Historic South Park, Inc.
General Membership Meeting
Tuesday, September 23, 2025 at 500 Hickory Street
Minutes
Officers in attendance: Mark Manovich, Kristina Scott
Committee chairs: Karin Manovich
Call to order at 7:00 pm
Community Reports
Dayton Police—no officer in attendance.
City of Dayton Community Engagement—Martha Rodriguez. Neighbors are invited to a New American Art Opening on November 6 from 5-7 pm at the Dayton Metro Library. The event is free and will feature artists from Miami Valley’s New American community.
Approvals –Minutes from the July 2025 General Membership meeting—motion to approve by Abby, seconded by Heath. Motion passed unanimously.
Presidents Report
HSPI Elections for 2026 Board—Elections will take place at the November 25th General Membership Meeting. Nominations will be accepted through the end of the October 28th General Membership Meeting. Open positions include President, 2nd Vice President, and Treasurer. Nominations can be sent to the nominating committee at [email protected]. Candidates must also be registered members by the end of the October Meeting.
Gazebo Repairs—the Park Drive Gazebo has been deemed unsafe by the City of Dayton, and they have placed snow fencing around the gazebo to prevent entry. They are currently seeking to get a structural assessment done. HSPI Board Members have been working to provide the City with historical information on the gazebo construction, original plans, repairs, and original funding. The gazebo was built in 1982 with grant funding received from the City. Neighborhood volunteers and HSPI have maintained the structure since that time, with most repairs funded and/or completed by HSPI and individual neighbors. In addition to the structural issues, the brickwork needs significant repairs, which HSPI parks committee members have been working on, seeking masonry bids and bricks. The brick repair work is on hold, pending resolution of the structural issues.
Water Main Replacements—City of Dayton surveyors have been observed throughout the neighborhood mapping conditions for Phase 3 of the replacement of aging water mains. Streets planned for Phase 3 include Adams St., Perrine St., Clover St., Park Dr., and Theobald (between Clover and Oak). No dates have been set for this work yet.
Committee Reports
Marketing and Communications -no report
Social-no report
Parks-no report
Membership-Kristina reported that memberships were up to around 90, thanks to recent social events with membership incentives and the fix of the online membership process. Krisina was recognized and thanked for her time and diligence in correcting the problems. The ability to sign up for recurring memberships will make next year much easier.
Anti-Crime-no report
Housing/Development-City of Dayton Housing Inspector Tim Bascom reviewed the status of housing code enforcement on specific properties of concern. He encouraged neighbors to reach out to our Dayton Police Liaison (Officer Josh Blankley- [email protected]) to report criminal activity at three properties with continued suspected illegal activity. South Park properties that received structural housing violation notices a year ago will be tagged for court soon, as their time for repair is nearly up. Tim estimates South Park has 17-35 properties that will be affected. The Dayton City Commission has directed Housing to complete a housing survey that includes photos of all four sides of every house in the City. Tim will begin this process on October 1st and will be in the backyards of most neighborhood properties to secure these photos. Neighbors are encouraged to use the Dayton Delivers app to report trash, abandoned cars, and blighted properties in the neighborhood.
Finance—Mark reviewed HSPI’s financial position in the absence of Treasurer Galen. Due to the cancellation of the Murder Mystery Tour and the lack of significant income from Shakespeare this year, HSPI has not reached its budgeted income for 2025. While we will likely finish in the red for the year, we are in a strong financial position. The budget for 2026 will look very different due to the low income experienced in 2025.
Preservation Dayton—Karin shared that Preservation Dayton is using City of Dayton Mini-Grant funding to promote select historic districts through mass mailings. A mailing for South Park is in progress and will be sent to a regional targeted demographic. South Park’s content was developed by HSPI Marketing Chair Willie Morris IV. Siebenthaler’s has partnered with PDI to donate 10% of pre-tax purchases to the individual historic district’s neighborhood association. Provide the code “SPH” when purchasing at Seibenthaler’s to benefit Historic South Park, Inc. Preservation Dayton is a membership organization and neighbors can join at www.preservationdayton.com.
New Business: Neighbors Trish and Joyce were introduced as the 2026 Social Committee Co-Chairs. They are looking forward to planning new, diverse events to build community in the neighborhood. The Marketing Committee volunteer who writes/distributes the e-newsletter and acts as webmaster will be stepping down at the end of the year after many years of volunteering. New individuals are needed to take over this responsibility.
Meeting Adjourned at 7:50 pm