By James Hanlon
Leader Staff Writer
Oxford Village Council approved the second reading of an amendment to an ordinance reducing the number of seats on the Downtown Development Authority Board of Directors from 13 to nine. The council passed the amendment 5-0 at its virtual Dec. 8 meeting.
Earlier this year, former village president Joe Frost recognized an inconsistency in the village ordinance and the DDA bylaws. The bylaws allowed nine members, while the ordinance actually allowed 12 members, plus the village president. For years, the DDA had been following the bylaws number.
In order to square this inconsistency, Frost pushed to have the bylaws updated to match the ordinance by allowing 12 members, plus the village president. The village council approved the updates in July.
Besides the appointment of Township Trustee Jonathan Nold, none of the extra seats were ever filled. In fact, the board lost two members when Dora Rolando resigned last month and Sue Oles declined reappointment.
The DDA has had a difficult time meeting since the bylaws were updated, because they have not always been able to reach a quorum, the minimum 50 percent attendance required to have a meeting. Since there were technically 13 seats, that meant they needed at least seven members present.
“For the month of October, it took us three meetings to be able to get a quorum together,” Board Member Pete Scholz told the council, “so it is extremely vital that we get this changed back down. It’s impossible to get a full board of 13 to begin with . . . by changing it back down definitely makes a big difference for us.”
The amended Village Ordinance No. 321 Sec. 22-3 (b), Eligibility and Terms of Office, now states, “The board of directors of the corporation shall consist of the village president and eight members appointed by the village president, subject to the approval of the village council.” (The ordinance had said the board shall consist of the village president and 12 members.)
That brings the number back down to nine, including the village president. This change does not affect any of the current DDA Board members, since there are only eight sitting members including the village president, Kelsey Cooke. That means there is still one vacancy to be filled.
The amended ordinance does not change the bylaws, which still allow the 13 members. Since the ordinance trumps the bylaws, it was necessary to amend the ordinance first. The DDA can now correct the bylaws and bring them back to council at a future meeting.