Three members elected to City Council; Issue 20 Passes

BY: BETSY SINN
November 8, 2007

After many town hall forums and voter information nights, the votes have been cast and three Oxford residents have been elected to join the City Council starting Nov. 29.

Richard Keebler received the most votes by winning 30 percent. Kate Currie drew 26 percent and Greig Rutherford finished with 24 percent of the vote Tuesday. The trio will join the remaining four members currently serving the Council.

Keebler, Currie and Rutherford join current Council members Alysia Fischer, Prue Dana, Kenneth Bogard and Doug Ross.

Rutherford is employed by the architecture firm Robert Treadon and Associates, Keebler served as Miami University’s director of business services for 28 years before retiring in 2000 and Currie formerly owned and operated the Hirdie-Girdie Gallery in Sanibel Island, Fla.

“The new councilors bring a wide range of viewpoints to Council. I hope they can recognize that the more smoothly we can work together, even when we disagree, the better it is for all our citizens,” Council Member Alysia Fischer said.

Betty Quantz, former City Council member and mayor of Oxford, was the only Council candidate not elected. She received almost 20 percent of the vote.

Newly elected Council member Currie has several issues she wants to focus on during her four-year term.

“I think one of the most important things I’d like to see is the university becoming more integrated into the city. I’d like to have more faculty live here by providing more affordable housing and also make the existing housing developments in Oxford nicer to encourage higher paid faculty to move back into the area,” Currie said.

Oxford resident Kathleen Zien, a regular at Council meetings, expressed concern for a possible conflict of interest for Rutherford, the executive architect for Robert Treadon and Associates, while he serves on Council.

Zien said she believes Rutherford should not be involved with issues related to the Historic and Architectural Preservation Commission (HAPC) and the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) because of the possible interest his employer has in the issues.

Rutherford’s need to recuse himself will devalue his effectiveness as a Council member, Zien said.

However, Rutherford disagreed.

“As a design professional I bring a unique perspective to this Council. My being an architect and the firm I work for will have no influence on the way I vote. Many members in the past have worked for the university and haven’t necessarily not voted on a decision that would affect Miami just because they work there,” Rutherford said.

After Keebler, Currie and Rutherford begin their new terms on Nov. 29, the Council, as a whole, will have a meeting to allow the new members to become acclimated and organized.

“The meeting will happen within five days after the new members start their term and we will go into Executive Session, which is not open to the public, to discuss who will be mayor and vice-mayor,” Council Member Fischer said.

The Oxford City Charter doesn’t state any particular manner in which the mayor and vice-mayor are to be chosen, except they must be selected from Council and by Council within five days of the start of a new term.

“At this point we are also likely to discuss which members will sit on which boards and commissions. We then come out and make this information public,” Fischer said.

In other City Council news, the City Charter Amendment (Issue 20), also passed with nearly 60 percent of the vote Tuesday. City Council candidates Keebler and Currie supported the amendment.

The new legislation will eliminate the three-dwelling unit restriction enforced on buildings located within Oxford’s Mile Square.

While still having to abide by current city building codes in the city charter Oxford will now allow buildings located within the Mile Square to have more than three individual residential apartments within one building.

The next City Council meeting will be Nov. 20.