“I am going to continue the economic growth,” he said. “Dayton is hot right now.”
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
His challenger, Dayton City Commissioner Shenise Turner-Sloss, said the city lacks vision and leadership, but she is an innovative problem-solver who can change that.
“Dayton deserves to fly,” she said. “All roads lead to Dayton for jobs, aviation and opportunity, and as your next mayor, I will bring just that to the Dayton region.”
The 50-minute mayoral forum on Aug. 26 was part of the 2025 Dayton Regional Impact Ohio Conference where business leaders gathered to hear discussions and comments from local, state and federal legislators and political hopefuls, including gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
The mayoral forum was moderated by Josh Sweigart, the editor of investigations and solutions journalism for the Dayton Daily News. About 250 people attended the conference, held at WSU’s student union.
Mims, who is seeking a second term, said he has more than 40 years of service under his belt as a teacher, mentor, coach, union president, school board president and city commissioner. He said he has developed a unique set of skills and a special talent for collaboration.
Mims said Dayton has been a regional leader in job growth for years and Dayton’s median income has increased significantly in the last decade.
He said as mayor he can help keep the city on the right track. Census survey data indicate that the area median income for Dayton households was $45,995 in 2023. That’s up from about $33,115 in 2018.
Dayton has seen more recent growth than it had experienced in the previous 50 years, Mims said.
Turner-Sloss, who is finishing her first term in office, said one of her priorities as mayor will be to invest in the people of Dayton. She said neighborhood development is a catalyst for economic development and she wants to enhance and expand local workforce development opportunities.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
The city needs to make new investments in housing and neighborhoods to make Dayton a more attractive place for people to live, including the tens of thousands of people who work at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Turner-Sloss said.
Turner-Sloss said she is proud that as a city commissioner she helped ensure that the income tax renewal measure that Dayton voters approved last year specifically dedicated some of the revenue to housing investments.
Mims and Turner-Sloss both said they want to make the city safer.
Mims supports building a police station downtown, he said, and he wants to increase police visibility by expanding the use of bike patrols.
Mims said a violence interruption program he is spearheading will hopefully get results and reduce crime.
Turner-Sloss said she wants to create a pilot program that uses and deploys community resource officers to handle some non-critical situations that do not require police officers and other first-responders.
“We have to protect our safety services, we have to protect and acknowledge the work of our first-responders,” she said. “They’re drained, they’re tired, they should not be answering mental health calls.”
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
The city already has a mediation response unit that handles non-emergency calls. But Turner-Sloss said her proposed program would utilize licensed trained social workers.
Mayor Mims said as mayor he will help ensure Dayton is the best place for people to live, work, play, be educated and grow old.
“I have a record of long, consistent and dedicated leadership,” he said.
Turner-Sloss said she has a “flight plan” if elected mayor that will lead the city to new heights.
“It’s time out for those old ways and yesterdays of how we used to do business,” she said. “It’s time for us to move forward and really, really fly high.”
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