OXFORD – A special meeting was held in the Village of Oxford the evening of Tuesday, May 6 in which village trustees discussed a few housekeeping items pertaining to the village and then focused the balance of the meeting on details of the upcoming fire and EMS contract.

Two more important issues discussed were an extension of a deadline that was agreed upon with the New York State Comptroller’s Office regarding unpaid fines; and a work session with the Village of Oxford Fire Department pertaining to some changes to the current fire contract which is up for renewal in 2014.

According to village documents, Village Justice John Weidman has collected more than $20,000 in unpaid fines that had been in arrears for several years. Weidman took over the Justice Court following the resignation of former justice Charles Race, shortly before Race’s death in November of 2013.

Trustees concluded that the scope of work to effectively collect the remainder of unpaid fines would exceed the recommended deadline set by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office after an audit of the village's justice court operations was performed in 2013.

Village trustees passed a resolution to extend the deadline to the end of fiscal year 2015, giving the justice ample time to collect the arrears.