By Betsy Brewer Brantner
Contributing Writer

The 2025 Municipal Primary Election will take place on Tuesday, May 20. This report is intended to give voters more information about the candidates running for Oxford Borough Council.

Each candidate was sent the same questions to answer regarding their candidacy. They also had the option of not answering some of the questions or adding additional information.

Oxford Borough Council has four seats up for election for 2025. The Primary Election will determine who is on the ballot for the November election.

Incumbent council members Luke Neidigh and Peggy Ann Russell are not seeking re-election.

Incumbents Amanda Birdwell and Bob Ketcham, both Democrats, are seeking another term. Matthew Harper, a Republican, and Michael Brandt and Melody Boston Griffin, both Democrats, are running for council for the first time. Here’s a look at the candidates:

Melody Boston Griffin

Melody Boston Griffin has been an Oxford resident since 1988. She is the mother of four children, and feels it is time for her to make a difference in the town that she calls home. She believes serving on council is a great way to give back to the community where she is raising her children. Being a mother and working at her job at Stoltzfus Statistics gives her skills she would like to use serving on Borough Council. 

She loves Oxford. She and her mother volunteer for SILO (Serving Inspring and Loving Others). Her mother can be found cooking for the monthly meals. “I would also like to make a difference in the community,” she explained. “I’ve attended a council meeting and have seen first-hand the decisions I can play a part in. I hope to address the issue of sidewalks. Many have been improved, but I’d like to see the improvements continue.” 

She has seen the impact of the devastating fire in downtown that displaced 20 families and numerous businesses.

“I see the effects of that fire every day, what it did to the apartments and businesses.” She said “I’d like to be a part of helping with that in any way I can. I frequently walk through the business district, and I am excited about the re-building.” 

Griffin works with numbers at her current job, a skill she feels will be advantageous as a council member.

“I do the accounts payable and receivables and other accounting issues and I love that,” she said “I will bring my experience handling financial issues to the borough if elected.”

Boston is also happy she lives in a town where there is 24/7 police protection.

“I love the community policing that is done by our officers,” she explained. “I watch them every year as they hand out toys to children. I feel safe and cared for here.”

Amanda Birdwell Amanda Birdwell has served on council since 2018, and in that time she has served on a number of committees.

“I was on the local traffic advisory committee and on the finance committee. Both were very important to me,” she said. “I am concerned that we are devoting too much money to projects that align with the goals of consultants, and too little focused on the things that impact day to day life in our community, such as affordable housing or relief from codes that are outdated or that interfere with residents’ property rights.” 

Birdwell feels she can help borough residents in a number of ways.

She explained, “I would like to set a precedent that we solicit more public feedback about decisions we make. It’s not easy because decisions are sometimes difficult to connect to day to day life, but I think we could do more to help residents understand what we are voting on so we get their input.” She said that the public feedback on issues could be considered along with input from the borough staff and the borough’s solicitor.

“I’m pretty vocal,” Birdwell said. “I’m not really wired to go along with things I think are wrong or don’t make sense. I’m not afraid to be the one vote out of seven against something and I think there is value in that. I also really want taxes in the borough to stop going up. Honestly, in a perfect world, there would be a council person who works less and has fewer family commitments to take on this role—but I think it’s telling that even though it is a challenge to make time and keep showing up, I’ve done that consistently through the past 7 years.”

Birdwell lists a number of accomplishments since she has been on council.

“ I got the fence around the Oxford Memorial Park,” she explained. “I remember that borough members at that time didn’t want it. They thought that parents should just watch their kids more closely. “I worked with council members to prohibit setting up outdoor smoking areas on the sidewalks so people can go downtown without walking through smoke. And I worked with Bob Ketchum and other council members to increase library funding and recreation authority funding so these institutions can remain solvent.”

She also highlighted the work of Council President Kathryn Cloyd.

“With the help of the rest of council, particularly Kathryn Cloyd, we’ve started to work toward meeting our MS4 requirements to keep the waterways around our borough clean,” she said.

Birdwell has many more plans for the future.

“I want to facilitate more public input into some of the more esoteric decisions about spending and infrastructure. We spend a lot of money on projects that could be put off, in an effort to make up for decades of under-investment in our infrastructure. But I feel like we are going too far in the other direction and would benefit from more direction from the borough about what residents’ priorities are. I’d like to move more slowly with things like making residents repair their sidewalks, stop investing resources in telling residents what kind of signs or windows they can have in the HARB, and direct our attention to ensuring that critical needs for services— educational, recreational, and infrastructure—are met. And I’d like to find a way to bring down policing costs so we can retain our current police force. I don’t think we need to go from our current situation to out-sourcing it.”

While in college, Birdwell served in Americorps, working in early-education and as a caregiver for adults with disabilities. Later, she ran child care and educational programs in New York City. From 2014 to 2023, she worked as a nurse in hospitals, dialysis centers, and primary care clinics. Currently she is a nurse practitioner at a local health center that aims to provide health care to residents regardless of income, ability, gender, or any other social determinant of health. 

Robert Ketcham

Bob Ketcham has many thoughts on what the borough has accomplished and what remains to be done in the borough.

“Pauline Garcia-Allen brought many skills to the job of Borough Manager,” he said. “She is excellent at securing outside funding, so we have done very well in that regard. Under her leadership, we have strengthened our Public Works Department and the administrative team in Borough Hall, including the Codes Department.  The Water Department has made major progress as well.”

He sees two big challenges that remain.  

“One is to build a Capital Replacement Fund,” he said. “The idea here is that we set aside money regularly so that we build up the funds we need to replace capital items when they need to be replaced. These items include everything from computers and trucks to road surfaces and the driving surface of the parking garage.  We are playing catch-up here because Borough Councils in the past have not set aside money for these predictable expenditures.”

 Ketcham continued, “The second challenge is to keep our police force in good shape. We are the victim of market forces here. Relatively few people are going into policing careers and that means municipalities compete for the ones who do. Wealthier municipalities offer higher salaries and we lose people to them. We are under pressure to raise our salaries. We are looking at ways to keep the financial impact of this situation to a minimum.”

Ketcham talked about another problem the borough is facing.

“We have a small revenue base and that is a fundamental problem for us,” he said. “Most of our revenue comes from property taxes.  We can raise or lower our local tax rate but distributing the burden equitably is a function of how properties are assessed and that is not in our power. We need the state and the county to do their jobs in this area.”

Ketcham also emphasized that the borough has to be very careful in making financial decisions. 

“This is always true, of course, but it is really critical in Oxford because of our small revenue base,” he said. “I do not have special training in municipal finances, but I do have experience working with quantitative data and with testing ideas so I think I can make useful contributions here as a council member.”

Traffic congestion is a topic of concern that Ketcham would like to see addressed. He also would like to see support for the Oxford Area Recreation Authority, which operates a park for the community.

“We should encourage people to find out about the park and use it more,” he said.

Good things are coming for the borough and one is the cooperation among current property owners along Niblock Alley to develop second storefronts in the business district.

“That is the best news I’ve heard about downtown since I’ve been on Council,” he said. “I want to encourage that project. It will make downtown more attractive and enjoyable.”

Matthew Harper

Matthew Harper moved into Oxford from Nottingham in 2017. He served in the U.S. Army in the HVAC field. He has very specific thoughts about the borough.

“Right now I think the most important thing is to save our police department,” he said. “I’d like to see us do a National Night Out and continue to do the community policing our police department does. That is very important.”

He added, “I would like to see more business in town. Oxford is now the Gateway to Chester County. We have to increase our Business Improvement District to include more businesses. I want to see bigger First Fridays.”

Harper owns PA Boy’s Barbecue, which started as a food truck. The food truck continues and he now has purchased the former Varsity Grill and also operates that on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Harper was a former football coach at Octoraro and served in the Army from 2011 to 2016. He feels like a lot of changes are coming to the borough and would like to see a younger generation step in.

He explained, “I feel everyone should have a voice in the decisions that are made. I’m not sure they are all being heard. I would like to be the voice for the people and for the small businesses.” 

He feels Oxford is a safe town and would like to see it stay that way. He loves the diversity in the town, and feels that as long as everyone follows the rules, the town will be okay.

Harper feels it is time for some changes, but regionalization of the police department is not one of them.

One aspect he loves about the borough is that, “Everyone looks out for each other.”

Michael Brandt

This will be Michael Brandt’s first attempt at running for a political office. His biggest concern is the borough’s financial situation. The second would be setting the town up for commercial success going forward. 

Brandt would like to do his best to see the town flourish, and feels he has the knowledge to do so.

“I have a strong sense of community and the drive to cooperate with everyone to make Oxford the best it can be,” he said. “I think it is possible to bring more businesses into our town and expand our commercial district. I think that would be a win for everyone.”

Brandt continued, “I believe we can find a common sense solution to the police issue and other financial concerns. I would welcome the opportunity to be a part of the rebuilding after the tragic fire in the center of town.”

Brandt works for Intuit, a company known for helping small businesses, and he would like to bring his expertise to Oxford Borough Council.