At its Oct. 16 meeting, Oxford Borough Council signed off a new Business Improvement District (BID) plan that is going through the process of being approved this fall. The BID must be reauthroized every five years, and the plan must be approved by borough council before owners of properties included within the Business Improvement District can formally vote to extend it. The new plan will be in effect from 2018 to 2022.

A public hearing on the final BID plan took place on Sept. 25, when input from the community was accepted. Some small changes were made to the plan as a result of that public hearing. Now that borough council has voted to allow the plan to move forward, there will be a 45-day review period when property owners in the Business Improvement District can vote to continue the program or not. Properties in the Business Improvement District agree to a special assessment that is used for efforts to promote the businesses in the district through beautification and revitalization efforts. Only those property owners in the Business Improvement District pay that tax, and only they can decide whether to extend the BID for another five years.

Borough council's final adoption of the Business Improvement District documents is slated for council's last meeting in December. If the plan is approved, this would be the third time that the BID plan has been authorized in Oxford.

Oxford Borough Council also approved a comprehensive parking ordinance that establishes permit parking in residential areas as a way to discourage visitors from parking in residential areas of town. Council approved the parking ordinance by a vote of 6-1, with council member Peggy Ann Russell voting in opposition to it. Russell had made a motion to table the matter before the vote was taken, but that motion failed because of a lack of a second.

Borough council approved a motion to allow David Ogino to continue some of the preliminary work on the construction of a stage in Oxford Memorial Park. The stage will be used by performers at events like a music and arts festival that is being planned for Oxford in 2018, and at events like the Apple Festival.

Borough council also approved the hiring of Arlene Harrison for the position of Oxford Borough treasurer with a starting date of Oct. 30.