By Dean Vaglia

Leader Staff Writer

The Village of Oxford Council met on Wednesday, Feb. 9 for its monthly meeting. Topics discussed include a rental registration ordinance, a DDA appointment and approving an event. Council member Lori Bourgeau was absent.

Rental registration ordinance

The council further discussed the rental registration ordinance, proposing questions to village attorney Robert Davis and manager Joe Madore about the ordinance’s details. Short-term rentals (like Airbnb & Vrbo) are not subject to the ordinance. Local agent information is requested due to landlords not necessarily living on site or in Oxford.

Council members Alison Kemp and Maureen Helmuth voiced support for moving forward with the registration as is, which is currently set to be mandatory but free with landlords failing to register facing a fine.

The ordinance aims to help first responders know where people are living in town and how many people and rooms are in rentals should emergency services have to be called to a rental. The ordinance does not have any inspection requirements.

The council set a public hearing and second reading for the March meeting.

First reading and resolution

The council passed a resolution to opt-out of the Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act of 2011 for 2022.

The council approved the first reading of an amendment to the village’s storm water engineering and design standards ordinance. The ordinance was previously read twice and approved; the only change to the ordinance is the addition of “The Village of Oxford Zoning ordinance also addresses storm water design and controls during the site plan approval process. Long term operations and maintenance agreements will be in place in case the property owner fails to maintain storm water structural controls” to section 70-126.

Charter and ordinance legal review

The council approved a plan to have Municode perform a review of the Code of Ordinances following the council separating the Village Charter from the code. The review will check for inconsistencies between the two and is expected to cost $4,050.

DDA appointment

The council approved Catherine Colvin’s appointment to the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) committee as the Oxford Township Board of Trustees’ liaison. She is the second trustee to sit on the DDA at this time as Trustee Rod Charles is the chairperson in his own capacity as a downtown building owner.

March meeting day discussion

The council decided to stick with the originally scheduled date for the March regular meeting, Tuesday the 8th.

The February meeting was moved from Tuesday to Wednesday to allow board members to attend the Oxford Community Schools Board of Education meetings. Bourgeau missed the Dec. 14 and Jan. 11 meetings and Kemp missed the Jan. 11 meeting. Both meetings generally take place on the same day and have overlapping start times.

Other business

The council approved Lakepoint Community Church’s event application for “Revival: In Our Time, In Our City.” The event will take place from 5-10 p.m. each day from Aug. 24-27 at Centennial Park. Issue was raised about a sign in the park possibly giving the impression the event is sponsored by the village, and recommendation was added for Lakepoint to design the sign to make it clear the church is responsible for the event.

A motion to adjust a raise to Madore’s salary was tabled due to council members wanting to see the actual numbers for the raise rather than percentages. It will be discussed in March.

Jennifer Prather, village resident, asked the council during public comment to adopt the first week of February as National Gun Violence Survivors Week; a resolution to do so was removed from the Jan. 11 council meeting agenda for political concerns. Prather took time in her statement to defend her resolution against the council’s “mischaracterization” of the resolution, stating the inclusion of deaths via police shootings among other forms of gun violence is not a criticism of the Oxford Village Police or Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

“I was extremely offended that anyone would disparage our police force in such a manner,” Prather said. “I entrust the safety of my child to these men and women; I would not do that if they did not have my complete confidence.”

Both agencies responded to the Nov. 30 shooting.

The council received and filed the Planning Commission’s Annual Report and Action Plan.