By Don Rush

On July 13, the Oxford Township Board of Trustees sat down for their regular monthly meeting, which lasted just over an hour. Here’s some of the actions taken.

Election workers recognized

Clerk Curtis Wright presented township elections workers with certificates of appreciation. “As it is the election season, I thought it would be proper to give recognition to those who have served the Oxford community for several years,” he said. “So we came up with a list of those who have served as election inspectors for 10 years or more.” He then walked to the floor to read the following names, hand out certificates and pose for pictures. Those honored included: Mary Heichel (25 plus years); Carla Lambertson (20 plus years); Robert Collins, Maureen Helmuth, Maurits Lang, Ronald Tomko (15 plus years); Rose Bejma, Donna Bossardet, Cindy DuVal, Donna Kirby, Kathy Lang, Jim McGinnis, Majorie McGinnis, Sharon Schramlin, Colleen Schultz and Robert Turner (10 plus years).

High marks

Rana Emmons a partner with the PSLZ CPA firm presented the board her findings from the 2021 Audited Financial Report. “I am here to share with you a very good report,” she said of the township’s finances, adding the township received the “highest level” of opinion possible. She listed highlights from the report like in 2021, the township added $1.2 million dollars to the general fund, fund balance. “That’s kind of a banner year,” she said. “It’s not typical. The year before you added $540,000 to the fund balance.”

She also reported that tax revenue for the township increased (without raising taxes) by 3.7 percent. The previous year tax values went up 4 percent.

Zoning Map amendments

Supervisor Jack Curtis presented the board with a first reading of Zoning Ordinance 67A.029 – Zoning Map Amendments. “The zoning map has not been updated for several years. The last person to sign was Clara Sanderson (who retired as township clerk in 2008),” he said, adding the almost 400 pages of “corrections” and “clarifications” were ready to be read and discussed. He asked if there were any questions, and seeing none accepted a motion from the board to set accept and set the second reading of the ordinance. Treasurer Joe Ferrari made the motion and seconded by trustee Catherine Colvin .All voted for in favor.

Commissioner appointed

Supervisor Curtis recommended and the board approved the nomination of Justin Ballard to fill the vacancy on the township’s planning commission. His term will expire on Dec. 31, 2024.

Pot “provision” centers ok’d

The board approved, minus the vote of Treasurer Ferrari who voted against, three marijuana license applications for “provision” centers. All three are on the east side of M-24. Supervisor Curtis 20 provisions on why he motioned for each of the three provision centers be approved by the board. The centers are to be located at 280 N. Washington Street (where the old McDonald’s restaurant was), 653 S. Lapeer Road (which was last Maza Auto) and 1225 S. Lapeer Road (which was a Marathon gas station).

Another CJ grant

Former Oxford Leader editor and current Oxford Township Communications & Grants Manager CJ Carnacchio, informed the board that on June 23 he received notice that AAA Traffic Safety awarded the township $5,663.50 to be used for purchasing a radar speed trailer to be used the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in the township. The grant is 50 percent of the cost, the township will pickup the other half. The machine will be purchased from Stalker Radar/Applied Concepts, Inc. For the year Carnacchio has helped the township receive $249,217 in grants and donations that were for the township, parks and recreation, fire department and sheriff’s office.

Wellhead protection service funded

The board approved a three year contract with Northern Well & Pump Company for a total cost of $21,000. This company has provided the township’s wellhead protection monitoring service since 2013.

Safety path bids sought

The board gave a green light to the Safety Path Committee to seek bids to provide landscape maintenance on the township’s safety path system, to include trimming weeds on either side of the path way and any over hanging limbs or brush.