Several prominent Dayton residents told City Commission Wednesday they are skeptical of ongoing city plans to revamp the Priority Board system of citizen involvement.

For more than 35 years, Dayton has had seven Priority Boards representing more than 60 individual neighborhoods on issues of citywide policy and smaller local concerns. Aaron Sorrell, Dayton’s director of planning and community development, said a handful of issues led the city to take a fresh look at the system.

“There was not the level of participation that was originally designed, and I think part of that is due to population loss over the years,” Sorrell said. “We also saw that at times, there was a disconnect between the Priority Boards and neighborhood associations. And we haven’t done a good job keeping the system fresh.”

After a year of study and public feedback, the city held three meetings in January with neighborhood and Priority Board leaders to present possible changes.

That model suggested a new city focus at the individual neighborhood level, with those neighborhood associations selecting representatives for five new land-use and planning committees.

Those five committees would roughly follow existing Priority Board geography, but would combine the Northwest and Fair River Oaks areas into one committee, and combine the Innerwest and Southwest areas into one.

Fred England Jr., chair of the Southeast Priority Board, was one of eight citizens who defended the existing Priority Board structure Wednesday. He told City Commission that many city neighborhoods have weak or nonexistent associations and suggested that existing Priority Boards could help develop them.

“We’ve got a system in place now; give us the time to change things around,” England said. “It would be a lot easier to fix it than to start something else.”

David K. Greer, chair of the Northwest Priority Board and a candidate for City Commission, said these efforts are “time-consuming and counterproductive,” essentially creating a new structure to do the same work that Priority Boards are already structured for.

Mary Ellington, chair of the Innerwest group, said she feels her Priority Board is effective in working with neighborhoods, and if the problem is participation, the city should address that issue rather than rework the whole structure.

“The sense of community in most neighborhoods does not exist as it once did,” Ellington said. “If not careful, you may end up with no participation at all from the general public.”

Sorrell emphasized that the last thing the city wants to do is alienate valuable current volunteers, but he said the city needs to do better at engaging those who have been on the sidelines.

City Commissioner Matt Joseph called Wednesday’s speakers “an all-star team of neighborhood volunteers” and asked for their patience.

“The system as it is has served you well through the heady days when it was formed in the early ’70s and gained national prominence. … Our goal is to do what we can to rebuild that energy,” Joseph said. “Now, what the final shape of that is, we don’t know yet. … We’d love to have you work with us. It’s not going to be pretty. Change never is.”

Deputy City Manager Stanley Earley said city administration intends to make a recommendation to City Commission on how to move forward by early March.