Jeremy Cox
No response
Wesley Smith
City: Xenia
Education: Associate of Technical Studies Degree, 1996 Sinclair Community College, Dayton
Current Employment: Small business owner/operator
Community Involvement: President Xenia City Council, 2 years; Vice President City Council, 5 years; Chairperson for Board for Recreational and Cultural Activities; Former Chairperson Planning and Zoning, 2017-2019
Why are you seeking elected office? Public Service is a great way to give back to the community I am invested in. My home and business are located in Xenia, I like people and feel I can offer my business experience.
Why should voters elect you? Experience in office, and practical positive leadership. City council is nonpartisan per our city charter, I will represent all citizens regardless of their party affiliation
If elected, what will be your top three priorities? In November 2018, voters turned down a request for a street levy. Council has respected that decision and will continue to apply $1 million-$1.5 million per year in street paving as promised in 2011. As a council we will work with city leaders to repair as many roads as practical with those monies. We also will support city services (police, fire and medical personnel, water/sewer department) street repairs, parks and recreation; generate additional revenue for our city (Cares Act Funding, annexation opportunities); explore partnerships with neighboring municipalities to combine necessary services at an economical savings to both jurisdictions.
What specific plans do you have to address those top priorities? Addressing our 5 year capital improvement plan, challenging all city departments to look at budgetary items that can be scaled back or eliminated, applying for state and federal grant dollars that become available.
Anything else? Council is excited to take the lead on the Xenia Towne Square redevelopment and getting feedback from our citizens and business owners. We are working on making Xenia an affordable place to live, work and become a destination for others.
VOTE FOR 2:
Levi P. Dean
No response
Ethan Reynolds
No response
William Urschel
City: Xenia
Education: Master of Science, Computer Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Graduate, Department of Defense Leadership and Management Program; Graduate, Department of Defense Executive Leadership Development Program
Current Employment: Pastor Emmanuel Baptist Church; Associate, Dayton Aerospace
Community Involvement: Current Involvement: Xenia City Council; Xenia Economic Development Board - Chairman; Xenia Public Safety Committee - Chairman; Simon Kenton Bridges of Hope - President; Xenia Area Association of Churches and Ministries- Vice President; Emmanuel Baptist Church, Xenia - Pastor; Xenia Five Rivers Health Center Advisory Board; United Way of the Greater Dayton Area Strong Families Initiative Partner
Past Involvement: Dayton Christian Schools Board (25 years) - Chairman; Xenia Christian Day School Board (6 years) - Chairman; Xenia Legacy Center Board (10 years); The Xenia Cleft Youth Center Board (5 years) - Chairman; Air Force Technical Directors Board (6 years) - Chairman; Xenia Youth Recreation Baseball Club (12 years) - Coach; Xenia Youth Soccer Club (12 years) - Coach; Greene County Youth Detention Center (10 years) - volunteer; Xenia Board for Recreation, Arts, and Cultural Activities
Why are you seeking elected office? My wife and I have loved serving others in Xenia since we moved here over 30 years ago - early on in our marriage it was through our local church in youth ministry, and then over time expanded to community organizations and pastoring at our church. We chose to stay in Xenia when I retired from the Air Force because we love this community and want to serve here for the rest of our lives. I was appointed by the City Council last year to fill Dr. Wallace’s council seat after he passed away and have enjoyed engaging with the challenges and opportunities facing our community. I chose to run for council this year as I believe I have the wisdom, leadership experience and community connections to help rebuild the prosperity of our city.
Why should voters elect you? Cities are complex - they are composed of hundreds of miles of streets, sewers, water and storm water removal lines, hundreds of pages of civil, zoning, and municipal rules, and hundreds of employees to maintain these systems and enforce these rules. Funding for these maintenance and enforcement activities comes from over 20 local, county, state, and federal tax sources, and many of these funding sources have specific constraints on how they can be spent. When you elect someone to city council, it’s not just enough to be a good person - you need to elect someone who has some life experience dealing with complex issues, someone with life experience leading organizations successfully through hard and complex challenges. I have over 30 years of leadership experience in addressing and solving similar complex challenges. While in the Air Force, I was responsible for the successful development and deployment of our largest aircraft computer upgrade program on the F-16 fighter, and the development and deployment of our largest aviation software program on the F-35 stealth fighter. In our local community, I was on the leadership team that acquired and transformed the Legacy Center in Xenia from hundreds of acres of abandoned land and buildings to the thriving multi-ministry center it is today, with over a hundred new employees and hundreds of new residents. I am ready to bring this experience to address the issues facing our city.
If elected, what will be your top three priorities? Everyone in Xenia deserves the opportunity to live a good life in a prosperous place. Future generations in Xenia deserve that same opportunity, too. You’re probably working hard to make that happen. But there’s a problem. For decades Xenia has been growing - or at least we’ve been building - miles of new roads, water, storm water and sewer infrastructure that we cannot maintain today, and have no plans to maintain in the future. We’ve given little thought to whether future generations can afford to maintain the world we’re passing on to them - or how many of the things we build today are actually increasing or decreasing the prosperity of our community. We’re wasting time and squandering resources that could be used to make our city more prosperous. To turn this around, I believe we need to: 1. Encourage community investments that require little or no new infrastructure but have a significant impact on the wealth and prosperity of our community: 2. Divest and reduce services and programs that drain our ability to maintain infrastructure critical to ensuring the prosperity of our community 3. Encourage wealth creation in our neighborhoods by improving abandoned or blighted properties and addressing infrastructure maintenance issues.
What specific plans do you have to address those top priorities? 1. Community investments - Redevelopment of the Xenia Towne Square, which will bring a number of new businesses and residents to our city with little new infrastructure burden; Redevelopment of the Eavey building on South Detroit Street, which will bring a number of new businesses and residents to our city with little or new infrastructure burden; Complete the sale of the city owned Hooven & Allison parcel to a new business, which will bring new employees to town with little or no new infrastructure burden 2. Divest and reduce services - Address Xenia Municipal Court funding, where Xenia underwrites other townships and municipalities to the order of half a million dollars a year; Address 911 call center funding, where Xenia underwrites townships, municipalities and the county to the order of $300,000; Continue to address the funding of non-emergency EMS services, which cost Xenia $500,000 a year 3. Encourage wealth creation - Add additional code enforcement officers to the staff, pursue demolition of hazardous abandoned buildings, enforcement of building maintenance ordinances, and removal of abandoned cars; Pursue with the county the sale of over 400 parcels in the city that are seriously delinquent on property taxes and are blights in their neighborhoods; Invest every dollar recovered from number two above in road and stormwater recovery infrastructure.
Anything else? My family loves our city and is committed to serving here the rest of our lives. I take the future of our city and its prosperity very seriously, and have been and will be putting 15-20 hours a week of my time into collaborating with other organizations in our community to find solutions that help us create wealth and sustain our infrastructure commitments for many generations to come!