Looks like it’s back to the old drawing board for the Oxford Downtown Development Authority (DDA).

Stephen Holowicki, the DDA’s pick for the executive director position that’s been vacant since early February, has turned down the job.

In a May 27 email to DDA Chairperson Sue Bossardet, Holowicki, a resident of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, wrote, “After some thought, I have decided not to accept the offer to join the Oxford DDA.”

At its May 15 regular meeting, the DDA board voted, in open session, to offer the position to Holowicki and negotiate a contract with him. He currently works as a redevelopment administrator for the City of Zanesville in Ohio.

In his email to Bossardet, Holowicki explained he was declining the job offer because “there were a number of red flags that appeared after you had made the offer.”

“I have decided to go in a different direction,” he wrote.

When contacted by phone and asked what those “red flags” were, Holowicki told this reporter he mentioned them in another email.

In that email – sent May 18 to Bossardet and DDA board members Dorothy Johnston and Sam Barna – Holowicki expressed his “concern” over the fact that although “we have not even agreed to contract terms,” his May 12 interview with the DDA board was publicized via local print and electronic media.

“The entire interview was actually televised without even me knowing about it and without my consent,” he wrote.

Oxford Community Television (OCTV) videotaped his interview because it was conducted by the DDA board during a special meeting held in accordance with Michigan’s Open Meetings Act (OMA). Five of the nine DDA board members – which constitutes a quorum – were present at this meeting, for which a public notice was posted ahead of time. Any member of the public, including the print and electronic media, was free to attend this meeting.

“That video of the interview went on YouTube and people were calling me about it, even before I had officially accepted an offer,” he told this reporter.

Holowicki didn’t like the fact that the video of his interview was “available to anybody who wanted to look for it,” even “my own supervisor.”

“I just thought that was stepping over the line a little bit,” he said.

OCTV normally videotapes all local government meetings, including the DDA board. Holowicki’s interview was immediately posted to YouTube on May 12, so the four DDA board members who were absent from the special meeting could have the opportunity to view it prior to the May 15 regular meeting and participate in the decision-making process.

“I’ve never had a job interview where they actually videotaped me, without my knowledge and without my consent,” Holowicki said.

OCTV’s camera and camera operator were in plain sight the entire time during Holowicki’s interview and as far as his “consent” is concerned, that is not a requirement under the Open Meetings Act.

According to the OMA Handbook put out by the Michigan Attorney General, “The right to attend a public meeting includes the right to tape-record, videotape, broadcast live on radio, and telecast live on television the proceedings of a public body at the public meeting.”

The handbook also states, “a board may establish reasonable regulations governing the televising or filming” of a public meeting “in order to minimize any disruption . . . but it may not prohibit such coverage.”

Holowicki believes none of this applies to his interview.

“A job interview is not subject to the Open Meetings Act. That is a private thing,” he said.

Holowicki is incorrect.

The OMA Handbook states, “all interviews by a public body for employment or appointment to a public office shall be held in an open meeting pursuant to this act.”

Holowicki was also dismayed that “his name was mentioned in the Oxford paper,” the May 18 email stated, and that he was “pressed” by this reporter into having his picture taken following the interview “well before an offer of employment was made.”

“He took about 30 pictures of me, which I found to be rather intrusive,” Holowicki wrote.

Both Holowick’s interview and the DDA’s vote to offer him the director position were reported on the front page of the May 17 edition of the Leader.

Both DDA meetings were open to the public and all board discussion and action took place in open session. This reporter was present at both meetings.

Bossardet told this reporter she was surprised that Holowicki declined the offer and indicated it will now be up to the DDA board to decide what its next move will be in its quest for a new director.

“I don’t know what the board wants to do,” she said on Memorial Day. “I’ve got to let the board know and get a consensus (about) what they want to do. We need to get somebody in (the director’s office) to do things because there’s just nothing being done right now, except what it takes to get through the day, phone calls and emails.”