City council candidates speak to ASG

The five candidates running for Oxford City Council attended Associated Student Government’s (ASG) meeting Oct. 14 to speak about their platforms. The candidates discussed community relations, civic engagement and public safety.

Community relations

Alex French, a current member of city council and a Miami University alumna, said she wanted the Oxford City Council to focus on seeking out and engaging with students. Specifically, she discussed setting up a table at megafair and other yearly events where students could meet with representatives.

“I would love us to reestablish the Student/Community Relations Commission,” French said. “I think there needs to be some sort of official dialog, and then that metric could be tracked by [the] number of milestones we meet.”

Roxanne Ornelas, a former Miami professor who has held many public administration jobs, also said she wanted the council to have more of a connection with students. She said she hoped to impress upon students the lively art scene in Oxford, and cited the Oxford Community Arts Center as an example of a way students could get more involved with the city.

“I think it would be a fabulous idea once the semester begins and you all begin to assemble for the year, even before your first meeting, to come to a city council meeting,” Ornelas said. “Not only that, [come] meet with the members of the council in the chambers.”

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Civic engagement

Glenn Ellerbe Jr., a former city council member and current vice chairman of the Oxford Chamber of Commerce, said he wanted to boost civic engagement by meeting students where they are. For him, this means going out into Oxford and seeking out students. He even plans to host a formal Q&A at Brick Street Bar.

“I was actually doing that during the previous eight years that I was on council,” Ellerbe I went out to all the local establishments uptown, and I would just ask or answer questions that people had for me.”

Amber Franklin, a current member of city council and a professor of speech pathology and audiology, said the best way to support civic engagement was to encourage students to be well-rounded, productive members of society, which include helping students interact with and explore the Oxford area. She drew on her experience as a professor to explain how she has personally reached out to the student population.

“Civic engagement isn't just officially serving in a capacity on a commission or a board, it's participating in the social life of the community in which you live,” Franklin said. “For example, in my classroom, I tell my students, ‘Hey, these are the things that are going on uptown. Send it out to the group chat. Make sure that you're there.’ I also go to student groups to have conversations in dorms about hot button topics that are important to them.”

Public safety

James Vinch, a former attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a former professor at Miami, drew on his legal expertise to explain how he could best serve the public's interest. Vinch said he was particularly concerned with due process, especially as it regards enforcement involving students.

“I'm very familiar with the concept of equitable enforcement and when to use those tools and when not to use those tools,” Vinch said. “There is an issue, I believe, with the City of Oxford and resources… It's difficult to send officers repeatedly to the same situation to give warnings, so one of the jobs of enforcement is deterrence.”

After the candidates spoke, they met with ASG members at a formal reception in the Armstrong student center.

ASG will meet again on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. in the Joslin Senate Chambers.

mahones5@miamioh.edu