Oxford Aldermen, Lafayette Supervisors both holding first meeting of 2018 tonight

Published 6:00 am Tuesday, January 2, 2018

While the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors regularly meet on the first and third Monday of the month, with Monday being New Year’s Day, the supervisors will be meeting tonight at 5 p.m. at the Lafayette County Chancery Building.

A few steps away, the Oxford Board of Aldermen will be holding its regular meeting, also at 5 tonight at City Hall.

The supervisors will be discussing three pending interlocal agreements with the city of Oxford, and in some cases, also with the University of Mississippi on projects aimed at forming a Comprehensive Traffic Plan, financial contributions toward the new activity center on Molly Barr Road and funding and management of the Oxford-Lafayette County Metro Narcotics Unit.

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A new item on the agenda is the consideration of adopting a resolution requesting local and private legislation for a hotel/motel 2 percent tax for Lafayette County.

The city was started implementing a hotel/motel tax in 2009. By the end of the fiscal year 2010, the tax brought in $174,000. In the fiscal year 2017, the tax brought in more than $449,000 in revenue.

A local and private bill is a proposal for a law that would apply to a particular individual or group of individuals, or corporate entity – in this case, Lafayette County, which is unlike public bills which apply to everyone in the state.

The Oxford Board of Aldermen will also be discussing and considering the approval of the interlocal agreement for the Comprehensive Traffic Plan with Lafayette County.

Both groups had budgeted for the study during summer budget sessions after leaders agreed verbally to join in and have the study done to help guild Oxford and Lafayette County’s growth and how it relates to traffic, roads and pedestrian access.

The aldermen are also expected to reconsider extending the control for animal control services with the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society until the end of the fiscal year, which is Sept. 30 and then review annually for reconsideration.

In August, when the annual contract was up, the aldermen voted to approve extending the contract for three months, then on a monthly basis until recommended changes were made to how the board of directors held their meetings and the creation of new bylaws and requirements the board follows those bylaws. In December, Alderman Janice Antonow, who sits on the OLHS board at the request of Board of Aldermen, asked the board to consider extending the revised contract until the end of September.

Also on Monday, the aldermen will hold a public hearing and vote on whether to adopt a No Protest Resolution for the issuance of an $11 million bond for the construction of a downtown parking garage.

A No Protest Resolution shows that after the Board of Aldermen advertised their intent to purchase the bonds, no individual has filed a complaint or protest against the city seeking the bond.

Agendas for both meetings are available online at www.oxfordms.net for the Oxford Board of Aldermen and www.lafayettems.com for the Lafayette County Supervisors.