At the end of the March 21st council meeting, Oxford Borough Manager, Betsy Brantner, surprised everyone there, by announcing her resignation effective in 90 days, writes Marcella Peyre-Ferry for the Daily Local.

Brantner, the borough’s key grant writer, has played a vital role in its infrastructure improvements and revitalization efforts, securing over $5 million in grants since she was appointed Borough Manager in April 2001.

“This position has provided me an amazing opportunity. I think now is a good time to step down from this position to pursue yet another venture,” Brantner said. “It really is the best job I’ve ever had, to help the town I love so much, and by no means am I going to stop doing that,” she said, indicating her interest in working in the non-profit sector while not being too specific about her future plans.

One of the key projects that Brantner has worked on since being appointed to the office was the acquisition of a borough parking lot. With the council’s announcement at the meeting that it has reached a finalized sales agreement with National Penn Bank for their Second Street parking lot at a cost of $1, that mission was finally accomplished.

“After 14 years of back and forth negotiations we settled that agreement,” she said.

The parking lot, located off Second Street, currently provides parking for free. The new plan for the site will include building a three-level parking garage on the 0.506 and 0.27 acre parcels of land.

“This is exciting news, and will help us move a long way on the part of the parking structure,” said Ron Hershey, President of the Council.

As a part of the deal, the bank and its successors will have 40 parking spaces reserved for their exclusive use for 25 years after the completion of the structure. The contract between the borough and the bank however, does have a reversal clause that would turn the property back to the bank if the borough does not proceed with a permit application for the parking structure within seven years.

Read more about other matters at the council meeting here.