‘Onward Oxford’ battle cry resonates with the community
Oxford Town Manager Jen Callahan, who says the Onward Oxford newsletter will be sent out to residents and businesses quarterly.
By Rod Lee
Oxford Town Manager Jennifer M. Callahan, her colleagues with the municipality and residents and businesspersons in the community are in an understandable state of excitement these days, with the inaugural issue of a newsletter, Onward Oxford, now in circulation.
Brimming with timely information including reports by Ms. Callahan, all of her department heads and key personnel, the neatly packaged debut edition of Onward Oxford went out in September and is already generating positive feedback.
“It’s unique, it’s different,” Ms. Callahan said of the newsletter on October 8. “It’s been a major key performance indicator for me.
“We had been talking about how to brand the town, how to really engage the residents. Facebook wasn’t cutting it. We wanted to revamp material to connect with people. It started with a number of different things we wanted to do and I thought of ‘onward’ and arrows and our production media coordinator pulled it together.”
Known throughout her public life as a hard-charging go-getter, Ms. Callahan said that when the possibility of an endeavor of the sort was “revisited” in July she said to staff “we have such a story to tell and with the pandemic it gets lost.”
She asked every department head to “put something together, something terrific, something transformative, send us pictures and data and we’ll send it out. The response has been resoundingly positive.”
This can in large part be attributed to the content that was submitted by Ms. Callahan’s “correspondents.” DPW Director Jared M. Duval, for instance, talked about “a repair alternative” that involved “grinding existing gutters,” i.e., “shimming and/or levelling them with hot mix asphalt and installing an ‘HMA’ overlay to provide an improved roadway profile and wearing surface.”
Tony Sousa, who is director of planning and economic development, reported on the $24,000 that was awarded to the town by the Janet Malser Humanities Trust “for streetscape beautification in the Main St. Historic District.”
From Fire Chief Laurent R. McDonald came announcement that Oxford Fire and Emergency Services had launched an “address indicator” program as part of a “Community Risk Reduction” initiative, in which highly visible reflective street number signs were being made available to households.
Building Commissioner Patrick Dahlgren shared the news that the number of applications for swimming pools had “doubled.”
Town Clerk Michelle Jenkins, Treasurer/Collector Jillian Connor, HR Specialist Joanne Frederick, Town Assessor Chris Pupka, Finance Director Katie McKenna, Senior Center Director Laura Wilson, Tree Warden Wayne Burlock, Library Director Brittany McDougal, Police Chief Anthony P. Saad and Shelley Lambert of the Oxford Community Center were among those who chipped in or were highlighted.
Ms. Callahan herself struck an upbeat tone in the first pages of the newsletter with comment about the renewed financial stability that the town is enjoying. When she came aboard three years ago, Ms. Callahan said, “the town had spent down all of its reserves, was not generating any substantial new revenues, had no comprehensive financial policies in place, had very low end-of-year free cash and had not avidly pursued existing grant opportunities.”
She immediately trained “a laser focus” on 1) conservative financial forecasting and balanced budgeting; 2) increased revenues; 3) building reserves; 4) leverage grant assistance; and 5) investing in town infrastructure.
The subsequent “fiscal outlook turnaround” is reflected in the Rainy Day Stabilization Fund climbing from $163,000 to $1.7 million, the Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability Fund rising from $3.1 million to $5.0 million and the Certified Free Cash numbers increasing to $3.5 million, which allowed for addressing “a backlog of deferred maintenance and major infrastructure projects without increasing taxes on residents.”
On grants too there has been steady improvement, with more than $13 million obtained, including $0.4 million for Parks, Seniors, Historic, Trees and Playgrounds, $0.5 million for Best Practices: Green Communities, Finance and IT, $2.3 million for Public Safety, MEMA and Covid, $2.0 million for Brownfield, Environmental and Climate; $3.25 million for Dam and Bridge Safety and $5.0 million for Transportation, Pedestrian Safety and Sewer.
Congratulated on the number and amount of grants the town has secured since she began work on Main St. including one for repairs at Town Hall, Ms. Callahan laughed and said with her typical ebullience “I go after money wherever it is! A lot of it is timing. When I arrived the town had had no town planner for a long time. Now we have a really solid team.”
An email Ms. Callahan received from a resident of Minuteman Lane mirrored the glowing commendations the town is receiving.
“I just finished reading the Onward Oxford newsletter that was mailed to our homes and I wanted to thank you for pulling it together. It’s OUTSTANDING!” the resident wrote. “The newsletter shines a much-needed light on all of the good that is happening around town. I was happy to see all of the positive steps made by yourself and all of the departments covered in the newsletter. I have noticed several of the improvements listed and loved reading about the projects that are underway within our town. Keep up the great work and thank you again for the newsletter.”
Oxford is many things. Movies on Main. The Teddy Bear Picnic. A partnership between Swissturn/USA and the Samuel Slater Experience for “Community Art” sheep.
Now is also the Onward Oxford newsletter.
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Contact Rod Lee at [email protected] or 774-232-2999.
