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Record of Proceedings

Dayton City Commission Presentation on First Citizens' Assembly – March 11, 2026

City Commission — Wednesday, March 11, 2026
BodyDayton, Ohio
SessionCity Commission
DateWednesday, March 11, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:07:33

Transcript — Verbatim
0:05

Good morning.

0:05

Thank you all for being here.

0:06

This morning I'll turn it over to Ms.

0:08

Nelson and Mrs.

0:09

Flyer to get us started.

0:11

Thank you.

0:12

Good morning, Barb Dosek, Director of Law.

0:15

We're so excited to be here this morning to discuss Dayton's first citizen assembly.

0:19

I would like to start off with introductions of our amazing team that has contributed to this effort to date.

0:24

Our advisory board consists of co-chairs Michelle Riley from the Food Bank and Magistrate Brandon McLean from Dayton Municipal Court.

0:32

Also on the advisory board is Ms.

0:33

Valerie Lemmy from the Charles F.

0:34

Kettering Foundation.

0:36

Debbie Chess from the Dayton Metro Library.

0:39

Majan Ahasi from the Federation for Innovation and Democracy North America, and myself from the City of Dayton.

0:46

Supporting staff for the advisory board and citizens assembly.

0:49

Lily Hannibal and Mike Squire from Community Engagement.

0:52

Michelle Zarembo from the Dayton Mediation Center.

0:59

Amy Lee from the Ohio State University, Institute for Democratic Engagement and Countability.

1:04

And finally, Cole Spidel from Federation for Innovation and Democracy North America.

1:10

So Barb, can you say their name again and anybody's day in?

1:14

Because they wouldn't know who they are.

1:17

Yes.

1:20

They don't know who they are.

1:21

I'm sorry.

1:22

Why don't we have them introduce themselves?

1:24

Happy Yavon Duty.

1:27

I'm happy to start here.

1:28

I'm Amy Lee from the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability or Idea, which is much less of a mouthful.

1:34

The Ohio State University.

1:37

Good morning.

1:38

I'm Michelle Riley.

1:39

I represent Food Bank.

1:41

Um here.

1:44

And I'm Marjana Sasi.

1:46

I'm the um I'm with the Federation for Innovation and Democracy North America.

1:49

And it's wonderful.

1:52

Oh sorry.

1:55

I'm with the Federation for Innovation and Democracy.

1:57

I'm Matt Burnham with Unify America.

1:59

And hello, Paul, Unify America.

2:02

Lily Hannibal, community engagement.

2:03

Hi, Michelle's around by mediation.

2:08

Thank you.

2:08

Have Mike talk about our partners now.

2:12

Absolutely.

2:18

If I can briefly use an analogy, I have uh my best friends running a hundred mile race uh trail race uh this uh closer to the end of the year.

2:27

And I was thinking about her today, one, because I'm like, why would you do that?

2:30

Uh and two, you know, you often think of running as like an individual sport, but when you're running that kind of mileage, you have to have a support team around you.

2:40

And Sarah has like an amazing support team, and that looks like people that are guiding and directing, making sure the course is set and that she's not going off and running 150 miles or not finishing.

2:52

Um it looks like you know, stationary partners and teammates that are there to meet a certain mileage to provide dry socks and water and all that kind of stuff.

3:01

And it takes people that are running with her to set the pace.

3:04

And I would point to all of these people that fill different roles in that same manner.

3:09

Um, where we have financial support as you can see through the city, the fund for citizens assemblies, which is a national funder of this work through the uh democracy funders network.

3:21

Uh getting tripped up there.

3:22

And then most recently, the Charles F.

3:24

Kettering Foundation, uh, who is locally supporting us.

3:28

That financial support is critical for many reasons, but two that I'll point out that are really important.

3:34

One is that we are asking residents of the city to come and spend five Saturdays with us from eight to five.

3:42

It's a serious time commitment.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Community Engagement█████████████████████████████████████████████57%
Public Safety███████████14%
Public Engagement██████████13%
Accountability█████6%
Procedural███4%
Youth Programs██3%
Housing██3%
Summary of Proceedings

Dayton City Commission Presentation on First Citizens' Assembly – March 11, 2026

City staff and external partners presented a proposal for Dayton's first citizens' assembly to the City Commission. The meeting focused on the concept, process, and topic selection for the assembly, with extensive discussion among commissioners about feasibility, trust, and arms-length governance. No formal votes were taken.

Discussion Items

  • Introduction to Citizens' Assembly: Barb Dosek (Director of Law) and Mike Squire (Community Engagement) introduced the team and partners—including the Kettering Foundation, Ohio State University, Unify America, and the Federation for Innovation and Democracy North America (FIDA)—who will support the assembly.
  • Process Overview: Marjan Ahasi (FIDA) explained the foundations of a citizens' assembly: a clear mandate, civic lottery (sortition) for representative selection, and a three-phase process (learning, deliberation, proposal writing). A deliberative town hall will follow the assembly to validate recommendations.
  • Topic Selection: Amy Lee (Ohio State) presented results from a resident survey, a November 2024 ballot initiative on the public hospital, and a focus group of 15 residents who seldom attend city meetings. Three topics emerged: neighborhood blight, youth programming, and the public hospital. The advisory board recommended the public hospital because it is a timely, complex issue where deliberative input could have the most impact, and because the city is legally required to act on it.
  • Commissioners' Questions and Concerns:
    • Commissioner Shaw questioned how trust would be built on the hospital topic, given that citizens had little prior knowledge, and noted previous engagement on neighborhoods and youth had not led to concrete action.
    • Commissioner Joseph raised concerns about the narrowness of the legal options for the hospital (city-run vs. outsourced to a nonprofit) and whether the assembly would feel constrained.
    • Commissioner Shaw also worried about the city's paid feasibility study for a 300-bed hospital being perceived as biased; she asked how education would be balanced.
    • Commissioner Timothy stressed the importance of arms-length separation between the city and the assembly, and asked how to ensure authenticity of recommendations.
    • Commissioner Williams asked about best practices for having city staff (like the law director) on the advisory board, noting potential perception issues.
  • Partner Responses: The team emphasized that the steering committee includes non-city co-chairs, the learning phase will involve diverse experts and stakeholders (not just the city's report), and the assembly is non-binding but will receive a formal city response. The deliberative town hall after the assembly will help validate findings.
  • Timeline: The citizens' assembly will meet on five Saturdays from May 2 to June 20, 2026 (May 2, May 16, June 6, June 13, June 20). The deliberative town hall is planned for August or September, with recommendations to the commission later.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal decision was made on the topic; commissioners expressed support for moving forward with the public hospital as the recommended topic, but with reservations about perceived constraints and trust.
  • The commission acknowledged the value of the process and asked for continued updates. No votes were taken.
  • Next steps include finalizing the assembly's mandate (remit) and launching the civic lottery to recruit participants.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning. Thank you all for being here. This morning I'll turn it over to Ms. Nelson and Mrs. Flyer to get us started. Thank you. Good morning, Barb Dosek, Director of Law. We're so excited to be here this morning to discuss Dayton's first citizen assembly. I would like to start off with introductions of our amazing team that has contributed to this effort to date. Our advisory board consists of co-chairs Michelle Riley from the Food Bank and Magistrate Brandon McLean from Dayton Municipal Court. Also on the advisory board is Ms. Valerie Lemmy from the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. Debbie Chess from the Dayton Metro Library. Majan Ahasi from the Federation for Innovation and Democracy North America, and myself from the City of Dayton. Supporting staff for the advisory board and citizens assembly. Lily Hannibal and Mike Squire from Community Engagement. Michelle Zarembo from the Dayton Mediation Center. Amy Lee from the Ohio State University, Institute for Democratic Engagement and Countability. And finally, Cole Spidel from Federation for Innovation and Democracy North America. So Barb, can you say their name again and anybody's day in? Because they wouldn't know who they are. Yes. They don't know who they are. I'm sorry. Why don't we have them introduce themselves? Happy Yavon Duty. I'm happy to start here. I'm Amy Lee from the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability or Idea, which is much less of a mouthful. The Ohio State University. Good morning. I'm Michelle Riley. I represent Food Bank. Um here. And I'm Marjana Sasi. I'm the um I'm with the Federation for Innovation and Democracy North America. And it's wonderful. Oh sorry. I'm with the Federation for Innovation and Democracy. I'm Matt Burnham with Unify America. And hello, Paul, Unify America. Lily Hannibal, community engagement. Hi, Michelle's around by mediation. Thank you. Have Mike talk about our partners now. Absolutely. If I can briefly use an analogy, I have uh my best friends running a hundred mile race uh trail race uh this uh closer to the end of the year. And I was thinking about her today, one, because I'm like, why would you do that? Uh and two, you know, you often think of running as like an individual sport, but when you're running that kind of mileage, you have to have a support team around you. And Sarah has like an amazing support team, and that looks like people that are guiding and directing, making sure the course is set and that she's not going off and running 150 miles or not finishing.

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