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In Dayton, Ohio, Priority Boards elected at the neighborhood level have brought city government and its citizens closer together. The system serves as a two-way communications network by which the municipal government can reach every neighborhood and to every citizen to provide an opportunity for significant involvement in the government decision-making process. The Priority Boards came into existence in 1971 in an effort to get citizen input during the city's preparation to expand the Model Cities program from one neighborhood to the entire city. The city generated it own funds to establish the system, but now about 90% of the system's one million dollar budget comes from Community Block Grants.
Six of the city's seven Boards represent Dayton's residential neighborhoods, while the seventh, the Central Business District, is represented by the Downtown Dayton Association. The neighborhood lines were drawn with respect to natural boundaries, with the city attempting to hold ethnic neighborhoods intact. No attempt was made to keep the populations equal and they vary from 12,000 to 70,000 in this city of 183,000 people. Each Priority Board can develop its own representation plan subject to the approval of the city commission. In general, their size range from 25 to 35 seats, of which one-third to one-half are up for election each year.
Any registered voter who lives in an area where a seat is open is eligible to run for a seat on the Board. A prospective candidate must collect the signatures of at least 25 other registered voters in his or her district in order to be listed on the ballot, and is reimbursed for up to $35.00 in campaign expenses.
Ballots are mailed to all registered voters in districts where there are contested races--generally involving 30% and 50% of the open seats. Voters have approximately one week to fill out their ballots and mail them back in a pre-addressed stamped envelope. The turnout has been remarkable for elections of this kind, with 28% of those eligible voting in the last election as compared with 30% in the last municipal election. Over 200 citizens serve on the seven Boards--and they tend to be a reasonable refection of the economic, racial, and ethnic character of their communities.
Through their chairpersons, the Priority Boards advise the city on neighborhood concerns and on service delivery problems. Each week the Priority Board Chairman's Council meets with the City Manager to discuss neighborhood and city-wide issues. And each month, the Boards themselves meet with an Administrative Council composed of middle managers from the city of Dayton, Montgomery County and other agencies to solve service delivery problems such as housing inspection and garbage removal. Complaints issued by Priority Board members and individual citizens at these meetings will be immediately addressed by the managers, and not filtered through channels. Since 1975, the Administrative Councils have been responsible for resolving hundreds of complaints and concerns.
The Priority Boards also play an active role in deciding how to spend city tax revenue and federal block grants. Each Priority Board is represented on the city manager's task force which submits recommendations to the city manager concerning block grant funds. Out of 19 capital projects recommendations for 1983, 17 came from Priority Boards or were jointly submitted by the Board and a city agency. The Boards have an opportunity to argue their proposals before the Capital Improvement Committee and even the City Council.
Finally, once a year, each Priority Board submits a needs statement to the city manager which outlines the concerns of the residents and recommends changes in city programs to respond to those needs. The city manager sends the needs statements to the heads of appropriate municipal departments and agencies who must either address those needs, or explain why they were not taken into account in the budget process. The Boards use a variety of methods in documenting their concerns; surveys of neighborhood residents, public hearings, open Priority Board meetings, committees and neighborhood council discussions and Administrative Council complain records.
The volunteers on each Board are also given substantial support by the city. Each neighborhood has a site office staffed with three professionals and one secretary who give technical assistance in solving problems and obtaining funds for projects, and aid in the organization of neighborhood self-help projects. The site office works under a system of management by objectives and each staff member has a neighborhood-oriented performance contract he or she must fulfill.
The Priority Board system seems well-suited to Dayton's commissioner-manager form of government. In addition to providing a clear voice within city government for every neighborhood, the Boards have helped to train citizens in practical political action. Many Board members have gone on to serve as a city commissioner, school board member or state legislator. Yet, since the commissioners are elected on a city-wide basis and Priority Board members in individual districts, there is no electoral competition between the two, and they have been able to work relatively harmoniously to help meet the needs of the entire community.
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