Minnesota and North Dakota Voter's Guide

Forum Communications Co., in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Minnesota and of North Dakota, is providing this voter guide to help keep you informed ahead of the 2024 election.

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Voter Guide

Dayton City Mayor

The role of city mayor can vary from city to city. However, the mayor is usually the head of the city and may represent the city in front of other government bodies. A mayor also usually has a role in proposing a city budget that is approved by the city council. The budget influences the services the city provides to its residents. Mayors sometimes are voting members of city council, and in some cities the mayor is in charge of city council meetings. Why voting for mayor is important: https://www.lwv.org/blog/voting-local-matters-why-you-should-vote-mayor

Click a candidate icon to find more information about the candidate. To compare two candidates, click the "compare" button. To start over, click a candidate icon.

  • Candidate picture

    Dennis Fisher
    (NP)

  • Candidate picture

    Matt Trost
    (NP)

Biographical Information

Why are you the best candidate for this position? (750 characters)

If elected, what will your top three priorities be and why? (500 characters)

If elected, what strategies will you use to ensure transparency, accountability and ethical conduct in city government under your leadership? (500 characters)

How will you engage with residents to solicit feedback, involve them in decision-making processes, and ensure their voices are heard? (500 characters)

How will you approach public safety and community policing to ensure the well-being of all residents? (500 characters)

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As a 50-year resident, I know Dayton’s history.

Elected to the council in 2018, I watched as that council never questioned any spending in spite of Dayton’s notoriously high tax rate. Elected mayor in 2020, we lowered the rate from 55% to 36% while increasing the staff to resident ratio and tripling the amount of revenue going to roads. i.e. we lowered the tax rate while increasing services.

We have lowered regulations for residents, added a water treatment facility (coming this spring!), and greatly improved Elsie Stephen’s park (to name a few accomplishments).

My opponent said he never would have cut those taxes. Given the city's recent survey, he's not listening to residents.

I am running to ensure the residents are heard.
We finally have taxes to a sane level (54% down to 36%) and while I hope the residents keep a council in place that won’t let it get out of hand again, keeping an eye on it and driving it down when we’re able will continue to be a top priority. Priority #2 will be to find ways to improve the quality of new developments. And finally, priority #3 will be making sure residents are heard. The latest survey clearly indicates residents want value for their taxes.
One of the complaints I hear from people is they aren’t made aware of the activity going on at city hall. For this reason, I send out a full analysis of each agenda item after each council meeting. I give my reasoning behind every vote and encourage people to give me feedback. I also continue to find ways to keep residents up to date. In addition, over the past couple of years we’ve taken action to minimize conflicts of interest or improper use of government power when it’s come up.
In addition to the information I send after each council meeting, I also have a lot of topics on my website that residents can access to better understand topics such as how property taxes are calculated, how TIF works, etc. I am very active in community events to improve my availability to the residents. I also tend to let residents speak during agenda items where it's appropriate.
In the past couple of years, we’ve significantly increased the number of police officers Dayton has. Due to the perceived increase in speeding, residents like to see our officers out patrolling. In addition to the police increase, we’ve also significantly increased the fire department’s budget recently. 3 years ago, we had no fulltime employees. We now have a full time chief and assistant chief. And if our staff is correct about funding, we may be adding more full time with the 2025 budget.
Campaign Website http://mattfordayton.com
Campaign Email matt4dayton@gmail.com
A Mayor needs to be a leader looking to benefit the entire community. We need a leader that can work with other city council members and staff. We need a leader that sees the value in investing in our people, community and public safety measures.
Ensuring we have the recommended number of police officers in the city. Currently there are still times with only have 1 officer on duty which isn't safe for the community or the officer.

Working with our paid on call firefighters to find ways to help alleviate the time requirement needed. We have seen a significant increase in calls over the past few years, meaning more time away from families for our firefighters.

Continuing to work to ensure that all residents have the same quality water.
This is an important topic. I think we should have leaders that ask hard question, that give real thought to matters and do not make assumptions. I believe we need a code of conduct for the Mayor/Council and the commissions.

Previous to me being on the council, the only ways to stay informed were either through a city specific video watcher or through an editorialized recap from a council member. I lead an initiative to get the get all recorded meetings on YouTube.
There are multiple ways to engage with residents. I make it a point to get out city events to make myself available. I can also be reached via email and phone and make it a point to read and respond to emails that I receive in a timely manner.

When running for office, I make it a point to personally go out and knock on as many doors as I can. My goal is to get to 90% of the homes in Dayton. I want to hear what you love about Dayton and what concerns you may have.
I am the only candidate that is has continually supported hiring the recommended number of Police and Fire personal year after year. I found ways to hiring the staff recommended without raising the tax rate. Our city more than double in size form 2018 to 2022 (before I was on council) and during that time we added one more headcount to the police department.

Voters can see the difference in our approaches by watching the "City Council Budget Work Session 8-12-2024" on the City's YouTube site,
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The League of Women Voters of Minnesota and North Dakota crafted the questions sent to the candidates in the Spring of 2024. They reached out to candidates based on contact information in their public candidate filings. Candidates with email addresses were invited and reminded with emails. Candidates with only mailing addresses were sent a letter. Candidates with phone numbers received a phone call as well.

Candidate responses are published as they responded and have not been edited, except when responses were longer than the given character limit. In those cases, the responses are truncated.

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