, in general, the lack of alterations. . . . I’m enjoying myself immensely. I’m geeking out a little on your architecture.”

Woodson liked the fact Szcodronski wants to move here and pointed out the other two candidates were not planning to relocate.

“That means she’s going to be a part of this community and I think that’s huge,” she said.