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Oxford City Council to vote on appointee
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The Oxford City Council will publicly vote on an appointee to take Mayor Elect Jerry Roseberry's place on the council at their next meeting on Dec. 3.

While a secret ballot vote at their last council meeting on Nov. 12 resulted in the announcement of former councilman Virgil Eady's appointment to the city council, after a rereading of Georgia Open Records Law, the council realized that they would have to vote again, this time in public.

"We were a little pre-mature," said Oxford Mayor Bill Murdy. "So we just have to back up and do it again."

Murdy said the city council was informed by the City Attorney David Strickland that they would have to vote again through a 'yay' or 'nay' public voting measure.

 At the Nov. 12 meeting four candidates were nominated to take Roseberry's place on the council and serve the remaining two years of his council term. They were Bill Shapiro, Virgil Eady, Emma Lou Patterson and Norbert Thompson.

 Murdy said the council will vote on those four nominees again at the Dec. 3 meeting. While Murdy said Eady stands a good chance of winning the nomination again, he added there is no guarantee that council members will vote the same way they did on Nov. 12.

"He stands a good chance," Murdy said. "It may come out exactly the way we did (the first time.) Everyone on the council will vote but it will be open."

In other Oxford election news:

There will be a candidate forum between Oxford Council Post 1 candidates Frank Davis and Amma Gaither this Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Oxford Community Room.

Davis and Gaither, the incumbent, came in first and second place respectively in a three candidate race on Nov. 7. However neither candidate captured 51 percent of the vote so a runoff race must be held.

The candidate forum is sponsored by the Newton County NAACP and will be moderated by Oxford resident Claude Sitton. Each candidate will be given five minutes for an opening statement and two minutes for concluding remarks at the end.

The date of the runoff election is Dec. 4. Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Community Room, adjacent to the Volunteer Fire Department on Emory Street.