Four Candidates are vying for two seats on the Dayton City Commission in Tuesday’s election.
The one incumbent candidate—Democrat Matt Joseph—is hoping for a fourth term on the commission. He touts Dayton’s recovery as one of the commission’s achievements but says there’s still more to be done.
“It hasn’t hit every neighborhood," he said. "Not everyone of our residents have seen it yet but I can tell you that in city hall we’ve seen developers be interested in buildings that have been vacant for years and year, twenty years, were getting call about them. We’re seeing permit activity go up, businesses are looking to expand. We’re seeing new small business pop up every where.”
Local minister, Darryl Fairchild, also a Democrat, says he would take a comprehensive approach to improving Dayton neighborhoods.
“We have to bring together the schools, neighborhood development from the city, social service partners, and investment from our city on youth programming—programming for our children," Fairchild said. "And when those four things come together we’ll start to create the safe, vital, stable communities that are so important for any community.”
A third Democratic candidate, Chris Shaw, is a business owner on the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce board and has served as the economic development chair on the Dayton NAACP. He says his experience in economic and workforce development would make him a good commissioner.
“Folks have to be able to gain the skills that are going to be required to access jobs that are right over the horizon and I want them to be able to access those hi-tech training opportunities,” Shaw said.
Both Shaw and Joseph are endorsed by the Democratic party.
The final candidate and the only independent, Scott Sliver, is a minister and longtime community activist. He says people are frustrated with how city resources are distributed.
“You know the city somehow comes up with $400,000 to shore up the arcade, and I'm all for that, but I think people who are not necessarily is involved in the city as I am think ‘my gosh, we’ve lost all our youth programming, our streets are in bad shape,’" Sliver said. "I think the people of our city just need a perk. I think they need to know that somebody cares.”
Two of these candidates will fill those open seats on the City Commission, one of which is being vacated by Commissioner Dean Lovelace who is not running for re-election.
