Challenger Shenise Turner-Sloss finished with the lowest collections but still raised thousands of dollars.
The candidates have just a handful of days remaining to try win over voters.
The incumbents and challengers paint very different pictures of the state of Dayton and the the performance of its elected leadership.
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Mims and Williams are hoping to hold onto their seats on Nov. 7, when they face off against Turner-Sloss and Fairchild, who, like the incumbents, have campaigned as a team.
Mims raised nearly $20,500 during this reporting period, compared to Williams, who raised $14,806, according to 2017 pre-general election financial reports filed with the Montgomery County Board of Elections. Fairchild raised $22,220.
Fairchild has spent $13,546 during this reporting period, compared to Williams’ $14,789, according to the reports.
RELATED: Compare the candidates on the issues
Fairchild still has a balance on hand of $10,808. Mims has a balance of about $938, after spending $19,700 on expenses including yard signs, mailers and radio ads.
Turner-Sloss, who raised $8,955, has spent $4,976.
One of the Fairchild campaign’s biggest expenses was to hire a company from Missouri to make robo calls. He’s also paid for consultants and palm cards for canvassing.
Some of the Williams campaign’s largest expenses have been print mailings, radio ads and signs.
Williams and Mims in campaign ads and mailings touted their experience in public service. Williams is the longest-serving member of the city commission, and Mims, who is seeking a second term, is a long-time educator.
Mims said the current commission is a very effective and competent team that has made Dayton a nationally recognized “great place to live.” Outside Magazine named Dayton as one of America’s best towns ever, and U.S. News & World Report listed it as one of the “Best Places to Live.”
“Our primary responsibility is customer service,” and the commission has made it easier for citizens to access city services, said Mims.
Williams and Mims say they each deserve another term in office because under their leadership the city has strengthened it services and has invested and enhanced infrastructure, recreation, public safety and economic conditions for residents.
“I still think there’s a lot of work to do, and I’m really pleased with what we’ve accomplished,” Williams said.
Williams said his background in business and finance makes him an asset on the commission, because one of its main responsibilities is to set and balance the budget.
But Fairchild and Turner-Sloss say too many of the city’s neighborhoods are in deplorable shape, and city leadership must focus and invest more heavily its residential neighborhood.
Fairchild said if he was on the commission when the city was developing its Issue 9 income tax hike proposal last year, it would have resulted in a “very different and better” levy.
He said the city needs a comprehensive plan to revitalize neighborhoods, which would give the city a blueprint of what investments it needs to make and what stakeholders it needs to partner with to improve residents’ quality of life. He’s advocated for focusing investment and revitalization efforts on the four or five blocks around elementary schools in Dayton.
“I think there is a level of frustration in our community about the conditions of our residential neighborhoods,” said Fairchild, who is an active community member.
Turner-Sloss said the city has the wrong funding priorities and needs a “block-by-block” plan to revitalize local neighborhoods.
She said the city should have — but did not — dedicate some of the new revenue from its income tax hike to demolition and removal of blight and vacant structures.
She pointed to a citywide survey of residents released this year showed 83 percent of respondents wanted Dayton to demolish more vacant structures than it does currently.
The city needs a fresh perspective and innovative ideas and someone who understands the inner workings of municipal government, said Turner-Sloss, who worked for the seven years in planning.
“We need to change the perception of Dayton, change the aesthetics, build the morale and then I believe wholeheartedly that we’ll start seeing changes in our community on so many different levels,” she told this newspaper.
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