Cincinnati’s first-ring suburbs face unique challenges. Changing demographics, economic stability, and issues regarding resources and security are common threads among these jurisdictions.
The ways the 49 Hamilton County cities, villages, townships, and municipal corporations not only adjust but thrive is the focus of this series, First Suburbs—Beyond Borders. The series explores the diversity and ingenuity of these longstanding suburban communities, highlighting issues that demand collective thought and action to galvanize their revitalization.
Before she was elected to the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners in 2018, Stephanie Summerow Dumas served on the front lines in two of the county’s first-ring suburbs. In Forest Park, she served as mayor for six years and as vice mayor for six years before that. In Lincoln Heights, she was the village manager from 2011 to 2015.
After more than 15 years in small-town politics and governance, she made history when she was elected Hamilton County’s first Black commissioner, upsetting a longtime Republican incumbent in 2018. She made history again in 2021 when she was named the first Black person to be elected president of the county board of commissioners.
With her leadership experience in county government and at two of the county’s inner suburbs, we wanted to interview her about the issues facing the small towns and their residents.
As someone who's been a leader of first-suburb communities, how would describe the state of these towns in Hamilton County?
I would say too much autonomy and not enough unity. Everybody wants to do their own thing, which is okay, because every community is unique, but at some point we all need to band together for a specific purpose. The legislature is looking at whether or not villages and townships should even exist. And people are afraid of that, and I think they should be, but they need to be great gatekeepers of their money and also make sure that they're doing all the things that the people in those villages and townships want.
What is one over-arching need these communities have?
Shared services would be a big deal. They're doing their own snow removal or their own street repairs, and maybe they could combine some of the projects, and maybe even combine the money or even the expertise that's doing it.
Are there any state or county reforms that could help the first suburbs?
I don't think there's enough oversight of the villages and townships. I'm not saying be big brother, but we should know before they get to the point of financial failure. Like Mount Healthy, they were given $11 million to keep them from going into emergency status. They're trying to do it now with cuts and maybe another levy.
I think (small towns) are a little afraid to let anybody outside of that community know they need help, even with training, or expertise. The county does provide technical assistance in anything that you might need, but I think they don’t ask because it may expose or unveil something that's going on in those particular places.
What county programs could they tap into?
I believe Hamilton County has some of the most skilled staff people available in any area -- community development, environmental -- any area you can think of that a village would encounter. We have people on our administrative staff that I would without hesitation recommend to go and speak to about writing grants, MSD issues, all of that.
How could communities take advantage of the demand for housing that people can afford?
Unfortunately, not all the villages and townships want affordable housing, and most of the infrastructure that's coming up now is luxury apartments. We have a million dollars that my colleagues agreed to allocate for tiny homes, for veterans primarily and for homeless. But I have yet to see the first one, and I just want that money to be utilized. There's really not a good model for tiny homes, but there are lots of tiny homes going on all over the country, and we need to move expeditiously to make sure we get them started, because the money is there now.
With all the cutbacks happening at the federal level now, what’s the impact here?
I abstained on a vote recently on a resolution to spend $1.25 million for large-event grants
like the music festival, the Flying Pig and all of that. We started supplementing them through their ARPA money four years ago. So I was saying, how long are we going to continue to supplement them? They're great, but they're going to, at some point, have to downsize a little bit and still have their event. I want to put something in the coffers in case we needed to feed people or to house people, or for mental health. But they voted that it should continue.
Will these federal cuts affect the first suburbs?
The writing is on the wall. It's going to affect all of us. And I'm not afraid. I have no fear about it
, but we have a chance to be proactive. Some people don't believe it until they see it. Hopefully, we'll get through. We don't want to have to do any layoffs. But there's no way it won't trickle down to the suburbs.
The county has a financial reserve, correct?
We have a reserve, but I want to increase it, because this could impact our nonprofits. If the nonprofits can't do what they need to do here, it's going to be on us to try to make sure people can eat or whatever.
What’s the possible impact on residents?
I want our people to think about, how do you need to spend differently. Not any sort of fear factor, but just get some reserves in your own home, personally. Maybe if you go out to eat four days a week, maybe just go out two. I just want us to be observant of the times, and wisdom is the operative factor. With wisdom you get understanding. I know it's going to be a little bit of a tough road ahead, but tough roads make you stronger.
The First Suburbs—Beyond Borders series is made possible with support from a coalition of stakeholders including the Murray & Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation - The Seasongood Foundation is devoted to the cause of good local government; Hamilton County Planning Partnership; plus First Suburbs Consortium of Southwest Ohio, an association of elected and appointed officials representing older suburban communities in Hamilton County, Ohio.
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