On Sunday, April 2nd, the Dayton Daily News published responses that were provided to it from our campaign. The article written covered, many, but not all the questions that were posed to our campaign. In the spirit of full transparency, these are the full, complete and unedited answers that were provided to the newspaper.
NAME: William Lutz
AGE: 45
Best way for people to obtain information about you and your campaign: (Websites, Facebook, etc.)
Website: www.williamlutz.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/williamtlutz
Instagram: www.instagram.com/williamlutzformayor
Previous political experience
Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services, Member - 2006-2012
Miami County Community Action Council, Member - 2012-2014
Troy City Schools Board of Education, Member - 2012-2013
Troy City Council At-Large Member - 2018-2019
Troy City Council President - 2020 - Present
Miami County Republican Party Central Committee Precinct Rep. - 2020 - Present
Chairman, Miami County Republican Party Central Committee - 2022 - Present
Why do you want to do this job as Troy's mayor?
The Mayor is a critical position in our community and requires an individual with the right mix of experience and education that can effectively give direction and leadership. I believe that I have the skills and experiences that our community needs.
Those experiences include living and being part of this community for my entire life. The conservative values I have learned and shared with others such as fiscal prudence, civic responsibility and personal accountability were instilled in me by living and growing up here. I have built a lifetime of strong working relationships with others wanting to make our community a stronger and better place for families and businesses.
This position is for four years - do you have the time and commitment to complete a term?
Yes. Much of my work in the nonprofit community melds quite nicely with the work that any Mayor would do which is to fundamentally serve our community and its citizens. I spent my entire career committed to creating stronger and more resilient communities. And there is no community I am more committed to than my hometown. I was born in Troy, my parents were born in Troy. I want our community to be a place where families and businesses can prosper and grow for future generations.
What are the top three challenges Troy faces? Please provide detail on how you would suggest each challenge be addressed?
Our community’s greatest challenges revolve around creating a stronger and more resilient workforce, providing housing opportunities to attract new residents and asking our residents if they are getting value for the tax dollars being spent.
We will continue our efforts to grow a strong local economy and that means giving people the opportunity to find and grow a career here in Troy. Talking with businesses of all sizes, their challenges revolve largely around workforce development and employee retention and attraction, specifically around the challenges of transportation, childcare and workforce housing. We need leadership to understand, advocate and work with nonprofit partners that are working to create solutions to these pivotal issues.
When it comes to workforce housing, we need to work with property owners and developers to create new housing opportunities that can attract younger individuals and provide them an opportunity to stay in Troy. In 2017, the City commissioned a study that looked at housing issues. Specifically, 93% of what was built in Troy was single-family detached housing, but only half of consumers are preferring that type of product. As a community, our housing product is not meeting the needs of younger families and downsizing seniors. As a community, we need to look at not only what land is available for residential development, but also what kind of zoning regulations can be put in place to allow for more housing opportunities while meeting the needs of our community.
Another challenge that our community confronts is that our local government is not asking our citizens the questions that deserve answers. My number one priority as Mayor would be to ask, “How are we doing?” This will be accomplished by implementing satisfaction surveys to our residents that will evaluate the services our residents pay for. Are residents satisfied with pedestrian safety in downtown? Are residents happy with code enforcement efforts in our town? These are the kinds of questions we will ask. Where our community is doing well, we will continue to set the standard. In those areas we are not doing well, we will improve.
Name one project you as mayor would like to see new to Troy?
When we are discussing projects, we shouldn’t automatically think about major capital improvement efforts. Currently, our community is undergoing a multi-million dollar capital improvement project rebuilding the busiest corridor in town, West Main Street. We also have a major utility project with the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant on Dye Mill Road that is occuring as well. The project I am envisioning is one that will not drain city resources and be fiscally responsible, but also be a project that will set our city’s direction for years to come.
By law, our community must adopt a new Comprehensive Plan by 2025. This plan looks at all aspects of the community and how we want our community to grow over the next twenty to twenty-five years. Topics such as land use, utility infrastructure and transportation are covered in this plan.
And for this plan to be successful, we need to bring our citizens along in the process. When this process was last completed in 2005, our city held two visioning sessions at the beginning of the process, but there was never a public session to present the final version of the plan. I am committed to getting citizen input into the new Comprehensive Plan at every step of the process, from community visioning to plan creation to final adoption.
What else would you like people to know about you? Your interest in serving as Troy mayor?
The position of Mayor of a growing and dynamic community requires an individual with the right set of skills and values. The role of Mayor has grown from simply being the community’s top ribbon cutter to a job that demands the ability to think critically, clearly communicate and lead team members to common sense solutions to pressing issues. Most notably, the Mayor is responsible for guiding, leading and appointing the Service and Safety Director; the top appointed official in the city’s government.
I am a proud graduate of Troy High School and also a proud graduate of Wright State University, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Affairs and a Master of Public Administration degree. I have spent my entire working career in forward facing positions that have required me to be attentive to the needs of residents and constituents while also leading organizations to be more effective.
These experiences have given me the tools necessary to hold people accountable, maintain and improve critical services and to lead our community confidently into the future.
