Church served Miamisburg as mayor for 28 years.
When Church was a new mayor-elect of Miamisburg in late 1991, the U.S. Department of Energy informed the city that its largest employer -- the Mound facility itself, a production site for nuclear weapon components -- would soon close as a federal government operation.
“That’s how I came into office,” Church said in a city public affairs cable television program in 2018.
Church in the early 1990s created a coalition of elected officials and leaders to lobby the Department of Energy to take responsibility for what it left behind, cleansing the site and making it safe for business.
“Over 15 years and a collective $1.1 billion in environmental cleanup later, the site was redeveloped through a new community development corporation and now houses 16 businesses with 355 employees,” the Dayton Development Coalition said in 2019, as it announced that Church had received the “Dave Hobson Dayton Region Advocate Award” Thursday in Washington, D.C.
“Mayor Church’s persistence in helping create a new strategy for the Mound site has allowed it to once again become a major economic asset to the city,” the coalition said at the time.
“Former Mayor Dick Church lists the Mound’s reuse as one of the top 3 accomplishments for Miamisburg during his tenure,” Miamisburg City Manager Keith Johnson said in a release Tuesday. “He was a champion for the Mound’s future throughout his career and was an ongoing presence in D.C. to advocate for the Mound.”
Today, Mound Business Park is home to 16 companies with more than 400 employees.
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