Every now and then, government does something right and deserves a pat on the back for it.

We’d like to give Oxford Village Council members Erik Dolan, Tom Kennis and Sue Bossardet that pat, along with a hearty handshake and a bit of applause.

Hell, who are we kidding?

We’d also like to buy them a round of drinks and give’em each a cigar. They’ve earned it.

On Monday, this trio was on the winning side of a vote to begin the long-overdue process of closing the village dispatch center and contracting with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office for police dispatch services (see story on Page 1).

This decision is expected to save the village approximately $200,000 annually beginning in the second year. It will also be a savings from the standpoint the village will no longer be facing any future costs for dispatch-related technology/equipment upgrades.

Given the emotional attachment some folks have to their local services and local employees, we understand it was by no means an easy decision for these council members to make, but it was most definitely the right call to safeguard both the village’s financial future and taxpayers’ pocketbooks.

Dolan, Kennis and Bossardet will undoubtedly take quite a bit of heat from some folks for their bold, yet prudent, decision, but none of it will come from us. We’re squarely in their corner on this one and we stand ready to defend them and their actions.

Bossardet said it best when, following the vote, she declared, “I sought counsel from a lot of individuals and while I would have liked to have made the decision with my heart, I had to make it with my head . . . I had to think financially, what is the best thing for this village and not what I would like it to be.”

That’s exactly what public officials should be doing – making dispassionate, logical decisions that protect taxpayers and prevent financial ruin.

How the public’s money is spent should always be guided by rational arguments and common sense, not warm fuzzies and blind support for that which is unsustainable.

We are sorry that Oxford’s three full-time and six part-time dispatchers will be losing their jobs, but we have every confidence they will be able to find new positions with either the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office or another law enforcement agency.

All we’ve ever heard is how professional, how competent, how hard-working, how well-trained, how knowledgable and how essential the village’s dispatchers are.

If all that’s true, none of them should be jobless for very long, if at all.

We sincerely wish them the best of luck.

The decision has been made.

Let’s have no hard feelings, no ill will, no divisiveness. Let’s not allow bitterness to take root in our hearts and consume our souls. Let’s not return to the dark days of Gary Ford and the Oxford Emergency Safety Authority.

Let’s move forward together. Let’s make a smooth transition to county dispatch.

Let’s chart a new course that leads to a better Oxford where cooler heads always prevail and wise decisions become the norm in local government. — CJC