Trustee Charles broaches charging the historical museum
By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
OXFORD — The Oxford Village Council and Downtown Development Authority met on Feb. 17 for a special meeting and workshop.
The workshop was held for two reasons, said Village Manager Joe Madore. The first was to talk about the budget and cost sharing overall, plus the process the DDA uses to produce and present its budget to the village council for approval.
Madore said when the village council had its budget workshop in 2024, council members said they thought the village should receive more cost recovery for maintenance and other expenses incurred by the village.
Village attorney Bob Davis mentioned the DDA’s events bring more trash downtown than normal, more police presence than normal, said they straddle the weekend, and “all of those have to be figured in,” during a brief discussion with DDA Board Trustee Rod Charles about percentages and amounts.
Madore said that when the village had its budget workshop last year, the group decided “it would be nice to have another $25,000 (from the DDA) because our cost had gone up $80 (or) $90 grand.”
Charles then brought up possibly charging the Northeast Oakland Historical Museum more than its $1 per year charge so that the DDA would not need to pay the funds to the village. A hypothetical number given was $4,000 per month.
“Yeah, they’re getting away with murder, a dollar a year and you’re asking us for more money?” Charles said. “They’re getting $48,000 a year free.”
The Northeast Oakland Historical Museum is at 1 N. Washington St. in downtown Oxford. It was registered as a Michigan Historic Site by the Michigan Historical Commission on Sept. 14, 1992. The site of the former Oxford Savings and Bank from 1922 until 1966 sat vacant for several years, until it was donated to the Village of Oxford to house the newly formed Historical Society, which was formally dedicated and opened for the public on Aug. 5, 1972.
Charles added the museum option was suggested to get the groups to think about different options.
“The museum, I think, could be a valid discussion, but right now we’re focusing on the numbers in front of us and why we were coming to the DDA,” Village Council President Pro-Tem Allison Kemp said. “We weren’t coming to the DDA to mine them for money and take it from you; we weren’t coming to steal out of your budget. We were looking at how the cost of services that we provide to the DDA, that those numbers have simply gone up with inflation. We were looking to have our cost sharing reflect that.”
Village Council President Kelsey Cooke said the council can give the DDA a percentage increase, a reason for the increase and a line item the village has not used for the administrative costs during their next meeting in March.
The second reason was to ensure the process for the DDA is similar to any other public body, and give members of both boards a chance to develop a better understanding of the budget.
Davis explained the budget’s relationship between the DDA and its legislative body. He said the process is completely controlled by statute, and, generally,
Because the village council approves the DDA’s budget, DDA Executive Director Kimberly Smith, Davis and others discussed having more meetings to ensure the budget process so that both boards can be on the same page. That way, the DDA will not need to risk the village council denying the budget and spending time reworking it.
Village council meetings occur on the second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m.