Written with the help of AI from the Dayton City Commission minutes, August 26, 2026.
What the commission approved
This recap is based on the approved minutes of the Dayton City Commission’s regular meeting on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. The commission met at 8:30 a.m. in the Commission Chambers of City Hall and adjourned at 9:48 a.m. Mayor Turner-Sloss and Commissioners Fairchild and Beckham were recorded as present at roll call. Commissioner Shaw also took part in the meeting. Commissioner Joseph was absent, and the commission voted unanimously to excuse the absence.
The one piece of legislation on the agenda was Ordinance No. 32204-26, on second reading. An ordinance is a city law. This one levies special assessments to acquire, construct and improve public improvements that qualify as special energy improvement projects in the City of Dayton, in cooperation with the Dayton Regional Energy Special Improvement District. A roll call vote was 4-0, and the ordinance passed unanimously.
The commission also approved the City Manager’s Reports by unanimous vote, on a motion by Commissioner Shaw seconded by Commissioner Fairchild. It approved the minutes of the August 19, 2026, meeting unanimously as well, on a motion by Commissioner Beckham seconded by Commissioner Shaw. Nothing in the minutes records an item being failed or tabled.
Monthly demolition update
Steve Gondol, director of the Department of Planning, Neighborhoods and Development, gave the July 2026 Dayton Recovery Plan demolition update. He reported 18 demolitions completed in July: 14 funded through ARPA, one through the General Fund and three through the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD). The year-to-date total is 139, made up of 84 ARPA-funded, one General Fund, 52 ODOD-funded and two CDBG-funded demolitions. Gondol said 42% of the year’s planned demolitions are done, with about 58% of the year elapsed.
The July demolitions took place across eight neighborhoods, with the most in Miami Chapel (seven) and Santa Clara (five). Southern Dayton View has the most completed to date, at 36, followed by Santa Clara at 19. Gondol said the work is moving into areas next to the ARPA focus neighborhoods, including the Main Street and Salem Avenue corridors and the west side’s Wolf Creek, West Third Street and Germantown corridors. He showed before-and-after examples at 129 Garland Avenue, 667 St. Nicholas Avenue, 658 Randolph Street and 548 Lexington Avenue.
The city ended June with 33 emergency demolition piles and added four in July, for a total of 37. Gondol said the four new incidents came mostly around the July 4 weekend, two in Westwood and two in Residence Park. Twelve properties were added to the structural nuisance list in July: seven houses, four garages and one commercial structure. Five were added because of blight and seven because of fire. The year-to-date total is 101 structures. In answer to a question from Commissioner Fairchild, Gondol said about 1,600 structures are currently on the list, and he would resend it to the commission. Another 29 properties entered asbestos remediation in July, bringing that total to 137.
Gondol said 84 of the 120 planned ARPA-funded demolitions are complete. The rest are the current priority because they must be finished by October 15 to leave time to submit required paperwork. Fifty-two of 70 ODOD-funded demolitions are done, and he said the time-sensitive part of that work has largely been handled. About 60 to 80 CDBG-funded demolitions are planned for the Westwood and Burkhardt neighborhoods and will begin after the ARPA work, followed by General Fund demolitions, which have a longer period before the money expires. About 99% of ARPA project funding has been budgeted, spent or committed, with five months left in the ARPA funding period.
Mayor Turner-Sloss asked about the former Buckeye Cleaners property on Salem Avenue and the Santa Clara Business District, both partially demolished. Gondol said the Buckeye Cleaners site is the subject of an active court case. The Law Department is working with the department, the property owner’s estate and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to seek restitution from the estate to deal with the remaining structure. For Santa Clara, he said staff is developing options for the 2027 budget process. The mayor asked that the Santa Clara site be secured, saying barriers and caution tape had been removed or were no longer adequate.
The mayor also raised the former bus barn site on James H. McGee Boulevard, where bricks, metal rods and other debris remain. Gondol said the material was put into the existing demolition area as part of the first phase and that full removal would come in a second phase involving environmental remediation. The cost could fall on the city or be shared with the EPA. He said the Santa Clara and bus barn sites would be among the options in the 2027 budget process and that funding them could mean shifting resources from residential demolition. The mayor asked that the site be cleaned and fenced or taped off in the meantime. She further asked the department to work with Public Works on overgrown vegetation and illegal dumping near Bryn Mawr Avenue and Oxford Avenue in Southern Dayton View, an issue she said had been outstanding about five months. Gondol said he would speak with Public Works Director Ritchie.
2026 Dayton Survey preview
Roma Yeno of the Office of Management and Budget said the 2026 Dayton Survey will begin arriving at homes the following week. The city mails about 13,000 surveys and hopes for about 1,300 responses. ETC Institute, a national survey firm working with the city for the fifth year, administers it using a randomized, address-based sample. Responses are anonymous and can be sent by mail or online. Residents who complete the survey are entered in a drawing for a $500 Visa gift card, and translation help is available by phone through a number in the survey packet.
The online link will also work for people outside the sample, but ETC Institute says it will include only responses from households in the random sample in its final report. The survey will stay open until enough responses arrive, likely through November 2026. Results are expected in the first quarter of 2027, typically presented at a March Work Session before a public dashboard goes live. Yeno said results inform the following budget cycle and that last year’s results are already part of the current budget process. Information will be on the city’s website.
Discussion of calendar items
Commissioner Fairchild asked City Manager Shelley Dickstein about Calendar Item C1, an internship program for high school students from Dayton Public Schools and other area schools. Dickstein said the largest number of students are placed in the Water Department, with other opportunities in the Fire Department. She said the program runs year-round, with full-time weeks in summer and reduced hours during the school year. Commissioner Shaw said he would like to see it expanded. Mayor Turner-Sloss asked for a breakdown of the 23 participating students by school district and whether opportunities could continue into college. Dickstein said staff would talk to the program administrator about tracking that information.
The mayor clarified that the forensic video recovery services in Calendar Item E2 are used by the Dayton Police Department for homicide investigations generally and are not tied to one case. She said the roughly $86,000 generator purchase in Calendar Item C4 covers accessories, installation and related services as well as the unit itself.
What residents raised in public comment
Five residents spoke on calendar items and six spoke in the general comment period. Several spoke in both. One resident urged more city spending with locally rooted businesses, cooperatives and workers, citing about $212,374 for aviation liability insurance and $86,329.71 for a generator as examples of money going to outside companies. The resident asked the commission to support the Miami Valley Community Wealth Initiative and an independent study of what the speaker called import replacement, meaning shifting purchases to local providers. Later, the same resident spoke about economic inequality and worker and community ownership.
Another resident clarified remarks from the previous meeting, correcting a contract amount involving Space Creators from $5,400 to $54,000. The resident thanked Dayton police and fire personnel for their response to a recent incident involving the family, and raised concerns about city settlements. In the later comment period, the resident said emails and calls to the Commission Office have not been answered promptly and called for a change in leadership there.
Another speaker asked whether a $56,365.62 settlement involving Nourish Our Neighbors would be paid with taxpayer money. The speaker also asked about a $7,042 forensic video recovery expense, questioned spending tied to Dayton International Airport, and questioned a temporary postal assistant job advertised through an outside staffing agency. In the later comment period, the same speaker asked why a $3,500 payment was made to the NAACP.
A resident asked about the generator purchase, saying similar units could be bought for under $20,000, and asked whether the cost included items such as a multi-year maintenance agreement. Later, the resident thanked the city for police enforcement, signs and other measures that have improved traffic and speeding in the neighborhood, and raised concerns about rental property maintenance.
One resident asked for the total public cost of the Sierra Nevada project, including agreements, grants and infrastructure commitments, along with the company’s commitments on jobs, payroll, investment and lease payments, and whether the jobs are benefiting Dayton residents. The speaker also raised trash, alley cleanup and accountability for city departments. Later, the speaker asked what the city is doing toward a public hospital in Dayton, called for removing Flock cameras and for more de-escalation training for the Police Department, asked for updates on two named individuals, and urged the city to prioritize local companies.
Another resident described blighted properties, trash and basic city services, expressed dissatisfaction with the commission’s responsiveness and called for new leadership in the city administration. The resident also asked that the commission look into whether a person who received two bicycle citations in two weeks was being unfairly targeted.
Commissioners’ and mayor’s responses
Mayor Turner-Sloss said she agreed with supporting local economic opportunity but that some projects need specialized skills not currently available in Dayton. On the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), she pointed to the city’s annual reporting of jobs, investment and payroll for economic development incentives. Dickstein said this is done through the Tax Incentive Review Council process, which tracks Community Reinvestment Area, Tax Increment Financing and Enterprise Zone agreements and is reported to the State each March. She said she would check whether the information is on the city’s Economic Development webpage, and the mayor said staff would make sure it is easy to find. The mayor also noted a skills gap in aviation and a partnership between SNC and Sinclair Community College to create an academy for local aviation careers. Commissioner Beckham said it could lead to jobs paying about $60,000 to $70,000 without college debt.
Commissioners Beckham and Shaw said residents have the right to raise concerns and encouraged them to direct comments to the elected commissioners. The mayor said she is working to keep up with resident communications and committed to returning emails and calls. She acknowledged neighborhood issues including blight, fire-damaged properties, litter, illegal dumping and junk vehicles, and mentioned the recent relaunch of the Don’t Be a Litterbug campaign.
On the hospital question, the mayor said the city is determining next steps and whether a public hearing will occur. She said she does not support a hearing because, in her reading, the statute has the mayor make appointments to the board with majority support from the commission. She said the city is not in a financial position to build a hospital, citing an anticipated budget deficit of about $15 million. She suggested smaller options, such as a possible birthing center with Dayton Children’s or other area hospitals. She said final recommendations have been submitted and the process is moving to the administration.
Routine items and announcements
Commissioner Shaw asked for a moment of silence for Lt. Scott Johnson and led the invocation. Mayor Turner-Sloss led the Pledge of Allegiance. Commissioner Beckham noted Johnson’s 22 years of service to the city, and Commissioners Fairchild and Shaw also offered condolences. The City Manager had no comments on calendar items or later in the meeting.
Commissioner Fairchild invited residents to The Unit’s boot camp workouts at RiverScape through the end of September, held from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and open to all fitness levels. Commissioner Shaw announced a Small Business Conference hosted by Central State University from noon to 4:00 p.m. at Central State West, 804 Germantown Street.
Source: Dayton City Commission minutes, Wednesday, August 26, 2026. Meeting video: watch on YouTube.
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