Relying on experience and planning

By Teddy Rydquist
Leader Staff Writer
When William “Bill” Dunn, a 21-year veteran of the position, announced in January he would not seek another term as Charter Township of Oxford Supervisor, he endorsed Trustee Jack Curtis to succeed him.
This is precisely what ended up happening, as Curtis, who had been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2012, ran unopposed in the November 3 election and officially began his tenure as supervisor 17 days later.
A 67-year-old Republican, Curtis has lived in Oxford for the last 49 years. His four children all graduated from high school here and prior to embarking on his local government career, he worked for General Motors, retiring in 2009.
In addition to his duties as a trustee, he has served on the Planning Commission for both the township and village, chairs the Water and Sewer Committee, and is involved with Oxford Community Schools’ Career and Technical Education program.
“There is a solution to every problem,” Curtis began. “People just hit a problem and they stop, I don’t stop, and I’ll give you a perfect example.
“Culver’s is coming to Oxford. Culver’s, in this time and day with COVID, is experiencing a huge drive-thru phenomenon just like everybody else, McDonald’s, everybody. I knew it would be good for the community, the investor was going to have his money put into a good community, so, we got to make this work for our community.
“Here at the final hour, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) tells him, ‘We forgot to tell you, you have to put a $100,000 (deceleration) lane in.’
“Andrew (Zielke, the investor) goes, ‘I’ve already got my budget, I’ve already got my money set aside, I can’t do this, it’s almost going to choke the project.’
“We called the first person in command, an engineer, then we called his boss, then we called her boss, then we called her boss, then I called (Republican House Representative) John Reilly, John Reilly then got a hold of Lansing, Zoom meeting with Lansing, it came down because, right now, we’re planning to improve M-24 north of town, why would we make somebody put something in and then tear it out again in three years?
“They overruled that, and it saved our developer $100,000. Now, I didn’t get a free ButterBurger out of this, the community got a Culver’s out of this. So, I took a problem that we hit a wall with, and I chased that problem right down to the nth degree. That’s my forte.”
Approaching five decades in the community, Curtis does not view the charter township and village as two separate entities, although they are individually governed, pointing out the town contains just one zip code and proudly proclaiming he is simply from Oxford.
Our town has undergone a period of tremendous growth over the last quarter-century. While Curtis noted change is the one constant in life, he also appreciates what makes Oxford unique and wants to preserve that small feel.
“We’re not looking to mass develop; people are looking to come here,” he said.
“It’s the availability of land. We have land zoned for developments, zoned for developments of certain sizes. The destination of Oxford is not a gravel pit, the destination of Oxford is the Village of Oxford.
“I used to tell people we have jewels in Oxford, and you have five or six jewels. Number one, the village. I call the village one of our jewels, I call our library one of our jewels, I call our fire department one of our jewels, I call our parks and recreation one of our jewels.
“People go to a jewelry store. We have a lot of jewels in this community that are going to bring people here, whether we want them or not, and the best way to do that is to be properly planned for them to come.”
The November 3 election was a two-way street, as not only did Curtis successfully inherit the supervisor role, but Dunn assumed the former’s trustee seat, as well.
These two have a strong relationship, with Curtis assisting Dunn with countless tasks over the last eight years and gaining valuable experience to help prepare him for this new endeavor.
This swapping of seats nearly happened four years ago when Dunn mulled concluding his run, and Curtis shared what allowed this role reversal to function seamlessly.
“I’m a sponge, I learn, I absorb, and I watch,” he said.
“When I was asked to be on the Planning Commission, I didn’t know what the other commissioners knew, so, I had to learn. Learning under fire, a lot of people don’t like when you ask a question, it slows them down, Bill always said, ‘Question it, question it, question it.’
“So, I said, ‘Bill, I want to move up to the next step, I want to run for township trustee.’ He said, ‘I think you ought to, you’d be a great asset, you’ve got the knowledge, you move in.’
“I ran for trustee and while I was a trustee, Bill was the supervisor, and I said, ‘Bill, what are your aspirations?’ He said, ‘I’m going to probably retire.’ So, I started training for this job, and Bill allowed me to train for this job by actually doing a lot of the job.
“You don’t just step into a job like that, Bill let me learn. Bill let me learn through fire, Bill let me learn through doing the jobs, attending the meetings. I believe in One Stop; Bill had a different opinion. Bill said, ‘If you want to learn it, you learn it.’
“I went to One Stop and was liaison for the township. I learned what they had to offer, I brought it back here and we implemented it. He loved it; it made his job easier. He encouraged me to take over after he left.”
The Michigan Business One Stop website Curtis highlighted features tools and resources for entrepreneurs to understand the requirements and launch their business ventures in the state.
As touched on earlier, planning for people to enter the community is an important aspect of the supervisor position and this is evident with how Oxford Township works with their developers.
“When a developer comes here and sits down in the room, and I have a couple that have just done it, we ask them, ‘When do you want to put a shovel in the ground?’” Curtis shared.
“We will work backward and tell you to today what you’re going to do. You’re going to have to have these forms filled out, you’ll need these permits, you’re going to have to be in front of this zoning board at this time, you’ll have to be in front of the township board for approval at this time in order to stick your shovel in the ground.
“In the past, a developer would come to town and it was a one-year process before they could get a shovel in the ground. If you could go back and ask Jack McMahon, who moved this McDonald’s from the one side of the road to the other side of the road, through getting our One Stop process in place, we were able to get them a shovel in the ground in 90 days.
“They bought two pieces of land, changed the zoning, special land use, MDOT permits, water-sewer permits, building inspections, everything, they dug a hole in 90 days.”
After some tumultuous times in the 1990s, Oxford Township has experienced great stability over the last 20-plus years. Curtis’ promotion marks the beginning of a new era, but also projects to feature many of the aspects that have made the community the desirable, financially stable one it is today.
A straight shooter who bases his decisions on facts, not emotion, Curtis’ first chance to lead a township meeting is tonight (Wednesday, December 9) at 6:30 p.m., via Zoom video conference.
He confirmed once the state allows, the plan is to conduct these meetings in-person again. Information on how to access this virtual meeting is available on the township’s website, oxfordtownship.net.