Council OKs $5.4 million contract for next phase of trail system

Oxford City Council voted to award a nearly $5.4 million contract for the construction of the next phase of the Oxford Area Trail System (OATS) during a brief meeting June 3.

Phase Five of the OATS will stretch from Talawanda High School to Talawanda Middle School, with a northern connection to Chestnut Street. The June 3 meeting had initially been rescheduled to later in the month but was brought forward to meet state funding deadlines. The project is set to be financed in part by a $2.7 million grant.

Council voted to award the contract to Brumbaugh Construction for $5.375 million, plus a 10% contingency fund for a total not to exceed $5.913 million. According to a staff report, the city had initially budgeted more than $6.6 million for Phase Five, which will be the first section of the OATS to cross the railroad track. Brumbaugh Construction was the lowest of four bidders for the project.

Disagreements with two property owners had threatened to derail the timeline for the trail construction, but according to a monthly staff report, the city has reached tentative agreements with both owners. One agreement was approved by Council last month. During the June 3 meeting, Service Director Mike Dreisbach said he expects work to begin this season and continue through 2026.

“This is much more than a recreational trail for the city,” said council member Alex French. “Particularly with this segment because it connects the middle and high school, as well as the trail to the multimodal transportation station, this is a really key piece in non-car transportation.”

Also during the June 3 meeting, which lasted just 15 minutes, Council authorized the purchase of two new vehicles for the Oxford Police Department, totaling $88,430, and passed an ordinance repealing and replacing a chapter of the city’s zoning code to correct a mistake.

Vice Mayor Chantel Raghu also read a proclamation recognizing June 12 as Loving Day in Oxford, commemorating the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1958 decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down laws banning interracial marriage. Mayor Bill Snavely and council member David Prytherch were absent from the meeting.

Oxford City Council will meet again at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 17, in the Oxford Courthouse. Meetings are streamed online at www.cityofoxford.org.