Issuu

Chester CountyPRESS

www.chestercounty.com

Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas

Volume 159, No. 1

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

$1.50

Oxford Borough Council approves 2025 budget with small tax increase Oxford Borough is raising taxes by 0.13 mills so that additional funding can be provided to the library and for the park By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer At their recent meeting, the Oxford Borough Council voted to increase the borough’s real estate tax by 0.13 mills to increase funding provided to the Oxford Library and Oxford Area Recreation Authority

INSIDE

Grammy winner plans tour stop in Wilmington...1B

for 2025. The decision to raise the tax rate for 2025 was part of Oxford Borough Council’s year-end work that was discussed at meetings in December. Oxford Borough Council adopted the 2025 general fund budget, a water fund budget, and approved a tax levy ordinance. After the 0 .13 increase

in the tax rate, Oxford Borough’s millage rate stands at 13.66 mills for borough residents. Council member Peggy Ann Russell, who chairs the Finance Committee, clarified at the meeting that this slight increase might not be enough to fully fund the increases in expenditures that are expected in

Linn, Dumont selected to lead Avon Grove School Board in 2025 By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

The Avon Grove School Board has long been one of the more experienced elected boards in Chester County, so when its reorganization meeting took place in early December, there were several members who could have been selected to serve in leadership roles in 2025. Ultimately, the board members unanimously Lawmakers secure fund- selected Dorothy Linn, ing for LCH Community Ed.D., to serve as president Pharmacy...3B in 2025. Linn has served on the school board since 2019, and has previous

stints as board president and board vice president. “Thank you very much,” Linn said moments after she was elected president. “I look forward to working with everybody.” The board members then selected Rick Dumont to serve as the vice president in 2025. There were no other nominations for this position, and Dumont was also unanimously approved for his position. In 2025, in addition to Linn and Dumont, the Avon Grove School Board will also include Bonnie Wolff, who has been on the board

2025. The borough could still be looking at a deficit of as much as $246,488, but the expectation is that a combination of increased revenues and savings on expenditures will be more than enough to offset all of the budgeted expenses. Borough manager Pauline Garcia-Allen reported that it is important for residents

to schedule the free installation of a new water meter. Appointments to do so will run through mid-January. In December of 2023, Oxford was awarded a $600,000 grant through the PA H2O Program to support an upgrade to the borough’s water meters, so residents are encouraged to schedule appointments to get the

new, more accurate meters. The Zoning Hearing Board Application for 232 S. 5th Street was briefly discussed by council and then deferred to the Zoning Hearing Board. Borough council held a hearing to adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 26, Water, Section 266-103, Continued on Page 2A

FROM OUR LENS County agricultural leaders honored

Courtesy photo

AgConnect, the public-private partnership that supports farmers and agricultural businesses and that promotes the value of farming in the Chester County community, recently named Bob and Ryan Rohrer of Rob-Roy Farm as Farmer of the Year, and Lisa McNamara as recipient of the Duncan Allison Distinguished Service to Agriculture award. The Rohrers and McNamara were joined by Chester County Commissioners Josh Maxwell, Marian Moskowitz and Eric Roe and other community leaders at the celebration. For more information about AgConnect and its programs, visit www.goagconnect.org.

Continued on Page 3A

To Subscribe Call 610.869.5553

An interview with LaNisha Cassell, executive director, Voices Underground

A picture colored with truth, integrity, forgiveness and hope By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer When LaNisha Cassell became the executive director of Voices Underground this past October, she was leaving a 20-year career in Iowa, where for the last nine years she had been the executive director of the African American Museum of Iowa. Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Prince Georges County, Md., she returns to the East Coast to lead an organization that

considered an incubator for the nation’s ideas and ideals. How did the city itself serve as an outdoor classroom as you developed your principles, and who were among those in your young life who helped guide you toward those principles? Cassell: I was born in Washington, D.C. and I was raised in Prince Georges County, Maryland but with Chester County Press: the Metro and access to All photos courtesy of Voices Underground You were raised in the city it became a major LaNisha Cassell is the executive director of Voices Washington, D.C., long Continued on Page 2A Underground. has become a county-wide leader in scholarly research, creative partnerships, public experiences and historical memorialization of African-American history. Recently, Cassell met with the Chester County Press to talk about the foundational work of the agency, the power of storytelling and the continuing journey toward racial healing.

Oxford School Board reorganizes for 2025 By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer The Oxford School Board held its annual reorganization meeting on Dec. 3, and the board members selected Mark Patterson to serve as board president for 2025. Patterson is currently the longest-serving member of the Oxford School Board. Jenifer Warren was selected to serve as the board vice president for 2025. She served as the president of the board during 2024. The reorganization meet-

ing began with the names of the nine members being read into the official record. In addition to Patterson and Warren, board members for 2025 are Debbie Vendrick, Kristen Dean, Michael Blessington, Jennifer Kehs, William Kloss, Andrew Atkinson, and Tenille Dewees. It was a quick but somewhat complicated process for the school board to select its leaders, with three separate nominations for each position. Patterson emerged as president with

a slim margin of 5-4 in favor of his nomination. Warren received 7 votes out of 9 for the position of vice president. Once the president and vice president were in place, the board voted on its meeting schedule for the next year. The board opted to continue to hold its work sessions on the second Tuesday of the month and to hold the regular board meetings on the third Tuesday of the month. The meetings will begin at 7 p.m., and will be held at

the district’s Administration Building. Dewees was voted to serve as the Oxford School Board’s representative on the Chester County School Board Legislative Council. The school board then decided to appoint four of its members—Warren, Kehs, Blessington, and Dewees—to the district’s Policy Review Committee. Patterson selected Blessington to serve as the chair of this committee. The Oxford School Board’s first work session

meeting of 2025 will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 14 and the first regular meeting will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 21. Patterson also announced that the district’s Facilities and Safety Committee will meet at the Hopewell School at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 6, as the committee attempts to prioritize spending on facilities needs ranging from a new roof for a school building, a new HVAC system, or muchneeded turf for the school district’s main sports field.