MEMBERS: Mr. Mark McGiboney, Chair, Ms.
Loren Roberts, Vice-Chair, Dr. Melvin Baker, Mr. Brian Barnard, Mr. Jonathan
Eady, Ms. Kendra Mayfield, and Ms. Martha Molyneux.
STAFF:
Frank Turner, DDA attorney, Bob Schwartz, city manager and DDA
secretary/treasurer.
GUESTS: There were no guests.
OPENING:
Mr. McGiboney called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Upon motion of Mr. Eady, seconded
by Dr. Baker, the minutes for the meeting on April 19, 2017 were approved as
presented. The vote was 7 – 0.
ATTORNEY – Mr. Frank Turner, newly appointed
attorney for the DDA was introduced by Mr. McGiboney. Mr. Turner mentioned he serves as the city
attorney for Covington and as attorney for the Newton County Industrial
Development Authority. He looks forward
to working with the DDA.
BY-LAWS – Mr. McGiboney introduced a
discussion of the draft By-Laws with several changes recommended by Mr.
Turner. After the discussion, upon
motion of Mr. Eady, seconded by Ms. Molyneux, the By-Laws were adopted with two
amendments. Mr. Turner will prepare the
final copy of the By-Laws.
INSURANCE – Mr. Schwartz reported that the DDA
and its members are covered by the city’s insurance policy with the Georgia Interlocal
Risk Management Agency (GIRMA). There
were several questions raised about the details of the policy. Mr. Schwartz will send a copy of the policy
to Mr. Turner for him to review.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT – Mr. Schwartz presented a very
rough draft of the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the DDA and the
City. The members suggested that before
we work on the IGA we should ask City Council for an outline of the projects
that it wants the DDA to handle. Perhaps
we should have a joint meeting between the DDA and City Council. Before the DDA goes much further, it should
define what it wants to accomplish.
OTHER BUSINESS – Mr. Eady distributed a list of
“Oxford DDA Ideas” [copy attached]. This
initiated an extensive discussion of what the DDA should try to get done. Several ideas were discussed in addition to
those on Mr. Eady’s list. This included:
trying to integrate any new development into the style and feeling of our
community; trying to maintain green space; creating a downtown that looks like
the old downtown; serving both the residents that are already here along with
any that may move; and everything should be in keeping with the style of our
community. Mr. McGiboney suggested this
discussion continue at the next meeting and asked Mr. Barnard to prepare a map with
ideas that everyone could review together.
MEETING TIME – Upon motion of Ms. Roberts,
seconded by Ms. Molyneux the regular meeting time was moved from the third
Wednesday of the month to the fourth Wednesday of the month. This will avoid most conflicts with the set
up for city court on the third Thursday of the month. The vote was 7 – 0. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, June 28th
at 7 PM.
ADJOURNMENT: Mr. McGiboney adjourned the meeting
at 8:10 PM.
Approved by:
Bob Schwartz, Secretary/Treasurer