By Leader Staff Writers
James Hanlon and Teddy Rydquist
Voters who have not mailed in or dropped off ther ballots from the villages of Oxford and Leonard and from the townships of Addison and Oxford, will head the the polls starting 7 a.m., Tuesday, November 3.
Here’s a quick rundown of what the locals are voting for.
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In Oxford Township, all candidates are running unopposed. Jack Curtis is running for Township Supervisor. Curtis Wright is running for Clerk. Joseph Ferrari is running for Treasurer.
For the Oxford Township Board of Trustees, four candidates are running for four seats: Rod Charles, William Dunn, Jonathan Nold and Margaret Payne.
For the Parks and Recreation Commission, five candidates are running for five seats: Austin Brantley, Phil Castonia, Timothy Kalohn, Theresa Myer and Ronald Roop.
For the Oxford Public Library Board of Directors, six candidates are running for six seats: DuAnne Cook, Julie Fracker, Kathleen Hoeflein, Barbara Krigel, Anthony Rizzo and Lynn Royster.
For the Oxford Community Schools Board of Education, three candidates are running for three seats: Daniel D’Alessandro, Thomas Donnelly and Heather Shafer.

For Oxford Village Council, current councilmember Allison Kemp is running unopposed for a partial, two-year term expiring in 2022.
There are four people running for two council member seats. These are four year terms.
David Bailey, 76. His #1 issue and solution: “I am opposed to recreational marijuana. The Village of Oxford is a special place. If we had marijuana, we wouldn’t be so special anymore. There are other things that make Oxford special, but I think marijuana is not one of them.
“I believe that the social impact of marijuana is considerably less than either alcohol or tobacco, because the usage is a lot less. But, if everything goes wide open with recreational marijuana, the usage will go sky-high in my opinion. So, marijuana might end up having more of a social impact than either alcohol or tobacco.”

Lori Bourgeau, 44. Her #1 issue and solution: “I love Oxford and want it to remain the work-class, family-oriented hometown that I have always felt it is.
“Covid and construction affecting our businesses is the current largest issue we have been facing in Oxford. The council has done an amazing job adjusting ordinance to allow our businesses to flourish. I plan to continue that work and feel my experience with understanding and interpreting policies will allow me to do so.”

Ashley Ross, 32. Her #1 issue and solution: “COVID-19 and M-24 construction are affecting our residents and business owners. I plan to work with both groups and village employees to cut costs where necessary, not to penalize those struggling, and rely on the experience of our current staff, boards, and commissions to make informed decisions during this time.”

Justin Willcock, 41. His #1 issue and solution: “Regardless of what the issue may be, my decisions will be based on the voices of the residents of the village. Either by the votes they cast or the words they speak. Always keeping the village of Oxford’s best interest in mind.”

Oxford Fire Department
The only local proposal was approved, 7-0, by the Oxford Township Board of Trustees during their July 8 monthly meeting, a four-year, 4.5-mill property tax proposal will appear on the November 3 General Election ballot.
One mill equates to $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value, meaning this proposal is $4.50 for every $1,000.
The current fire tax, which sits at 3.3472 mills, is set to expire in December.
The Oxford Fire Department, which has two stations, one at 96 N. Washington Street and the other at 1565 W. Drahner Road, is seeking this funding increase to hire five additional full-time employees and replace two of their fleet of emergency response vehicles.
Fire Chief Pete Scholz, who has been with the department since 1976, joined that July meeting to offer some specifics.
“Being as this is a national election year, I’m looking to renew our millage, with a one-mill increase on top of that,” he said. “What this one-mill increase would allow us to do is hire four additional shift members and a full-time fire inspector. Also, our trucks are becoming an aging fleet, most of our fleet was purchased in 2002, except for a tanker we got in 1996, and an engine we got in 1996. It would be my intention to replace the engine in 2021 and the tanker in 2023 with this money.”

Addison Township
Supervisor Bruce Pearson, Clerk Pauline Bennett and Treasurer Lori Fisher, all Republicans, are all running unopposed.
Pearson, 67, has served as supervisor since 2008. Prior to assuming his current role, he was a deputy sheriff and patrolled Addison Township dating back to 1979.
Bennett is knocking on the door of a quarter-century at her current post, having first been elected in 1996. A lifelong resident of the township, she is also treasurer of the Michigan Townships Association (MTA), a non-profit organization based in Lansing.
Fisher is 47 years old and has lived in Addison Township with her husband and children since 2004. Originally elected in 2012, she has done an excellent job of maintaining the township’s healthy budget during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which was covered in the August 26 edition of The Oxford Leader.
Republicans Ed Brakefield, Karen Geilbel, Linda Gierak, and Charles Sargent are all running for four-year seats on the township board of trustees. There are four seats open
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Two people are running for the Michigan House of Representatives 46th District. One, a democrat from Oxford, the other is the incumbent from Oakland Township.
Jody LaMacchia, 48, Democrat. Her #1 issue and solution: “My top priority is education. I was already concerned with education pre-COVID-19 because we have disinvested in education more than almost any state over the last twenty years – and it shows in our low reading scores and in educators leaving the profession. I’ve talked to thousands of people out here in the district, and I believe it is not only my priority, but it’s the residents of the district’s priority, too.
“I think we have amazing teachers and great school districts; we just need to make funding them a priority. We can’t continue to ask our teachers to do more with less. We need to listen to teachers when crafting education legislation; they are the experts in their field. Investing in our public schools makes our community a desirable place to live, raises our property values, and makes our area more appealing to small business owners.”

John Reilly, 62, Republican. His #1 issue and solution: “The most important issue is getting Michigan back to normal. The coronavirus outbreak was a terrible tragedy, and unfortunately our governor handled it in the worst way through her policies, by quarantining the healthy while exposing the most vulnerable seniors by putting COVID patients into nursing homes and senior centers.
Thankfully, the Supreme Court has restored constitutional order in our state, but we cannot allow our children to grow up in an anti-social society. We need to resume in-person learning, resume school sports, and allow people to work normally, rather than from home.

Leonard Village
In Leonard, incumbent Village President Michael J. McDonald, 67, is seeking his fourth term. He was first eleceted in 2008. Chris Rayner, 44, is also running for president. Rayner is Executive Vice President at Vanguard Realty Group.
Judith “Judy” J. Verse, 72 is running unopposed for Treasurer.
Four people are running for two, 4 year trustee seats.
Alexander W. Kennedy, 37, and Charlene Sutherby, 73, are current trustees. Trying to get on board are Mark Steffler, 35, who owns Michigan Family Fireworks, on Forest Drive in Leonard, and Daniel Webster, 32.