OXFORD, Ga. — Oxford will see a familiar face on its city council beginning in January.

Former council member Michael Ready qualified for the Post 4 council seat by the Aug. 20 deadline. 

He will join incumbents Jim Windham in Post 5 and Jeff Wearing in Post 6 as the only three to qualify for each of the three council seats up for election this year.

Ready will replace Post 4 council member the Rev. Avis Williams after Williams opted not to qualify for election to a full term.

Williams was appointed to the Post 4 seat in November 2019 to replace David Eady after Eady resigned to make a successful run for mayor.

Ready is a member of the city’s planning commission and downtown development authority. He served as the Post 3 city council member from 2015 to 2019. He sought election as mayor in 2019 but lost to Eady.

He said he wanted to rejoin the council to help Eady complete a number of city projects, such as work to halt further degradation of Dried Indian Creek along the city’s eastern edge and build a walking trail along the waterway.

“We’ve talked about it for a number of years,” Ready said.

The city council has worked to protect the creek from further development near its shore through land purchases, donations and conservation easements.

Other initiatives include efforts to improve walkability in the city with plans to replace and build sidewalks, add new pedestrian lighting and build a mid-block street crossing on Emory Street to enhance pedestrian safety, officials said.

Ready said he decided to qualify for the seat after finding that Williams was not going to run for election to a full term.

“If she had decided to stay, I would not have run,” he said.

Ready is retired from a career as a retail and grocery manager. He is an Army veteran and a member of the Kiwanis Club and American Legion.

Windham, a retiree who was first elected in 2005, will seek his fifth consecutive term on the Oxford City Council. 

He said he considered not running for re-election but chose to qualify after seeing that no one else planned to seek the position.

“I didn’t want it to just be a blank slate,” he said.

He said he also wanted to continue the council’s work to complete projects such as the walkability improvements and the creekside trail. 

Wearing, an equipment rental company owner, is seeking his second term on the council.

Under state law, if no write-in candidates qualify then Oxford will be eligible to forego the cost of the election because each candidate is unopposed.