The Oxford Town Commissioners reviewed revisions to the lease agreement governing the Oxford Community Center during their recent meeting, working to update the document to reflect the town’s ownership of the building and clarify how the facility may be used in the future.
Commissioner Dave Donovan explained that the updated lease recognizes that the town now owns the former Oxford Community Center building outright, a change from the original arrangement when the town leased the property and then subleased it to the nonprofit organization.
“We wanted to make it clear that the circumstances since the original lease have materially changed,” Donovan said during the discussion. “The town is no longer the lessee subleasing property to the OCC but now the town is the owner of the property.”
The revised agreement keeps the Oxford Community Center as the primary operator of the building while also clarifying how the space can be used to support the organization’s activities.
Donovan said it was important to preserve language from the earlier lease that allows the center to host a variety of events and activities that help generate revenue for the nonprofit’s operations.
“I wanted to maintain the maximum flexibility that the OCC has and that the town has for purposes of use of the building,” Donovan said.
Commissioners discussed whether removing certain language from the earlier lease could unintentionally restrict how the building might be used in the future.
“I was concerned that if we didn’t have this language about other lawful uses of the premises to raise and provide funds, which was in the 1980 lease, that somebody might later look at this and say, wait a minute, when you did the new lease you took that out,” Donovan said.
Town officials said the updated lease is intended to modernize the agreement while ensuring the Oxford Community Center can continue to operate programs, host events and support community activities at the historic building.
The revised lease will return to the commissioners for further review before a final agreement is approved. The town will still need to meet with the Oxford Community Center to confirm the terms and formally execute the lease once the commissioners finalize the document.
