This week, for WYSO’s City Mayor Series, we head to the city of Clayton, a young city formed in 1998 when the then-village incorporated with Randolph Township.
Clayton has a population of just over 13,000 people. In this interview. Mayor Mike Stevens talks about a unique collaboration they have with two nearby communities.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. This story was produced for the ear. To listen, click the blue "listen" button at the top.
Mike Stevens: For a city, we're young. We became a city in 1998 when the small village of Clayton incorporated with Randolph Township. So we went from a tiny dot to a really pretty large geography. So that is a good thing.
If you look at the map, our city of Clayton pretty much wraps around the city of Englewood. We're that large. We have about 228 road miles, which is a lot for a city of 13,300 people. But we have a wide variety of people that live here. Much of the Randolph Township stuff — maybe half — was bedroom communities. We have a lot of flats that were built in the '60s, '70s, and then the further you go north and west, it's a large component. So we get everything in between.
We have three major thoroughfares that offer much potential. We haven't been able to capitalize on them as I would like to see, but it's a work in progress. And that is State Route 49, State Route 48, Main Street, and State Route 40. All three of those run through Clayton. And we're hoping that, as we can, incorporate the bedroom communities with the rurals, with some different businesses and the trick is going to be to get that blend. So that's our goal.
Jerry Kenney: How have the services been since Clayton came to be a city when the village joined with Randolph Township? I imagine some of that had to do with the unification.
Stevens: This is the moment in the interview where I'm going to brag a little bit. For our size of the city, our staff is exceptional. I'd think anyone who knows these folks would agree, just kind of run through a little list here.
"We have a small staff, but I think our service levels are off the charts compared to other cities our size."
I'm not going to name all their names, but our roads supervisor or service supervisor is a 30-year ODOT retiree. He has done a fantastic job. I mean, he knows everything there is about roads, maintaining them, fixing them, water lines, sewers, all that stuff. He's been fantastic. Our finance director was just awarded, last week for the 18th year in a row, the commendation from the Auditor of State, Mr. Yost. Our police chief is an Army veteran, a career police officer here in Clayton. Our fire chief, same, career fireman and paramedic here in Clayton, we just couldn't get any better. These guys really do well. Our city manager, she's young, fresh, and very knowledgeable. She's been here about five or four years, and she's just done a fantastic job.
We have a small staff, but I think our service levels are off the charts compared to other cities our size. We've been named the safest city in Montgomery County for the past five or six years, maybe longer. And we've also been named the Best City to Raise a Family over the past couple years in Montgomery County. And again, those are things that we brag to ourselves, but we don't brag it out enough.
Kenney: Any infrastructure challenges that you're looking at right now.
Stevens: Not really huge challenges. We get the everyday challenges. We have a unique set up here. We have a fire collaborative and our chief, Chief Garver, was very instrumental in setting this up, but we partner closely with the City of Englewood and the City of Union. And it's more than a partnership. It's actually a collaboration where we're still separate departments, but we act as one department. And what it has done, it's saved all three departments a lot of money, and will continue to save a lot of money.
"We're in a period of growth, and this is a point of contention among some people, because some people really don't want growth. But I think any mayor would tell you, 'you can't stay stagnant.'"
But the more important thing is it's reduced our response times.
So, for instance where I live, in Clayton of course, if I call the medics, I get Englewood responding. And vice versa, someone that lives across the line in Englewood could be getting a Clayton or a Union medic or fire. So it's just really been a great effort by everyone there.
The biggest challenge I think when you talk about infrastructure for us is probably the cost of maintaining streets and everything. Like I said, we have a lot of road miles that we maintain, and as everyone knows, the cost of asphalt, concrete, and all that continues to rise pretty rapidly. So I'd say the cost will continue to be our focus.
"If you talk to people or look at social media, everyone wants a steakhouse, everyone wants a Chick-fil-A, everyone wants a Whole Foods. But those companies don't come to small cities, generally."
We're in a period of growth, and this is a point of contention among some people, because some people really don't want growth. But I think any mayor would tell you 'you can't stay stagnant.' We have to grow in order to stay ahead of the game as far as funds and things. So that's probably our biggest challenge in finding that balance.
Kenney: Several other mayors have said the same thing. What do you see for the city of Clayton as you look out five, 10, 20 years? What are you working on? What would you like to see?
Stevens: We have a really, really bright future here and I'm saying that not only as the mayor but I'm saying that as a lifelong resident here.
We have a document out there. A lot of other cities have called us to look at this, it's called Plan Clayton, and we spent a lot of time, effort and money and with consultants and others, residents putting this document together.
So several things come out of this we're going to try, at all costs, to avoid urban sprawl. We don't want to just grow for the sake of growing. We want it to make sense. Right now our population does not draw businesses. If you talk to people or look at social media, everyone wants a steakhouse, everyone wants a Chick-fil-A, everyone wants a Whole Foods. But those companies don't come to small cities, generally.
So again, it's our goal to continue to add housing, which in the past four or five years we've added, I'm going to say somewhere around 400 or so residences. And that's after two decades of very, very flat growth. So that's a big thing for us.
And it's a start.
I have to brag on a local family and company that is in the midst of building their first brick and mortar as we sit here. And it's a wood-fired pizza, dine-in restaurant, Bella Sorella. It's located on Route 40 up near the Northmont High School. And we're hoping that that single business will spur other businesses in that area and we're confident that it will. We've had a lot of issues up in that area with getting businesses to come in. It's just been a perfect storm of real estate stuff more than anything else, but we're finally seeing some light there and I think our next five years you will see it on the radar then.
Kenney: Several mayors we've talked to talk about the development of a downtown and the aesthetics of life in a city's core. Does Clayton have anything like that?
Stevens: We do not, we wish we did. But the area where Bella is building, the initial concept was to kind of make that a downtown area. But the way that we have developed, coming from the small village, and it's old. I mean, it's really nice up there, but it's from the 1800s, from that little village to the rest of the city, which is largely bedroom. There is no downtown. We wish there was. I think that would give us more focus and more of a brand and more of an identity.
