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The Dayton Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Joseph T. Cline Awards. The Joseph T. Cline Awards Fund of The Dayton Foundation was established by his daughter, Carolynne H. Cline, in 1984 to honor City of Dayton employees who strive for excellence in their careers as public servants and in their civic contributions. A longtime supporter of Dayton, Joseph Cline was a British-born optometrist who founded, chaired and volunteered for many of Dayton’s civic organizations.
Cline’s granddaughter, Meredith A. Cline, presented the award certificates at the Dayton City Commission meeting on December 10, 2025. Recipients of the awards are:
Shannon Busch, office assistant II, Office of the City Manager;
Paul Fleischman, environmental compliance coordinator, Department of Water;
Carolyn Glover, business manager, Department of Information Technology;
Steve Junker, systems analyst II, Department of Information Technology;
Amber King, benefits associate I, Human Resources;
Wendy Mitchell, office manager, Human Relations Council;
Vanessa Moon, office manager, Department of Information Technology;
Aaron Thomas, firefighter/paramedic, Fire Department; and
Bryan Urban, parks and forestry district supervisor, Public Works.
The award amount varies each year, with recipients this year receiving $609.87 each. Since 1991, 249 city employees have been honored with this award for a total of $88,667 awarded to date.
“The Joseph T. Cline Awards Fund encourages excellence by city employees regardless of rank or position. As a testament to that, the 2025 recipients range from 2 to 33 in service years, with an amazing 94 total years of dedication to their jobs and their community,” said Kate Spencer, donor relations officer for The Dayton Foundation.
Citizens, as well as City of Dayton employees, may nominate individuals for this award. Applications for the 2026 award will be available in September 2026.