When it comes to the municipal complex on W. Burdick St., Oxford Village officials are getting to be a lot like empty nesters – the kids continue to leave and they’re wondering what to do with all that extra space.

Should it house a community television station? Should the village move its office elsewhere within the building?

Should the village fix up the empty space and lease it? Should they let a tenant make the needed improvements, then give an abatement on the rent?

These are questions council is wrestling with and there are still no answers.

One thing is for sure, officials want to do something.

“I just think we need to get off first base,” said village President Sue Bossardet.

The topic was once again discussed by council during a June 27 workshop meeting because another little birdie is poised to leave the nest.

On Aug. 7, the Oxford Township Parks and Recreation Department will officially vacate the office space it has been leasing inside the village municipal complex since 2002. The rent is currently $1,375.

The department is in the process of transforming the former maintenance building at Seymour Lake Township Park into new administrative offices with a multipurpose room for the public.

Following this departure, the only occupants of the municipal complex will be the village office, village police department and the offices for the Oxford Downtown Development Authority and Oxford Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re going to be sitting with three-quarters of the complex empty,” Bossardet said.

Built in the 1960s, the building contains more than 13,000 square feet of space and sits on 1.7 acres. The old 6,080-square-foot fire hall sits behind it.

The building’s east wing has been empty since 2006 when Oxford Township moved its offices to the new building it constructed at 300 Dunlap Rd.

In January 2011, the village took ownership of the old township space, plus the 30 parking spaces that went with it, as part of a legal settlement with the township related to the dissolution of the Oxford Public Fire and EMS Commission.

The estimated cost to bring the former township space up to code ranges from $70,000 to $100,000, according to officials.

“I don’t think that we should be sitting on this property and just letting it fall into ruin,” Bossardet said.

In the November 2012 election, village voters gave council the authority to sell the entire municipal complex and the land it occupies, if it so chooses.

Village attorney Bob Davis stressed to council the importance filling the vacant and soon-to-be vacant spaces.

“Having an occupant, regardless of your rent rate, is beneficial from a security and from a don’t-let-it-fall-into-further-disrepair (standpoint),” he said. “Having bodies in there is a plus in any situation.”

Council is planning to make a pitch to the Oxford Area Cable Communications Commission to move the Oxford Community Television (OCTV) station into the municipal complex.

“I think somebody should go there and make a presentation,” said Bossardet, who chairs the cable commission.

The cable commission already has an offer on the table from Parks/Rec. Director Ron Davis to move the OCTV station to Seymour Lake Township Park. In late March, Davis said it would be his intention to not charge the cable commission for the land, so the only thing it would have to pay for is construction of its new station.

Nothing with regard to Davis’ proposal has been decided or approved by the cable commission at this point.

Councilman Erik Dolan recommended the general concept of moving OCTV into the municipal complex be pitched simply to ascertain whether there’s any interest on the cable commission’s part.

“If they’ve already formalized in their mind where they’re going to go, then it would be a moot point,” he said. “There’s no reason to take it any further.”

Councilman Tom Kennis wasn’t too optimistic.

“I am 80 percent positive OCTV is not going to want to be involved,” he said.

Council also discussed the possibility of engaging the services of real estate professionals to assist the village in marketing and potentially leasing the property.

Dolan noted it worked with the property at 98 S. Glaspie St., which the village had owned since March 2006. The village hired real estate professionals in May 2016 to market it and just last month closed on a $305,000 sale.

“Their results speak for themselves,” he said.

There was some discussion of potentially moving the village office to another location within the building, but there didn’t appear to be any support for the idea.

“That seems counterproductive and it seems as if it would make the rentable portion of the building less attractive,” Dolan said.