Written with the help of AI from the Dayton City Commission agenda, October 28, 2026 and the meeting video.
The Dayton City Commission approved a $1.7 million design contract for new PFAS treatment at the Ottawa Water Treatment Plant, adopted a single trash collection and disposal fee, and took a step toward acquiring property along West Third Street at its Oct. 28 meeting. Commissioners also heard that the city has finished its federally funded demolitions and got a first look at a new state-funded program for teenage runaways. This recap is based on the meeting video and the city’s published agenda.
What the commission approved
The city manager’s recommendations passed on a voice vote with no opposition heard. The largest was a $1.7 million change to Tetra Tech’s contract to design advanced PFAS treatment at the Ottawa Water Treatment Plant, running through 2031. PFAS are long-lasting man-made chemicals that utilities across the country are now required to filter out of drinking water.
Other water department items included $424,257 for S&ME, Inc. to keep inspecting and designing work on the Mad River Well Field dam, $311,415 for App Architecture, Inc. to stay on through construction of the Water Quality Lab expansion, and $97,273 for Central Structures LLC to replace the tarp on a surge tank at the Water Reclamation Facility. Public Works is buying 94 interface units for traffic signal cabinets from Baldwin & Sours, Inc. for $27,166.
The commission also passed, 5-0 as an emergency, an ordinance establishing a single waste collection and disposal fee, rewriting the section of city code that sets those charges. It adopted a resolution declaring the city’s intention to acquire permanent and temporary property rights on dozens of parcels for the West Third Street Safety Improvement Project. A resolution to apply for and accept regional transportation grants through the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission had its first reading.
A cleanup grant for Delphos Avenue in Westwood
The city manager highlighted an $88,512 grant from the Ohio Attorney General’s Shine a Light on Dumpers program. It will pay contractors to clear five privately owned properties on Delphos Avenue in Westwood that have been used as an illegal dump for decades. The work includes removing fencing, trash, vehicles, RVs and boats, scraping off the top layer of soil, clearing everything but healthy trees, removing old asphalt and concrete, and seeding the site. It’s the second year the city has won the grant. Last year’s paid to clean up 3800 Germantown Ave.
The city can do the work because the land has been declared a nuisance; it doesn’t own the property. Asked what happens next, the city manager said buying it would take money for both the purchase and a plan to reuse it, and none has been identified yet. Commissioners asked about signs, cameras or barriers to keep dumping from coming back, and staff said they would look at those options.
Demolitions: federal money spent, more ahead
The city’s planning and neighborhood development director gave the monthly demolition update for September. The city tore down 23 structures that month, bringing 2026 to 174 of a planned 334. The September demolitions were in nine neighborhoods, including seven in Santa Clara, three in Edgemont and three in Southern Dayton View. The director also reported that every demolition funded by the federal pandemic relief money (ARPA) was finished by the Oct. 15 deadline. The work now shifts to Community Development Block Grant money in Burkhardt and Westwood, plus the city’s general fund.
Fourteen more structures were added to the city’s nuisance list in September, half for blight and half after fires. Commissioners asked about a string of fires on Melwood Avenue in Residence Park, a short dead-end street near the VA, where the director said there have been three fires. The fire department is leading that investigation, and the mayor asked for a report on how many homes on the street are vacant. The mayor also pressed for a broader look at the city’s more than 6,500 vacant lots and for a program to move more of them to neighbors who will keep them up.
A new response to teenage runaways
Daybreak and the Dayton Police Department presented a two-year pilot, modeled on a program in Denver and paid for by the state, in which Daybreak handles non-critical missing-juvenile cases for ages 14 to 17. Police still take the critical cases, including children 13 and younger and anyone with medical or safety risks. Daybreak staff take the calls, confirm the teen is home safe, and follow up with an outreach specialist and a therapist to work out why they keep running away. Each case also includes a human trafficking screening.
Police said officers spend about two hours on each missing-juvenile case and that the city gets about 2,000 a year. Case Western Reserve University is evaluating the pilot, which started in early October. Several commissioners asked how the city can hold poorly run group homes accountable, since many repeat runaways come from them. Police Chief Eric Henderson said reports on repeat calls now go automatically to the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, and that a joint legislative committee is studying group homes.
What residents raised
Speakers asked the city to consider a worker-owned cooperative that would rehab West Dayton houses before demolishing them, and to pass a proposed ordinance limiting how city resources can be used to target lawful speech and political activity. A leader of the Old North Dayton Neighborhood Association asked commissioners to press harder for answers on the delayed cleanup plan for the groundwater contamination plume under that neighborhood. The city manager said staff would prepare a briefing. Another speaker questioned the city’s use of Flock license plate cameras and asked for a ban on warrantless surveillance. Staff said the cameras’ audit logs were due to commissioners that day, and a contract for an outside investigation of how the data was released could be on the agenda within two weeks.
The next regular meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 8:30 a.m. in the Commission Chambers at City Hall, 101 W. Third St. Residents can sign up to speak at the entrance to the chambers.
Sources: Dayton City Commission agenda, Oct. 28, 2026. Meeting video: watch on YouTube.
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