OXFORD, Ga. — With Mayor Jerry Roseberry retiring at the end of the year, after serving the community since 2006, Oxford voters took to the polls on Tuesday to elect the next mayor.

The candidates for mayor were two former councilmen - David S. Eady and Michael Ready. Eady resigned his Post 4 council seat to run for mayor; Ready remained in the Post 3 seat, as it is expiring, and he served as mayor pro tem.

In complete but official results, Eady was elected as the next Oxford mayor with 152 votes.

As mayor, Eady has several projects to complete, including additional sidewalks, becoming cost-effective and reducing energy burden. 

"Over the next year, we have several projects to complete that the city council has been talking about for quite some time, including additional sidewalks on Emory Street, and I’ll be working with the council on a strategic plan and five-year budget/work plan that we all agree to execute," he said. "We will also look at establishing additional work processes and management discipline as we execute our plans, projects and work-orders as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

"One more thing I’d like to focus on is how we can reduce the energy burden experienced by some of our neighbors. We might explore alternative billing programs, like offering to average electric bills over 12 months so that folks don’t struggle with spikes in their bills on months with extreme weather. 

"And we might look at ways to enable our electric utility customers to finance improvements that will reduce their energy use and save them money on their bills, paying for those improvements with the savings over time – similar to'pay-as-you-save'” programs implemented in other communities."

Ready received 86 votes.

“No response,” Ready said. “Ran a proper race, and the results were not in my favor.”

Councilman George R. Holt went unopposed in Post 2. 

Two newcomers went unopposed as well for council seats: Lynn Branham Bohanan in Post 1 and Laura McCanless in Post 3.