Moraine appoints 2015 citizen of year winner as new council member

Murphy said Miller, a lifelong Moraine resident, was a city employee for more than 40 years.

He started working for the Moraine Parks and Recreation Department in 1973 as a playground supervisor and worked his way up to director of Parks and Recreation before retiring in 2013. He returned in 2015 as the community service and volunteer coordinator until 2018.

In 2013, he was recognized as the Moraine Citizen of the Year. In 2015, Miller and his wife, Rosie, chaired the city’s 50th anniversary celebration.

He continues to write a “Research, Discover and Uncover Moraine’s History” column each month for city newsletter Moraine Messenger.

“Dave Miller probably knows more about the city of Moraine than any person in the city of Moraine,” said. “He’s the one who get all the signs that are put up around the city that talk about the past, the canals and when they were built and The Pinnacles and why they’re there.”

Miller also was part of Moraine History Minute videos on Miami Valley Communication Council’s YouTube channel, Murphy said.

“We were all really pleased that he decided to be on council because he ... was born and raised here,” she said.

Moraine City Council voted unanimously during its regularly scheduled Jan. 28 meeting to appoint Miller to its ranks.

Miller said he wants to work with the council and make decisions that “hopefully make the city a better place to live and to work in.”

“I’ve worked for the city 43 years until I had to depart with another bout of cancer,” he said. “So now that I’m slowly mending, they had that spot open, they needed someone, and I thought this would be just a good way to give back since I know the city, know how it runs.”

Murphy said Miller was the only to do apply for the seat on council. He told the Dayton Daily News he plans to run for the position this May.

Miller earned a bachelor’s degree from Morehead State University in Kentucky and a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Cincinnati.

He has served in the Moraine Rotary and Moraine Jaycees and been a member of the Wright Seaplane Base Inc. Miller also is a volunteer member of the Moraine C.E.R.T. (Community Emergency Response Team) and a eucharistic minister at St. Henry Catholic Church.