WASHINGTON, DC (October 1, 2018) – The Honorable Richard Church, Jr. Mayor City of Miamisburg, received Leadership in Public Service Award from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC).

The honor was presented at an awards ceremony on Monday, October 1, during the IEDC Annual Conference, which was held September 29 - October 3, in Atlanta, Georgia.

“On behalf of the IEDC board of directors and Honorary Awards Committee, we congratulate Mayor Richard for achieving this well-deserved recognition. His work has greatly enhanced the economic prosperity and quality of life for individuals and businesses in the communities she served. We can all aspire to emulate his successes and create meaningful changes in our own communities,” said Craig Richard, CEcD, FM, President and CEO, Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation located in Tampa, Florida, and 2018 IEDC Board Chair

The Leadership Award for Public Service recognizes an elected official who has been a committed advocate for economic development in the public sector for at least ten years.

Mayor Richard Church, Jr. has lived in the City of Miamisburg, Ohio his whole life. Once he had served one term on the Miamisburg City Council, he ran for Mayor in 1991, was elected and has since become the longest serving Mayor in Miamisburg’s history. After a dedicated 28 years and 7 terms, Mayor Church is retiring in 2019.

Mr. Church proved himself a dedicated and capable leader in economic development early on in his role as Mayor. Not long before he took office, the United States Department of Energy announced the decommissioning of the Mound Laboratory, an atomic energy facility in Miamisburg with over 2,500 employees and nearly $2 million annual income tax collections at its peak. With an empty site in dire need of a thorough environmental cleanup, Mayor Church created a coalition of elected officials and community leaders to lobby the Department of Energy to take responsibility for what it had left behind.

Over 15 years and a collective $1.1 billion in environmental cleanup later, the site was redeveloped through a new Community Development Corporation and now houses 16 businesses with 355 employees. Mayor Church’s persistence in helping create a new strategy for the Mound site has allowed it to once again become a major economic asset to the city. The “Mound Model” is seen as a best practice by the Department of Energy. Mayor Church has presented regularly at their conferences, and it has become his signature achievement as an elected official.

His vision for his community goes beyond Mound, however. Mayor Church has consistently worked to foster economic development opportunities within his community. One such project is the Austin Center interchange on Interstate-75, which Mayor Church realized early on would be a major growth opportunity for Miamisburg. When the Dayton region opened the new interchange in 2010, over 225 acres of Miamisburg land became viable for renewed economic development efforts. The support he was able to build in the region, including to create new infrastructure improvements adjacent to the interchange, played a huge role in the monumental success of the Austin Interchange and its impact on the city. Miamisburg has gained almost $55 million in private investment, three North American headquarter facilities, and an increase of more than 900 new jobs with over $60 million in annual payroll.

Mayor Church was also instrumental in the expansion of the Kettering Health Network, one of the Dayton region’s largest employers. In the 1990s, he worked with a small community hospital in Miamisburg to invest in a larger campus, including an administrative building that brought more than 300 jobs to the community. Since then, Mayor Church has continued his relationship with hospital leadership, and the network now has approximately 2,000 employees in Miamisburg.

Due to his active pro-growth leadership, Miamisburg’s economy, geographic size and population have all expanded. Mayor Church’s legacy will continue on in the success of the many development projects he helped attract to the city and surrounding area. With this in mind, the International Economic Development Council is pleased to present the 2018 Leadership for Public Service Award to the Honorable Richard Church, Jr.

About the International Economic Development Council

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) is the world's largest membership organization for economic development professionals. Economic developers promote economic well-being and quality of life in their communities by creating, retaining, and expanding jobs that facilitate growth and provide a stable tax base. From public to private, rural to urban, and local to international, our members represent the entire range of economic development. Learn more at iedconline.org.