With the holiday season coming to a close, as well as the 2018 year, the City of Oxford is moving quickly towards 2019.

During a conversation with The EAGLE last week, Mayor Robyn Tannehill briefly talked about what the city has on its docket as it starts the New Year.

First on the city’s to-do list, executing its plans for the approved annexation.

“The first part of this year, you will probably hear mostly about all of our plans with our annexation,” Tannehill said. “That was finalized about a month ago.”

The city annexed an additional 12 miles on September 20, adding on to its existing 16. Oxford now spans 28 miles, and that means the city needs to provide for that newly added land.

This includes water and sanitation services, which are part of the city utilities.

“You will see us working hard to get all of these newly annexed areas is up to speed,” Tannehill said. “That’s us being able to provide them with the services that they need.”

Countywide, the mayor also mentioned the construction of the Business Center and Arena, which broke ground in April 2018.

The County Board of Supervisors is also planning on appointing an advisory committee to the business center and arena. That appointment was pushed back during the last supervisors meeting.

Discussion on the appointment is expected in one of the upcoming supervisors meetings, and construction on the business center and arena is expected to finish near springtime of 2019.

Mayor Tannehill also alluded to the construction on the downtown-parking garage, which will finish on September 2019, as well as underground construction for water and sewer upgrades for the city.

“We are just going as hard and fast as we can,” Tannehill said, “to protect the quality of development in Oxford, and to keep people happy with the level of services that we’re providing.”