That fill-in term is up, and Sutton Cameron again finds herself in a three-person race, with Ward 4 Councilwoman Mary McDonald and newcomer Anthony Page, 26, both running for the office for the first time.
Sutton Cameron grew up in Dayton, graduated from Roosevelt High School and worked at NCR as an international systems software consultant for 20 years.
She owns Green Star Trucking company and co-founded HighRise Services, an after-school tutoring company.
She and her husband moved to Trotwood in 1991 and, “I started going to council (meetings) to be more informed.”
When Councilman Mike Sprague resigned, Sutton Cameron was appointed to the council and has been there ever since, running unopposed in one election and keeping her seat when she ran for mayor the first time and lost.
When she did become mayor, she took the position seriously.
“It is supposed to be a very minimal service (the city has a city manager),” Sutton Cameron said. “When I first took the office of mayor, I established office hours every day. There was a learning curve. I had tons of emails. I had to build relationships. You have to have a lot of time for this. There are so many people calling for the mayor. You have to balance council meetings, balance workshops, ribbon cuttings, speaking, doing proclamations. That is something I chose to take on,’’ she said.
“I want to continue down this road. It is a tough time. I am looking forward to things being uplifted in our community,’’ she said.
‘‘We all fight for jobs. We all want these things. It’s how you get there; it’s how you weather the storm. It’s nothing I’m going to do by myself. We have to do it together.”
Sutton Cameron’s most experienced opposition is McDonald, who decided to run for council in 2005 and won. Now, she wants the mayor’s position because she thinks she can help improve the city.
“What I see is a level of dissatisfaction with the citizens,” McDonald said. “It’s really high. Trotwood is a jewel and we have not empowered citizen to become involved.
“The city is being under-served. We’ve never sat down as a council and figured out our budget. We go year to year. We need to have a plan, and that starts with the mayor. We have to offer services to the citizens. We have to have leaf pickup and salt (on the street when it snows). I don’t feel our future is secure.”
Like Sutton Cameron, McDonald also grew up in Dayton, graduating from Roth High School. She owns The True Style Hair Salon and also is a licensed vocational education instructor and with her husband, Joseph, started The Pearline Wood’s Scholarship for freshmen college students.
Page, a Trotwood-Madison High School graduate who holds two jobs and is close to graduating from Central State University, said he thought he could relate to both older and younger residents in the city.
He wants also more people to vote.
“I don’t think people understand the importance of voting,” Page said.
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