OxfordPress.com

Close to a year after Oxford began looking for a new economic development director, the search is over.

Members of the Community Improvement Corporation voted last April to begin the hiring process, with hopes of finding a candidate to deal with businesses and help to acclimate newcomers.

City Manager Doug Elliott said a committee has found that very person, perhaps closer to home than initially expected.

Lifelong Oxford resident and former Mayor Alan Kyger was appointed as the city's economic development director.

"We initially received 51 applications for this position," Elliott said. "I narrowed it down to five who then interviewed with a panel I put together to assist me in selecting the best candidate."

Kyger, who is slated to begin the position Monday, April 21, said he is ready, willing and able to do take whatever direction Elliott and CIC members feel is necessary. His excitement for the position is apparent, though he admitted to feeling slightly scared about beginning another chapter of his career.

"It's certainly different from what I've done in the past," Kyger said. "There's always a bit of anxiety when you begin a new job, but that sort of thing is natural."

Kyger described the appointment as a natural extension of what he has been doing for more than two decades, noting he has been gravitating toward working with members of the business community in the last few years.

In addition to addressing concerns with the number of empty properties in town, Kyger said adding some sort of technology park to the area would bring "long-reaching benefits to the city."

With plenty of experience behind him, Kyger said he is prepared to face the many challenges that come with the job. Along with helping attract potential businesses to Oxford, he said he will work hard to shepherd them through the various steps of the process.

"It's certain to be a difficult position," he said. "If simply plucking businesses out of the sky and locating them in Oxford was easy, it would have been done already."

Contact this reporter at (513) 523-4139, ext. 86102, or at rgauthier@coxohio.com.

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