The Dayton City Commission meeting will now come to order.

Would you all please rise for the invocation and the remaining in remaining standing excuse me for the Pledge of Allegias?

The invocation will be given by Commissioner Beckham.

Thank you.

Dear Lord, thank you for the stay.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve our city continual meeting guide uses.

Amen.

I pledge for Monday.

Ms.

Black Share, may we please have a roll call?

Mayor Turner Sloss.

Aye.

Commissioners Joseph.

I Shaw.

Beckham.

May I have a motion to approve the minutes for February the 4th, 2026 meeting?

So moved, John.

Second motion, Your Honor.

It has been properly moved and seconded to approve the minutes for the February 4th, 2026 meeting.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no.

Ms.

Blackshare, are there any communications or petitions this morning?

There are none, Your Honor.

This morning we have a presentation.

Our mediation center is here, a mediation response unit.

Ms.

Dixtein, please proceed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, Your Honor.

And Commission this morning, we will have a presentation about our mediation response unit 2024-2025 evaluation findings.

This was a police reform recommendation that came out of the community engagement committee that commit commissioner Shaw co-led.

And it is the evaluation confirms, not to steal anyone's thunder, that the mediation response unit operates as designed, is well integrated and to integrated into the city's public safety system and is has produced early meaningful outcomes consistent with its slated purpose and positions Dayton's approach as a national model for mediation based alternative response.

I can attest to this because I was in uh uh Madison, Wisconsin, and the mayor talked about using um understanding Dayton's model and and integrating Dayton's model into their alternative response.

So it was exciting to hear.

So I am pleased to call forward Dr.

Zimmer and Michelle Zuremba uh to um share the findings of this evaluation.

Well, good morning, Mayor, Commissioner, City Manager, Clerks, and Mediation Center staff.

Um, I'm pleased to um introduce you to Dr.

Jeannie Zimmer.

She is a seasoned mediator and evaluator with deep deep expertise in transformative mediation.

She served as the executive director of dispute resolution center in Minnesota for 17 years.

Um she has a doctorate in evaluation studies from the University of Minnesota, and she currently teaches evaluation and mediation at Georgetown University.

So I'd like to turn it over to Dr.

Zimmer to do the presentation.

Thank you so much, Michelle, and thank you, um City Manager Dixtean, Your Honor, and Commission members.

Um I have a very brief report that highlights uh that um highlights some of the activities and the findings from the evaluation that was conducted over the last year.

And um City Manager Dixtean did steal a little of the thunder, and that overall the findings are positive.

And we used a mixed method approach, so we had qualitative and quantitative, which is the standard today for evaluations, and you can see here um that whether it's the community, neighborhood groups, businesses, participants, partners, both internal and external, police and dispatch, overwhelm overwhelmingly the response is positive about the MRU.

In keeping with the city's commitment to transparency, a recent achievement is the MRU's dashboard where residents can see all activity from the program inception to date.

So that is available on the website on the city's website on the MRU website.

And this highlights this zeros in at um the cases from inception to date, and you can see from all the dots and where they're clustered that the entire city is being served.

And from the pie chart, you can see the east, west, and central um division of how where cases are coming from.

So the whole city is um being served by the MRU.

And you can go deeper in to the when you have time, go into the dashboard and you can see the types of cases, response times, all of those details.

In 2021, when the commission was considering the recommendations from LEAP, the law enforcement action partnership, they looked at all the cases that might be possible for the mediation response unit.

And this they highlighted call types that might be possible, and they came up with 10,000 possible calls and types, and the key types though that you can see on this slide noise, juvenile, neighbor, roommate of those, the ones that were most consistent are neighbor dispute, juvenile dispute, noise complaint, roommate dispute, and animal pet issue.

And this is not surprising since the mediation response unit skills are in interpersonal conflict.

That what they are doing is preventing conflicts, helping people resolve their conflicts through their skills.

So they're really zeroed in on that best fit call type.

This slide shows MRU cases and activities in two six months increments.

And we did that because of the May to November, how the MRU started in May.

So this is November to May 2024 to 2025, and then to April and then May to November 2025.

And you can see the impact of the full staffing and the increased hours, and then how correspondingly the number of cases increased.

And in the chart on the right, you can see not just how the cases have increased in the sort of aquacolor, but then in the blue, you can see all the related case activities and how they have really grown.

So when MRU responds to a call, they will do more than just respond.

They will follow up, they will connect people to other services, they will actually refer to mediation at the center.

So there is much more that happens than just we're gonna be on site for a few minutes.

And so this shows how much the cases have grown.

And I want to highlight the increase in the landlord tenant calls.

That's over a thousand percent increase in how they are working with landlords and tenants.

And I know that's a current issue for your city.

Some of the things that came out as the contributors to the success of the MRU is how the mediation center is embedded in the city.

There are community mediation centers all over the country, but only a few are actually co-located with municipal government.

So this is unique.

It's the 38, 39 years of experience.

Um how it's also independent from the city, and its commitment to its transformative mediation, transformative conflict resolution values.

So its mission and values really came through through the partner interviews, the staff interviews, and so that is really an asset.

Another success or identifier, a measure of success or contributor to success, is how the MRU is embedded in the city, and particularly in police and dispatch.

And that is unique across the country.

Many alternative response units are not taking, most of them are not taking call types from the board, if you will, from the using the computer aided dispatch.

They're not a call number and seen as part of this whole spectrum of services that your city offers.

And so it's partly the relationships with police, fire dispatch that allows for that smooth coordination with the city.

And here's the other contributor to the success of the MRU.

It's the people, and you can see the folks that make this possible, and it's coming up with the right job descriptions, coming up with the right hiring process, coming up with the right training for the first responders, and making sure that they are grounded in the center's transformative conflict theory.

So that was really a key.

So we want to do a little shout out to the people that make this happen.

Calm the situation and give people the opportunity to choose for themselves.

So you see some of the quotes here.

So it's how they are in the moment.

And so this is the last slide, and it's sort of the summary and then some of the next steps.

And you can see that the MRU has really been able to go through that growing process, the inception to the stabilization, and then to be able to expand and refine the program over the past year in particular to better serve the city.

And one thing we know is we can't, we don't statistically show a difference in use and force yet, so we don't have the numbers or use and arrests, we just don't have the the data aren't there.

But every time someone from the MRU responds, that eliminates the potential for a use of force incident.

So you can look at it that way.

And that the sense that the whole city has been covered by the MRU.

The evaluation identified ongoing needs and ways to assess the program over time.

So there's a monitoring and evaluation plan to continue these activities, to continue refining the data, growing the understanding of the program, and as the city manager pointed out, programs not just in Madison but across the country are very interested in learning from the Dayton experience and the commitment that you've made.

And so in summary, this is an exciting, wonderful project.

And so make sure that I'm I'm checking myself throughout the evaluation.

But all indicators are that this is an exciting, innovative, and powerful program that you have created for your city.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Emmer.

Um Commissioner Beckham.

Commissioners, do you have any questions for Ms.

Zimmer or Ms.

Zerumba?

No questions.

Uh just want to say congratulations.

I'm glad things are going well and uh that our program's a model.

So I look forward to the continued impact.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Fairchild.

Yeah, I have a couple of comments and a couple questions.

Sure.

Yeah, first, thank you to colleagues and city manager.

I remember back to that police reform work, and it was a lot of effort, you know, and you, Commissioner Shaw, for this particular one.

You know, is a big investment in terms of my angel and time time that we put into police reform.

Um thank you, City Manager, thank you to Dayton Police Department for working with us in these um in these changes and particularly welcoming the MRU into the space that you have typically been in.

Thank you to the leaders of MRU to Michelle and all the people.

I know we've had a lot of iterations of people who've come, so I'm thinking of people who are here who broke it in and those who are here now, so thank you.

Um really grateful for this program.

Um one call or one question I had was around calls.

Are we diverting calls from police?

Are we getting to calls that police did not previously get to because they were such low priority?

And are we increasing calls because word gets out on the street and people who didn't think to call think, oh, now I can call to address this?

That's a fantastic question, and that's where more um the evaluation is headed.

So, yes, calls that were not responded to previously are being able to be responded to.

So when the staff comes in in the morning and there are the non-avert emergent calls, those are on the board waiting for MRU because they're not something that the police needs to respond to.

So they're able to follow up with those calls.

So you're seeing we haven't been able to pull the overall data yet, but that's one of the things we're hoping to do to be able to say, let's look, are we increasing all of that?

Also, there's an increase in calls directly to the center.

So shifting, so people who say, Yeah, I know I don't need the police.

May I call the center, I'm gonna call the center directly.

And we've seen that, and the partners in particular are understanding that.

So the referral partners, the library.

I have someone that might be trespassed from the library.

I don't want them trespassed by the city, so I want to make sure the MRU comes out and helps this person, helps us with that person so that they don't then end up with an official trespass designation.

So they're understanding the difference and how so that the police can respond to the calls that they need to, and then the MRU can respond to their calls.

And then last question as we do more evaluation.

I think you mentioned, you know, we don't have data yet to tell if we've seen use of force come down.

What are the key outcomes that you would identify that we should be evaluating on?

So there's so many, and there's so many different ways you can look at a program like this.

And I I neglected to mention that there are research partners on this project.

So there are um partners from um Cornell and you know different universities, different independent like LEAPIST continuing some of its work and and they were the ones that ran the analysis on on arrests and again weren't able to find anything, but they will continue looking at use of force, can we see what the data are?

But I think we want to get deeper into understanding why people call 911.

How do we help them understand what is available to them?

And particularly when you have those low-level neighbor complaints or the juvenile, the family things where you really need to hold neighborhoods and families together.

So getting a better understanding of why, what what and so that of the callers and their lived experience and then what the MRU means to them.

Is that but uh there are things that you would like to see particularly added to the the continuing studies, we'd love to hear those as well.

When you just prompted a question, um I know that when we do this work, sometimes we need to think at the broader ecosystem of social services.

Is that something that you can help us?

Like if our team comes there and they say we need to refer, but we don't have space for addiction beds or mental health support.

Um is that something you can help that this evaluation can help us?

I think they could help it could help identify where those gaps are in services.

And that is the issue.

Because if you have someone who is on the street and there isn't a place for them, and they the business calls, they want the person trespassed, but then the MRU responds instead, and they can they know how to make referrals and who has what, but they can't solve the people experiencing homeless problems.

So they can help identify those gaps.

And they're incredibly connected with the network, so they know how to make those referrals, how to transfer actually physically transfer people to places where they the and when we did the partner um group interview, it came out that some one of the partners said, you know, you actually saved this guy's life.

Which is not something the MRU wasn't designed to do.

And then that later on in another interview, it's like, yeah, and this other person's life was saved because of the MRUs.

So when you're doing welfare checks, when you're doing things like that, that may seem super low level, but but no, they do know the social service infrastructure, they know the gaps, and so identifying and documenting those gaps where people somebody um just yesterday was evicted from their um, I think it was a group home, and they had no place to go.

The MRU can help with a bus pass, they can help make sure that it's not conflict that the the resolution they can get their materials safely, but then what for this individual?

So if that's something that you think would be helpful to say this is where those needs are thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Shaw.

Thank you.

And uh thank you to to you and and your entire organization.

This is really uh remarkable that uh we've kind of rolled this this out.

It started as a uh uh uh concept and now it's just a full-blown program that is uh c clearly uh beneficial to the entire community and uh police and community interaction.

So uh thank you, Missel, for that uh great leadership in the way that you've rolled this out.

Um this is curious, are are there some gaps that you've been able to identify, things that we could be doing differently to increase.

Well, either either or uh just this thing's a it's early, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

But if you want to so say about the gap a little bit more about your question.

Yeah, so just is there anything that we could be doing uh differently or uh that we could increase or or uh uh change that would would uh kind of benefit this uh that you've been able to see early.

I I think one thing that we had that we don't have currently is we contracted with a social worker from Goodwill Easter seals, and so the our team can do short-term support and getting people connected to resources, um but that longer term case management is needed, and so um we're working to try to replace that person that has moved on.

Um but it's nice to have somebody that can help somebody in an encampment get their social security card, get their um birth certificate, get into the um get with homeful and actually get into housing.

So there's longer term support that is needed that we need to connect with, and I'd say right now that's something that's that's a linkage that's missing.

And it's just a recent um change that's happened.

Yeah.

Well, it's it's just really impressive, you know, how the police uh view you as such a great resource.

Now I kind of was worried about that uh in the beginning.

I'll be honest with you, but uh I I I wasn't sure how that was kind of fit would fit together, but it's it's really seems to be uh uh a great resource and a uh uh well uh it buff buffers the the police department.

So I I'm seeing uh uh uh some officers nodding in agreement with that.

Yeah, I will say the first roll calls were a little rough.

I mean it's uh this is a new program, and they were worried that we would create more work for them because of safety issues, and we wouldn't be able to handle the calls, so they'd just be duplicating the work.

Um Aaron's been going out on roll calls this week, and um the the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

So I think the officers appreciate mediation.

Um they're calling on the radio, asking for uh crews to come and help assist with other calls.

So it's a really good um relationship between the police and the MRU.

So it is it's it's pleasantly surprising how well it's working.

Well, fantastic.

Well, just congratulations to you and the entire organization.

So the congratulations to the community engagement uh group that came together, the community members.

And and I won't uh I'll have to say my co-chair, Shannon Isom also, and uh congratulations to her as well.

So keep it up and look forward to hearing uh continued reports as we move through this process.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner, Commissioner Joseph.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh I want to start off by thanking one of our own, Commissioner Shaw, for his hard work on this.

This was uh this was a long, long labor of love for you all.

It took city resources, it took uh uh a spectrum of folks from across the community and a lot of work for you and your co-chair to sort of get them moving in the same direction and to come up with this program uh to come out with a program that's leading the nation.

Uh congratulations.

It's great work, Commissioner.

Uh thank you, Dr.

Zimmer, for your evaluation.

Uh I think probably none of us are really surprised to hear this because we follow it closely, and this is what we hoped would happen when we put it into a place.

Uh I I really appreciate the independent evaluation of the program.

It confirms that uh the things that we hope for are coming true, and we really appreciate that.

Uh Ms.

Remba, all the staff and workers, the program success really rests on you.

It does.

It rests on each individual interaction.

Uh it rests on uh really frankly your integrity and and dedication to the people of the city.

And to have people like you staffing the program makes it work.

So we really appreciate that.

We know it it every day you go out there and our reputation is on the line.

Uh and the fact that we want to be kind to our residents and treat everyone in the best way possible.

You're out there in the front line doing it every day, and we really appreciate that.

We we understand the difficulty, and we're glad you do it.

Uh lastly, city manager, excellent job these years putting this in place.

I so the mayor of Madison, Wisconsin is asking about our program, huh?

That's uh that's not a bad thing.

So uh excellent job.

So please give our thanks to the full staff.

So I I look forward to future innovation.

I appreciate the both commissioners' questions that uh there are probably things we can do more over something better.

And with this team, I think anything is possible.

So I'm looking forward to getting started here.

Let's keep it going.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

I just have a couple of questions.

First, I do want to uplift Commissioner Joseph Commons and if you all will just please rise if you wouldn't mind, just so we can give you all a round of applause for your service and your commitment and great work.

Ms.

Harrison.

Uh but thank you all very much.

And Mr.

Roomba and Dr.

Zimmer, thank you for being here this morning.

Uh a couple of questions for you in terms of the evaluation period or the report itself.

How long is that commitment?

Is this just for a one-year commitment in terms of your evaluation, or is it for three years?

Could you expound on that a little bit?

Sure.

The um we received a grant from the triple A, the American Arbic Arbitration Association Foundation, um, to hire Dr.

Zimmer for this work.

Um so this was a it it ended up being a two-year commitment, and Dr.

Zimmer has positioned us to be able to continue the evaluation ongoing.

So I think we have a plan set up, um, a schedule of evaluation.

So reaching out to the community, reaching out to the police department.

Um later today, we're working with Sinclair students to continue the persistent evaluations.

So what she has positioned us to do is to continue this evaluation.

I think we have um hopes and dreams to continue this and to look deeper into the program, and as we have more years under our belt, see how this is really impacting Dayton.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh and congratulations on being awarded the grant to even have the opportunity to do so.

So kudos to you and your staff.

Um a couple of questions, a couple more questions rather.

Just want to pull on that thread to Commissioner Fairchild, Commissioner Shaw's point in regards to the gaps in service.

As you all know, we're seeing heightened needs for uh resources and support around mental health, substance abuse.

So, what are some of the the best practices or how can we um increase the the program itself to your point, right?

You mentioned a licensed social worker.

I don't ever remember there being a licensed social worker, but perhaps that's something that we need to revisit.

I am a true uh advocate for that.

I think that needs to be a part of the program, maybe even two or three that needs to be a part of the response unit because we know that when individuals have needs, they don't it consists between the hours of eight to five.

So, how do we expand those services?

And again, if you could just speak to some of the uh the best practices, or how do we fill those gaps that we're seeing around substance abuse on our unhoused population, our most vulnerable populations that we're seeing across the city?

Well, I think the first start is uh we DeCoach is here today.

We have um Alexis from DeCoach, so this is our Adamist program that um supports the it's a mental health response unit and that's part of the county, and so we rely heavily on them to help with those mental health calls if we happen to um respond to one.

We there's been dual responses or we can do warm handoffs where people can get to the right resources.

I think that's a good start for this.

Um I think Dayton overall, I I think our community needs a lot of social services, and I think what we have to be careful of as of the MRU and the mediation center is that we don't take on everything because then we become ineffective.

So partnering and leveraging those partnerships are very important in mental health, housing, um food instability, um really all all of those things.

Okay.

And how many do you have on your staff currently?

We have six responders, uh supervisor, and then Aaron Prim is our coordinator.

Six responders, okay.

And then citywide, so there's no quadrants of teams, it's just citywide, whoever takes the calls or is how that generally works.

Is that correct?

We usually have two teams out, one on east and one on west.

And then if either side gets busy, then the other team can go to that side.

We also have the backup of the rest of the mediation center staff.

So if a landlord tenant call comes in and the MRU is on scene helping, they can refer it back to the center for mediation or for other resources.

Okay.

And then can you speak to um Commissioner Joseph and I was just have we were having a sidebar conversation and you highlighted the point of the landlord-tened uh complaints or whatever have you?

Could you expound on what those consist of and how in fact the MRU um staff is able to assist those particular calls?

Yes.

So um so when cases go to the Dayton Municipal Court, there's a postcard that's mailed to the defendants that says if you want to help with um your eviction, um, we can support you.

So people can call like two weeks before their court hearing because a lot of times people think, oh, I'm gonna tell them the conditions were bad and I'll be able to stay, or I won't have an eviction on my record.

So we can start the process in-house at the center, talking to people about the reality of their situation.

Like this, you didn't pay rent, so this is most likely what's gonna happen.

Here are our resources you can have to either find new housing or get support from homeful, um, or we offer mediation services.

So a lot of landlords and tenants will mediate to try to figure out move outdates, um, how to stay, payment plans, those types of things.

And so MRU is an extension of that, and so they go to landlord tenant situations all the time where they're mediating on-screen at apartment complexes or bringing people together.

So it's it's really an extension of all that work we're doing around landlord tenant.

Um, a lot of it is non-payment of rent, there's condition issues, neighbor issues, so two departments maybe are having conflict, and the landlord is just sick of it and wants people to move out so that the problem's addressed.

And so those are some of the things that we can support.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh last question.

What were you all in support or partnership with the Northwest um pilot program with the clerk of courts and learn to earn?

Was that a part of the program for the pilot for the eviction right to counsel?

Yes.

Okay.

We've talked we're we're talking to um Steve Gondel about that, and I've been Aaron's uh he's our landlord tenant guy, so he's connected to all the different resources and committees.

Okay, I know that is something that I'm um very much so committed to, so and I know that my colleagues share the same sentiment.

So I'm glad to see that that conversation is happening and hopefully that we can move that forward.

Thank you all very much.

Congratulations to the entire team.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Yes, Mayor, I'd also like to give my high uh praise and appreciation to uh Michelle's a remember and her leadership.

Those first iterative years were um uh interesting experiences, and there were many times where I saw her own leadership team filling those gaps so that our commitment to making this model work never wavered.

I think that this program also exemplifies how we do best practice research.

We innovate around our strengths, in this case, transformative mediation model, and then we make it our own.

And then that has the stickiness and sustainability.

And I'm really pleased about the ongoing evaluation effort, very creative to bring in our partners at Sinclair.

But this really all happened because Aaron Ritter worked this.

She collaborated, she made sure the right partners, including police were around this table.

She worked with the consultant.

She helped review the best practices, and she helped position us to have this launch to begin with.

So I just want to thank the leadership team, Aaron Ritter, all of the MRU folks, because you are valued wherever I go, I hear great praises too about your work.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations and congratulations, Commissioner Shaw.

Thank you.

Ms.

Blackshare, are there any additions, deletions, or comments to the calendar?

I have none, Your Honor.

Thank you, Ms.

Blackshare.

Ms.

Dixtein, are there any additions, deletions, or comments to the calendar?

Your Honor, I have no additions or deletions to this morning's calendar.

I do have a couple of items to highlight.

One is calendar item number three, which is a contract modification with LJ Deweys company.

These are resident park amenity upgrades that include installation of a playground, basketball court, parking lot, and new sanitary line for the proposed restroom and additional curb replacement.

So this is an investment being brought to you by gosh.

Issue six.

Okay.

It's early.

So issue six, two hundred and forty-four thousand dollars, your neighborhoods, your dollars.

Thank you.

And CDBG funding of 71,362.

And this is an example of how we take those investments, elevate our assets in the neighborhoods.

The other item I would like to highlight is item D4, which is a development agreement with Hornstein, Nicholson, and Blumenthal.

They are in a uh a law office that's been located downtown for 40 years.

This agreement retains 47 high salary jobs, creates 10 new jobs, and is happening made possible because of a city-wide performance-based economic incentive program established or approved by this com not this commission, but by the commission in 2014, which 19 companies have benefited from to date.

So we're excited to be able to retain and grow these um important jobs downtown.

And that's all I have.

Thank you, Ms.

Dixon.

And just for clarification, that uh the item D4 was asked to be pulled for additional review and more questions on that.

Okay.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Ms.

Blackshare, are there any citizens who are registered to speak on calendar items this morning?

None on calendar items, Your Honor.

Thank you, Ms.

Blackshare.

Commissioners, are there any comments to the city manager's recommendations?

Commissioner Beckham.

I have none, Your Honor.

Commissioner Fairchild.

Thank you, Commissioner.

No, thank you for pulling that item.

I had requested that to be pulled just to give us more context.

Um really curious on seeing is how many of these agreements we do, the amount of money we're using from the development fund, how we project to use that for the full year, what the budget is for the year.

So if we can have that information, I think it will be helpful for us in the community to understand the work that we're doing.

Thank you.

Yes.

Thank you.

And also the commitment that the uh the organization has made.

I believe it's a 1.5 million dollars that the organization has made.

Yeah, this is this is a 10-year lease agreement that will generate a $50 million payroll and is a 10-year lease agreement in the care source ballpark village building.

And those projects are reported on at every development update.

We provide the information about you know what the jobs that have been created and what the um investments have been made.

Um so they are included.

Thank you, Ms.

Dixon.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Shaw.

Yeah, well, I would just like to say, and this I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but I would like to say that you know we get our packets early for reason that we should have these conversations early on.

And I I just I'm just uh uh I want to be careful about unintended consequences that happen when we pull certain of these issues.

You know, it can put a chilling effect on the development community that rely on some of this work to be done.

So I'm okay with pulling this, but I just want to be thoughtful about how we do it.

Yeah, no, I appreciate that.

And there can be other consequences too, right?

Um I mean, we put what 2.5 million dollars into the Delco with the promise of new employees coming there, but that ended up being a shift of the Taft Law firm from the Mead building over to the Delco.

And so we could have unintended consequence that every every tenant who wants to upgrade their um their facilities know that we're going to pay 25 percent of that cost for every every one.

I think we gotta be careful.

And then the outcome the question is what's the outcome we're driving for?

Are we looking to bring vacancy down in the city?

But that's not happening.

I mean, it'd be interesting to see where that vacancy rates have been over the last five years and whether we're where it's moving because what I've heard from the business community is we got all these vacant buildings down here, and um it I'm not sure we have the strategy that's actually moving to lower that vacancy rate.

Well, I would suggest that we were moving in the right direction, and then we had a thing called COVID that kind of uh interrupted a lot of that uh development opportunity.

I think that the it's still there.

So I you know, when we the way that we talk about uh downtown development and other kind of development across the uh the city and the region, uh we need to think about that.

So that's one of the questions I raised in the in the email I sent.

Um given work from home.

Does the strategy that we had prior to COVID?

Is that the same strategy we use now with work from home?

Yeah, well, I think just like uh I think there is a trend that uh is bringing folks back to work from home, uh, and I think it's important that we encourage all of our uh companies or organizations to do just that to bring folks back uh to work and yeah.

I think that supports safety, that supports retail, that supports so many other of the things that we want uh in our community to drive the resources into our neighborhoods that we we all uh want.

So I'll leave it there, but I just want to be thoughtful about that and uh as we move forward.

No, I think you both I appreciate the comments.

You're absolutely correct on on both ends.

Um so I think it's an opportunity for us to look at the strategy for us to really have an understanding and for us to know what the process is for those who may be interested in um development funds throughout the downtown Dayton or throughout the city as a whole.

So, Commissioner Joseph, comments?

Uh no comments today.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

May I have a motion to approve the city manager's recommendations?

I move to approve the city manager's recommendations.

I second the motion.

It has been properly moved and seconded to approve the city manager's recommendations.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no.

Let us legislation, Ms.

Bleccher.

Second reading ordinance number 32176-26, amending the official zoning map to establish Plan Development 194 and change the underlying underlying zoning from light industrial IA to eclectic single family ER4 for 1.48 acres at 1508 Valley Street.

Commission Mayor Turner Sloss.

Aye.

Commissioner Joseph.

I Shaw.

I.

That concludes legislation, Your Honor.

Thank you, Ms.

Blackshare.

Ms.

Blackshaw, are there any citizens who are registered to speak this morning?

We have one citizen who has registered.

I would like to state that there is a three-minute time limit.

As you address the commission, we ask that you state your name and address for the record.

At that time, I will turn on the green light.

When the green light comes on, you will have three minutes to speak.

After you have spoken two and a half minutes, the yellow light will come on.

You will have 30 seconds remaining to speak.

When the red light comes on, you will be asked to cease your comments and to take your seat.

To the audience and attendance, please be mindful.

This is a business meeting, and we kindly request that during this portion of the meeting, you refrain from mean hand clapping, finger snapping, and conversations that will prevent the city commission from hearing the commission's the speaker's comments.

I call to the podium, Lawrence Lindsay.

Your name and address for the record.

Lawrence Lindsay, I live at 1014 Marywood Drive in Inglewood, Ohio.

You may begin.

We need an official from the city of Dayton to sponsor our project in collaboration with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.

In the folder I have provided you that you will receive after I speak.

You have a deed for the land and everything you need to submit to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.

My organization is back to Basic Youth Education Center doing business at the Miami Valley Digital Learning Center.

We are a free nonprofit after school coding programming, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence computer skills training program.

Our instructors are all local computer science student volunteers.

Since 2022, we have provided a three-day a week after school computer training program at Thurgood Marshall High School.

Since 2018, we have provided a Saturday to our computer skills training program at my downtown computer lab.

Since the summer of 2022, we have hosted a tech camp sponsored by Tech Corps of Columbus and the Dayton Northern Corporation.

Last summer we pilot did an AI camp for fourth grade girls, and we were fortunate to have the daughter of the mayor attend the camp.

Little plug for me.

Since 2025, we partnered with Ms.

Tia Payne's Girls Emergent Into Maturity, nonprofit organization to teach a two-day week computer skills training program after school at my lab downtown.

A little bit about me before I finish.

I'm a 76-year-old, born near Dayton's own hogbottom.

I graduated from Dunbar High School 58 years ago.

I received my uh bachelor's degree from CSU 1974, master's degree UD 1976.

I'm a retired school guidance counselor.

I'm a retired Army officer.

I served in the infantry and field artillery during the Vietnam era.

I've been president, director, CEO of my nonprofit for the last 12 years.

The nonprofit survives on faith, grants, donations, contributions, and my money.

If you have any grant money lying around, we can surely use it.

If possible, I would like to have a contact person I can follow up with because we must notify the builder, go or no go in a recent amount of time.

Thank you, and thank you very kind.

Thank you, Mr.

Lindsay, and thank you for your service and your commitment.

If you wouldn't mind staying in after after we after the meeting, so we can follow up.

And then Ms.

Dixtein, if we could put him in contact with someone from the planning department for further support as to what his request and what his support is is needed.

So again, thank you for your commitment.

It's good to see you.

And I did receive your letter.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Dixteen.

Speakers, Your Honor.

Thank you.

Ms.

Dixtean, do you have any closing comments?

I have none.

Ms.

Blackshow, do you have any closing comments?

I have none, Your Honor.

Thank you.

Commissioners, do you have any closing comments?

Thank you, Mayor.

Just one.

Thank you, Mr.

Lindsay, for your your comments today.

Definitely looking forward to learning more about the project and thank you for your service as well.

I appreciate that.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Fischau.

Yeah, um I'm grateful.

Um Saturday afternoon, I got to spend time with the Civic Leadership Program, being on a panel discussing um how the city works and how they can be involved.

And so really appreciate that program from Learn to Earn and the leadership and the participants there.

Um while I was there, several of them mentioned having been graduates of the Neighborhood Leadership Institute, and uh they were highly recommending it, and I would add my recommendation to that too.

Um we are now receiving applications for NLI, and they will be open until Friday next Friday, February 20th.

So if you want to learn more about how the city works and how you can um understand where you can make a difference in the city, NLI is an incredible opportunity, and I encourage you to apply.

And thank you to the Dayton Bar Association, the League of Women Voters, the NACP, and Gary Lepler, who helped to bring that together.

And they honored the law firm of Wilmer Hale, the League of Women Voters, and Jesse Gooding.

And it was good to see Mr.

Gooding there.

And he is still calling us to our better selves and uh in the struggle for justice and uh and and liberty for all.

So I was really grateful for them.

Uh, there's for those people who tell me that um there's nothing to do in Dayton.

I don't understand that.

And uh not only did I do those events, but we got to the Schuster Center to see Le Miz, which was an incredible performance, and there are some upcoming events for people this week.

On Friday, uh the Dayton Metro Library is celebrating Black History Month and uh with the presentation on the history of the Dayton funk music.

The Muse Machine presents an interactive performance that explores iconic Dayton Funk songs and influential artists.

The event will be in the Eichelberger Forum from 4 to 6 p.m.

on Friday, February 13th.

The Dayton Art Institute will celebrate Valentine's Day by hosting a family um art studio.

It will be from 3 to 4 p.m.

on Valentine's Day.

Uh, but a mission is free for members and kids under seven.

And then um Tuesday the 17th, the City of Dayton sustainability team will be holding a sustainability learning circle, and that's at Lauraye Center, and you can learn about practical ways to make everyday choices more eco-friendly, and that's from 11 a.m.

to 12 p.m.

on February 17th.

And then um finally, I was reflecting on the Super Bowl halftime show.

And I had a friend, uh one of my best friends, his name's Kurt.

When we met, he was a PhD student in opera at the University of Cincinnati.

And we had this conversation about me going to hear some of his performance, and he sang in uh Italian or he sang in French, and I said, uh, how do people who don't know those languages experience that?

And he said, Well, I wouldn't know because I know the languages.

Um, but it made me reflect on myself and uh having heard music perform in other languages and uh gone to the opera or two.

Um what I learned is that you can appreciate the music, the voice becomes just another instrument, and it is the most expressive instrument as it conveys emotion in ways that other instruments don't do.

And so I was thinking about that conversation with Kurt, and then I really appreciated Bad Bunny at the end.

Um, you know, he echoed in in Black History Month, echoed Martin Luther King's um words.

Uh darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

And I thought his whole performance embodied a poem that I've always valued by Edward Markham.

And that poem is this.

It's entitled Outwitted.

He drew a circle that shut me out.

Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout.

But love and I had the wit to win.

We drew a circle that took him in.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Joseph.

Thank you, Mayor.

Two things today.

First, I want to congratulate the city's Department of Water, Division of Environmental Management.

They've received the National Environmental Achievement Award from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies for their collaborative program supporting urban agriculture, green space, biodiversity, and food security, things that are really important to us right now.

Second, I also want to add another thing to do.

Uh the Dayton Metro Library is hosting the fifth annual social justice speaker series, uh February 19th, next Thursday from 6 to 7:30.

Our speaker is Karen Gray Houston discussing her family's legacy in the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.

Her father and her uncle played a key role, and there will be a chance to sign her book, which she's come out with there.

So I encourage folks to go to that.

That's next Thursday at the Library West Branch from 6 to 7 30.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Uh just a couple of comments.

Again, I would like to congratulate uh congratulate the the water department.

Thank you for uplifting that, Commissioner, as well as the mediation center and all of the great work that's being done, and congratulations, Ms.

Rider.

Thank you for all your commitment.

Um also noted that the Black Women's Uh Health Initiative, they will be hosting a know your rights forum or town hall that is scheduled for Thursday tomorrow.

Um that is at 6 p.m.

And uh we encourage people to go out to at Mount Mariah Baptist Church.

It will be held from 6 p.m.

Again, that is Thursday, February the 12th.

And then also there is a YSO fundraiser that would take place on Friday.

So we encourage people to make sure that they support YSO's fundraiser in addition to a Gold Ridge Valentine's Day luncheon at the Presidential Banquet Center that is this Saturday, Valentine's Day.

So a happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

Also would like to acknowledge Ms.

Kiana Daniels and all of the great work that she is doing with her social policy class at St.

Clair Community College.

And also thank you, Ms.

Reed, for providing additional information.

The Dayton Art Institute will hold a Jazz and Beyond series with a seven show season this year.

The first performance is this week, February the 12th, which is Thursday for the series.

The series is going to run from here February through October.

Doors open at 5 p.m.

The concert starts 5 30 to 7 30 p.m.

The full lineup, and individuals who are interested may view the Dayton Art Institute website.

And then also this weekend, another great uh events happening across Dayton, including Valentine's Under the Stars at the Boonshoff Museum.

Um, it is a unique, relaxing experience and another example of creative programming our local institutions offer year round.

So we encourage people to definitely check out Boonshaft Museum of Discovery.

And with no further business to come before the commission, this meeting is now adjourned.

Thank you.