Town Talk with Mayor Wytoski

City of Dayton, Oregon Quarterly Newsletter

June 2021

Town Talk with the Mayor

Hello Neighbors! For my first article in the brand new Ferry Street Newsletter, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Beth Wytoski and I have had the great privilege of serving on your City Council since 2008 and as Mayor of the City of Dayton since 2013. I was raised here, educated in our local schools, and decided to ‘come home’ to raise my family after pursuing higher education in Political Science and Education at the University of Oregon and Pacific University, respectively. My parents, Duane and Leslie Overgard, were also both raised here, as were my grandparents. In fact, my children are the 5th generation of my family to grow up in Yamhill County. I have three daughters with my husband, Chris. My passion projects for the City are: enhanced communication from the City to our residents; improved parks, sidewalks, and streets; continued engaging, inclusive community events; increased citizen participation in governance; and formation of collaborative relationships with regional and state partners. Ultimately, my vision is to protect the community connections this small city offers while supporting the development of a livable community where economic, recreational, and educational resources encourage my own grandchildren to come home to raise their families.

Our city operates under a Council-Manager form of government which means that our Council is a policy-making body and staff are responsible for the administration of our policies and ordinances. As Mayor, I work with our City Manager to set the agenda, coordinate goal setting, oversee budgeting, monitor our resources, communicate with the public, and I also run City Council meetings and appoint committees. When the City Council votes, we each have one equal vote and Council decisions become city policy. Each of our Councilors are able to hear concerns, suggestions, and priorities so that our goals reflect the people we represent. We can each be reached through our city website https://www.ci.dayton.or.us/ where you can find more information about our projects and events and also download our app! After more than a year of learning to live with COVID, I wanted to provide an update regarding our community plans. Our staff and Dayton Community Development Association (DCDA) have worked tirelessly to pull off unique, safe events for over a year now and we all owe them a debt of gratitude. We have enjoyed mobile concerts via ‘Bands on the Run,’ unique fundraisers through Fire District delivered meals, holiday traditions through virtual tree lightings, community competitions through light decoration and scarecrow contests, and even brought the Easter bunny around to hand deliver eggs (continued on pg 4)

Photo Credit: John Collins