Oxford Board of Aldermen Calls Special Meeting at City Hall Tuesday

Julia Certion Blackmon's years of service to the City of Oxford earned a formal send-off when the Board of Aldermen convened a special session at the City Hall Courtroom on Tuesday, February 24, with the board adopting a retirement resolution in her honor alongside procurement decisions affecting streets, Environmental Services, and the Animal Resource Center.

The meeting, which began at 1 p.m., drew an agenda built around city operations rather than headline policy fights. Some aldermen participated by teleconference, as authorized under City of Oxford Code of Ordinances Section 2-82, while the agenda was shared publicly through local media ahead of the session.

On procurement, Mark Levy brought forward a request to advertise for bids for landscape maintenance within the public right-of-way on select city streets, launching a competitive contracting process for municipal streetscapes. Separately, Amberlyn Liles of the Environmental Services Department sought authorization to advertise for department equipment through Reverse Auction, a bidding mechanism the city uses to solicit competitive pricing on capital purchases.

Staffing rounded out the session's business. Human Resources director Braxton Tullos presented a request to hire a full-time Kennel Technician for the Animal Resource Center, Oxford's municipal animal shelter, as well as a second request to bring on a full-time driver for Environmental Services.

The Board of Aldermen, led by Mayor Robyn Tannehill, is made up of seven members: six elected by ward and one at-large. Special meetings are called outside the board's regular twice-monthly schedule when city business cannot wait for the next standing session. The February 24 meeting's minutes were subsequently placed on the agenda for approval at the board's regular meeting on March 3.