I had the privilege to work with Mayor Mims for nearly eight years (2014-2021) while he served as a City of Dayton Commissioner. I was impressed over the many years of our interactions with his approachability, willingness to have difficult conversations, his sincerity and willingness to listen, and even more so by the care and compassion that he brought to his public service role, particularly as it relates to responding the needs of vulnerable populations.
An example in his early tenure was the pivotal role he played in the launch of the first My Brother’s Keeper chapter in Ohio, an initiative to provide a supportive and safe environment for young males in the Dayton community so that they could excel and be successful in adult life and that subsequently was expanded to include young girls (My Sister’s Keeper). The need for community support of young people was subsequently one of the central themes of Mayor Mims first State of the City address.
As the Mayor of Dayton, Jeff Mims has had to face some unique challenges such as the delivery of city services during the persistent COVID-19 pandemic, as well as common urban challenges such as fiscal constraints of available public funds, the prevalence of blight properties needing remediation, crime in the urban core and the broader city, the need to promote economic growth to support needed city services and to create a more livable and vibrant city environment.
Mayor Mims and the City Commission, supported by a dedicated city workforce and with the support of strategic partnerships made significant progress in many endeavors in the past few years that improved Dayton neighborhoods (e.g. more than 180 blighted structures were leveled to create opportunities for neighborhood revitalization projects), created new housing construction in several neighborhoods, broke ground for a new police station in West Dayton and acquired property in downtown Dayton for a new police station, and provided essential funding for infrastructure improvements in support of OnMain Innovation Hub that is expected to lead to the creation of 2,000 jobs and millions in state and local tax revenues… and the list could go on and on.
As Mayor Mims has said, Dayton “is hot” right now as an epicenter of economic growth and is becoming increasingly attractive for people to visit, work in, live in, and recreate within.
Dayton will be best served by supporting the re-election of Mayor Mims and thus benefiting from his strategic, effective, wise, and compassionate leadership!
Richard Biehl served as Dayton’s Police Chief from 2008 to 2021.
About the Author