Weekly Update 01/31/2014

From Bob Schwartz, City Manager 


Letter to Ms. IzenClick here to view a copy of the letter Council asked me to write to Ms. Georgette Izen. We have sent a copy to Oxford College.  
New Hire in Police DepartmentAfter the recruitment process and a thorough background check and interview, we have hired Officer Jeff Novak to replace Officer Eric Almond (who resigned) in the Police Department. Jeff is currently a deputy with the Newton County Sheriff’s Department. He has been a deputy since 2004. His military service was in the Navy aboard the carrier Saratoga. Jeff will start patrolling in Oxford by riding with Lt. Pilgrim for a couple of days. His first day with us will be Saturday, February 8.
Projects ReportClick here to view a copy of the projects reported updated through January 31. The green is for completed projects and I’ve added a tab to keep track of these.
I-20 Pedestrian BridgeOn Thursday, January 23 Mayor Roseberry and I had a short meeting with Randy Conner and Tres Thomas of the City of Covington and two engineers with URS Corporation. URS was recently selected by the City of Covington as the engineering firm for the pedestrian bridge across I-20. The project is funded from two separate programs administered by Georgia DOT. Because it is a DOT and ultimately a federal highway administration (FHWA) project, it is going to be a long time coming. The selection of URS to be the engineering firm was just confirmed by Georgia DOT a few weeks ago. The next step is the preparation of a concept report describing the project in some detail. Then, DOT will review it and we will have a concept meeting. Then, we will get comments from DOT and after the comments are resolved, the next step is to prepare construction drawings. You may remember this bridge project includes building a sidewalk along the west side of Emory Street from the bridge at I-20 north at least up to Clark Street. Click here to view a copy of the project schedule prepared by the URS engineering firm.
Arbor Day is February 15Here’s some information from the Tree Board about our annual Arbor Day.

Here's the notice LaTrelle Oliver sent to CovNews and Citizen. Sent shorter version for Newton Federal sign. Note inclusion of City's phone #, so everybody in office, On Guard

Arbor Day in Oxford:
      Saturday, February 15, 2014, 10:00-Noon, rain or shine,
          Oxford City Hall Meeting Room, 110 West Clark Street.
Tree City USA Award.
Winners of Tree Super Heroes art contest from Cousins and Flint Hill.
First annual award for Super Friends of Oxford Trees.
Tree cookies under microscopes to learn science of trees.
Preparing trees for summer.
Oxford's 2014 Arbor Day Tree.
Refreshments.
770-786-7004

Supervisors ClassWe held the first session of our six part webinar class on Effective Supervisory Practices Thursday afternoon. Here’s a class photo. If we (or maybe just me) look a little glazed, it’s because we just finished the first 90 minute session.


Snow DazeJody, Scottie, Dustin, and David kept our streets in good shape, while Chief Harvey and Lt. Pilgrim maintained their patrol Tuesday and Wednesday. Lauran staffed city hall from about 10 to 3 on Wednesday, but no one came by. The public works department spread one and a half tons of calcium chloride and sand mixture in different locations where the ice had become dangerous. You will also notice that the police department managed to build a snowman in between calls.