City Commission - Regular Meeting

The Dayton City Commission meeting will now come to order. Would you all please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. This evening's invocation will be given by Commissioner Fairchild.

Let us pray. O gracious one, as the cool, crisp morning air brings us to awakeness, may your spirit breathe through us and open up our senses so that we may see things in a new way and be able to see your will clearly and take actions and make decisions that will move this city forward into becoming the community that you desire. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the October 14th, 2026 meeting?

So moved, Your Honor. Second the motion, Your Honor.

It has been properly moved and seconded to approve the minutes of the October 14, 2026 meeting. All in favor say aye. All opposed say no. Any abstentions? Ms. McClendon, are there any communications or petitions this evening? There are none, Your Honor. All right. This evening we have a proclamation for the lights on after school with Learn to Earn Dayton. I would like to call Mr. Wesley Biles to the podium. Ms. McClendon? Yes. You can proceed whenever you're ready, Ms. McClendon.

Mr. Bowles, do you want to invite all of the rest of your colleagues to join you or to stand and be recognized during this time while you give your comments?

Ms. Jackson, can we get a quick photo? But first, I apologize. I don't want to step on anyone. I'm going to turn it over to my colleagues for any questions or comments. Commissioner Beckham?

Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Biles, thank you for being here. To the young people that are here, thank you for... being a part of the program but also for joining us this evening it is always a joy to see young people in this chambers and in terms of after school we know this is just a vital space for the well-being of our city just to make sure that young people have quality options during those after schools during those after school hours so just want to thank the collaborative thank learn to earn and look forward to supporting this into the future

Yeah. Thank you. And I really appreciate the smile on your face and the smile on the young people's faces and the energy you bring and the joy that you've filled this room with. So thank you very much. And may your joy be infectious for others. And I think that's just right in the spirit of the Lights On program. So thank you.

That's right. I can't say it any better than my colleagues have said it. But thank you all for being here. And you really bring good energy here today. And I just want to thank you for that. And enjoy this great opportunity. Thanks.

So thank you all for you who organized this program and funded the program and worked the program and you all who participated in it. It's great to have you all here. You young people, I'm glad you're here because you probably are going to be sitting in these seats someday. So as you're planning your futures, playing mayor or commissioner is a possibility. We'd love to have you up here. Somebody's got to take over for us. And I know the real reason that commissioner over here is glad to have young people here is he's tired of getting picked on as the youngest person up here. He just wants even

I want to echo my colleagues' comments. I am overjoyed right now to see that this program is up and running. It just really speaks to the value and the commitment that Learn to Earn and many of our partners, the City of Dayton overall, Young Life Ministries, all of the various different partners in the collaboration and what we've been able to do thus far. The best is yet to come. I know there's more work that needs to be done, but we have really been having some spirited conversations about how do we really provide programming and services to our youth. And so this is just one example of how

Dang, that's so tall. I know. It's like my grandpa.

I just want to also acknowledge the leadership of Learn to Earn. So would you all please stand in the leadership of Learn to Earn. Thank you for being great partners.

Thank you all very much for your leadership. in partnership. Ms. McClendon, are there any additions, deletions, or comments to the calendar? I have none, Your Honor. Thank you. Ms. Dickstein, are there any additions, deletions, or comments to the calendar this evening?

All right. Thank you, Ms. Dickstein. Ms. McClendon, are there any citizens that are registered to speak on calendar item this evening?

Thank you, Ms. McClendon. Commissioners, are there any comments to the City Manager's recommendations this evening? Commissioner Beckham? Commissioner Fairchild? Commissioner Shaw? Commissioner Joseph? All right. First, let me just state, Mr. Johnson, thank you for your comments. Ms. Screech, to answer your question in regards to the calendar item that's noted as E-Other, There is some incidents or some situations that remain confidential as well as attorney-client privilege. So hence the reason why detailed information is not disclosed because of attorney-client privilege and confidentiality.

So moved, Your Honor. Second motion, Your Honor.

It has been properly moved and seconded to approve the city manager's recommendations. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say no. Any abstentions?

Mayor, I move that we declare ordinance number 32220-26 an emergency. Second, Your Honor.

It has been properly moved and seconded to declare emergency ordinance number 3220-26 as an emergency. All in favor say aye.

And this evening we have board appointments for a welcome Dayton committee.

Thank you, Your Honor. I move to appoint Alyssa Jacobs to the welcome Dayton committee for a term ending December 31st, 2029. I second the motion.

It has been properly moved and seconded to appoint Alyssa Jacobs to the Welcome Dayton Committee for a term ending December 31, 2029. All in favor say aye. All opposed say no. Ms. McClendon, are there any citizens that are registered to speak this evening?

You are, Mr. Kendrick. Thank you. If you wouldn't mind staying after the meeting, and then we'll make sure that we connect you to the right department. Ms. 16, if you could assist us with that to make sure that Mr. Kendrick has the support that he needs in terms of the housing division.

Thank you, Mr. Kendrick. Thank you, Ms. Dickstein.

Excuse me, sir. You have to register to speak. Unfortunately, you cannot speak at this time. Thank you. But if you wouldn't mind staying after the meeting, I'll come down and we'll have a conversation. You can share whatever you would like to share.

Thank you, Mr. Gage. I'm glad that you're in recovery.

Thank you, Mr. Ware. After the meeting, Ms. Dickstein, if you wouldn't mind providing us an update. I know that we currently have a plan for expanding our bike lanes, if I have that correct. But again, if you could speak to that after the remainder of the speakers speak this evening. And then Ms. Margaret Muir, I believe I have there. Last name correct. I'll speak with you after the meeting just so I can get more context in regards to 18 Mercer Avenue. Excuse me, Ms. McClendon.

Thank you, Mr. Donaldson. That concludes speakers, Your Honor. Thank you, Ms. McClendon. Ms. Dickstein, do you have any closing comments this evening?

Please, thank you, because I've also submitted that a couple of times in terms of express motors, a couple of complaints that have been received.

Yes, we need further review and follow-up. Thank you, Ms. Dickstein. Miss McClendon, do you have any closing comments? I have none, Your Honor. Commissioners, do you have any closing comments? Commissioner Beckham?

Thank you, Your Honor. Just a few. Just, of course, I want to thank all the citizens that came out and spoke this evening. I appreciate hearing your concerns and comments as usual. To Mr. Kendrick, you are indeed in the right place. So we'll certainly try to follow up there, as the mayor said. Ms. McNeil, thank you for being here. I did get your email along with my colleagues. I would appreciate, Ms. Dickstein, just an update on those properties along North Main Street, especially given that, of course, there were plans that didn't happen and now we have to, of course, figure out where to go f

Thank you. No worries. Ms. Humphreys, thank you for being here. I certainly look forward to learning more about your efforts on the Urban Preservation District and however I may engage or learn more, support that. I'm certainly willing to Mr. Keller, you spoke about the on, off ramps and thoroughfares on our highways. Ms. Dickstein, to my knowledge, that is a ODOT function, Ohio Department of Transportation, am I correct, just in terms of maintenance?

That is good to know. I appreciate that distinction. I made an assumption that it was Ohio Department of Transportation. So I appreciate Mr. Keller's comments because I do think given the turn of the season, it's obvious that There's some debris, right, both along our highways and on and off ramps. So we'd appreciate just getting a better sense of our schedule there. Ms. Broombaugh, thank you for being here. It's good to see you. Certainly excited for Pineview as well. Congratulations. If you could provide us more information on the meeting that's coming up, potentially we can get it on our ca

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Fairchild.

Yeah, thank you, Commissioner, and add on to some of those. City Manager, I appreciate the list of items you're going to update. Could you add 18 Mercer Street to your list? That was Ms. Murrell's concerns around whether variances were requested for that property. And is there anything that the city needs to do in terms of Ms. Humphrey's work to get the designation of urban preservation and the Pineview request around historic designation. So I'm not sure I heard specific requests from the citizens, but if we could look into both those processes, or if you could update us on those processes, I

And if you could add the corner of Philadelphia and Salem around the bump outs. I drove 3rd Street after Mr. Keller's comments. You can see the tire marks on the bump outs. I left some tire marks on the bump out at Salem and Philadelphia. I mean, it was dark, it's new, and I had an old habit of turning right there and I got in what I thought was the right turn lane and went over the bump out. So if we could just get an update on those reflections. To Miss Screech, on October 7th, we passed the contract with Raftilis, who's the firm who's going to be doing the search. Within that contract, it l

Thank you and I also want to thank the residents who have come down to speak tonight. It has been a long day and I too want to thank the staff for all of the very hard work and preparation for this day and for what we're going to do together in the future regarding our budget. I'm going to keep it brief because we've had a long day, but I do have an announcement to make. Celebrate the season at the annual Fall Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 24th. This will take place at Kettering Field Sports Complex from 1 to 4. And for more information, you can call 937-333-8400. And I think I will ac

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Joseph.

Thank you, Mayor. Just one, you all know or you've read that we at the city are looking to find alternatives to the present course of Route 35, something to re-knit neighborhoods that have been torn up for too long, for too many decades. And we want to invite you residents to help us shape that future. So there are three public workshops next week. On October 27th, that's Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the West Branch Library on Abbey. The same day, Tuesday, October 27th at 6 p.m. at East End Community Services on Xenia Avenue. And then the next day, Wednesday the 28th, from 11 to 1 at the Downtown Libr

Thank you. Thank you to all of the staff. Thank you to the leadership, the city manager's office, today's budget session in terms of the 2027 budget. I know a lot of preparation was done over the last, what, six to... eight months or whatever have you. So I really want to uplift the staff, the entire staff members for their leadership and their dedication. Thank you to Learn to Earn and their efforts and their support along with Young Life Ministries and the Lights on After School. I believe they're having a program that is scheduled for Friday, if I'm not mistaken, Friday afternoon. So I look