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The Dayton Metro Library Needs Real Oversight, and more

Posted By David Esrati On In Culture of Corruption,Dayton Regionalism,Mike Turner Congressman | 2 Comments

Dayton Metro Library is tax-funded. The Board of Trustees [1]exists for one reason: oversight.

So explain this like adults:

That’s the “now.” But the “then” matters just as much, because trustees were warned.

Credit where it’s due

The letter that raises the most serious questions was first made public on Facebook by The Library Watcher [2]. I already had a copy, but they published it first, and that matters for the record.

The document trustees should have acted on in 2022

In an Oct. 19, 2022 letter to the board, former HR Director Roland Gonzales described serious concerns under Trzeciak’s leadership. The letter is broad, hiring process interference, equity issues, management dysfunction, but one section stands out because it involves money and a direct appearance of conflict.

The DPAA allegation: donation + spouse connection

According to Gonzales’ letter (as published), Trzeciak reportedly told leadership the library would be doing more work in the arts and was pledging a large financial donation to the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance (DPAA). Gonzales then says that a few days later Trzeciak shared that his husband (Michael Sieveking) had been named DPAA’s CIO [3], and Gonzales describes being concerned and hearing the library had to “get creative” to make the deal happen once the connection was raised.

That’s not “office drama.” That’s governance risk.

And it gets worse:

The in-kind allegation: free rooms, free support, policy change

Gonzales also describes being told by a staff member that Trzeciak instructed staff to provide free rooms and support to DPAA, rooms that were normally booked for a fee, followed by concerns about an internal push to eliminate the policy that governed the fee/booking process.

full disclosure, when the NATO dog and pony show came to Dayton, independent candidate for congress, Michael Harbaugh and I asked for and got use of the main auditorium to host a "Dayton Debates" [4] session for free courtesy of my request to Rachel Gut.

If that’s true, it’s not subtle:

Either way: where was the Board?

Trustees can’t claim they didn’t know

This is the part that matters politically and structurally:

Some trustees rotate in and out. Some have been there through the whole Trzeciak era. Nolan Thomas is one of the few names that shows up across the years, including as Board President later. Nolan Thomas is a prosecutor in Kettering Municipal Court [5].

You don’t get to be “oversight” and then act surprised when a leadership crisis arrives after multiple warning flags were raised.

If trustees received a letter alleging:

then trustees had two choices:

  1. investigate and document the findings, or
  2. do nothing and accept the risk.

Right now, based on what the public can see, it looks like option #2.

Fast forward: the “Interim” era and the blackout

Here’s what we know from the public paperwork:

So here is the question nobody wants to answer:

If Trzeciak is effectively replaced (even temporarily) as of Jan. 11, why has the library not put a simple status statement on the record?

“He’s interviewing” is not rumor

It also matters that Trzeciak was publicly participating in executive-search activity in 2025 (including being a candidate with a campus visit schedule visible on FIU’s provost site [6]).

People interview. That’s not a crime. But it makes succession planning and transparency more important, not less.

What the public should demand next: records, not vibes

If the DPAA allegation is a “smoking gun,” you don’t solve it with another anonymous post. You solve it by forcing sunlight onto the paper trail.

Here are the specific records the Board should release or that citizens like me, or The Library Watcher should request:

  1. All DPAA-related payments and pledges from the library or its affiliates (amounts, dates, approvals).
  2. All DPAA room bookings and any fee waivers, discounts, or “free use” arrangements (including who authorized each exception).
  3. The policy governing room fees/use during that period, plus all revisions and who proposed them.
  4. Any conflict-of-interest disclosures and Board minutes/resolutions related to DPAA.
  5. The document that makes Gut Interim Executive Director effective Jan. 11, 2026 (resolution, delegation memo, contract amendment).
  6. Trzeciak’s current employment status: active, leave, administrative leave, separated, and the effective date, plus any payout/benefits if applicable. Rumor is the board gave him a 3% raise.

Questions for Nolan Thomas and the trustees

If you want to end speculation, answer these in writing:

  1. When the Board received Gonzales’ letter in Oct. 2022, what investigation occurred, and what was concluded?
  2. Were DPAA donations, sponsorships, or in-kind benefits approved by the Board? If yes, where’s the documentation?
  3. Were any fee waivers or free room use for DPAA authorized? If yes, by whom and under what policy?
  4. What exactly happened on or around Jan. 11, 2026 that required an Interim Executive Director, and why won’t the Board say plainly what Trzeciak’s status is?

If the answer is “we can’t talk about personnel,” fine. Then talk about governance:

Because right now, the library looks less like a transparent public institution and more like another Dayton quasi-governmental system that expects citizens to fund it, and then look the other way.

If you read my op-ed in the Dayton Daily News last Sunday [7], this is yet another example of unnecessary duplication and cost. In Montgomery County alone, we have 3 library systems. Centerville Washington Township [8] and Oakwood [9]. That's 3 directors, 3 websites, all on the taxpayers backs. It's not that we need to end property taxes, we need to eliminate needless duplication. Also note, Nolan Thomas works for Kettering Municipal Court- with yet another director, website etc. This is why your taxes are so damn high.

I've seen the light!

Last Thursday night, I went to my first Butler County Democratic Party meeting [10]. It was well attended, it was 2 hours+ long, the presentations were professional and useful, and it was a warm welcoming environment (even though I was kindly asked not to video anything but my own presentation by the Chair- because they didn't want the Republican's to know what was going on).

I was only allotted 1 minute to speak, but people came up to me and said I was the most interesting candidate they'd heard in a long time (none of them knew me, or of me).

So what was different?

Everything!

This meeting was more like an old time tent revival meeting, talking about winning and what it takes to win. Organize, connect, knock doors, donate, make a difference through service in the community, acknowledge their top performers, and truly sing the gospel of what being a democrat is. When I talked with the Benfords (Tim and Alison) after, the founders of the similar South Dayton Democratic club, they said that the Butler County Dems were one of the first to adopt the Democrats 101 pledge. [11]

I told the group, that if we could clone their leader, Kathy Wyenandt [12], 87 times and put her in the seat of every county party, Ohio would be a blue state and proud of it. Her presentation on what the party is actively doing, and her organization of teams is the blueprint for helping dem candidates win. Note- I said Dem candidates, her track record is building (from her report) and here's the thing, over and over she said "We don't endorse in primaries"- something the Ohio Dem Party and the local parties can't figure out.

Compared to my experiences with the Montgomery County and Greene County Dems, this was energizing. No one was told to shut up, told they couldn't speak at a 4th of July picnic despite being the primary winner, [13] no ammunition for the republicans to send a mailer "So bad his own party won't endorse him" bs- and no fighting [14].

The Butler County Dems model the kind of party I've tried to convince the Montgomery County Dems to be forever. Meaningful, informative, welcoming, positive, trying to encourage people to run, to participate, to make a difference, to organize, to win.

The Montgomery Dems is run on the Friends and Family plan, with people in patronage jobs or relatives of elected officials, making the decisions for the rest of us- without recorded votes, attendance, or any of the things one would expect from an elected body with the power to name people to elected positions for all of us, and to run our elections.

If all the county parties were this organized and functional, state wide and national campaigns could just rely on the local infrastructure to win- instead of having to build out paid temp workers campaign offices.

Those Turner Donors

My campaign literature and research identified the numbers of billionaires backing Turner in previous elections. The total number is 31- when you count the spouses too. All of them donating the max for both the primary and the general.

What's missing you say? The fact that four of them are in the Epstein files. So far, Turner hasn't been asked or challenged to turn away the money like poor old Jon Husted had to. [15]

Turner's bad boy list is some of the heavyweights:
Confirmed / well-sourced “appears in Epstein-related records/reporting”

Reported, but source quality is weaker

Leonard Blavatnik — reported as appearing in “Epstein files” coverage, This is not solidly connected

The complete billionaire list as far as I can tell

31 unique donor-name entries that are billionaire principals and/or their spouses/variants:

I used to be able to say I don't even know a billionaire, but that is now untrue, a friend works for one, and I've had dinner with one of his daughters and she is now one too. And, no, I've not asked her for a donation. I've also met local adventurer and real estate tycoon Larry Connor briefly, in the lobby of Coco's and had a very brief interaction, so I guess I know two. I had been in the same room as Clay Mathile once, but never actually met him.

Most of Turner's money comes from outside Ohio and in $500 or greater chunks. As good journalists always say, "if you want to get to the bottom of any story, follow the money." So I do.

While I was writing this...

I don't have time to make a song, but one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs came on my Pandora channel. Michael Hedges version of Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" and it stopped me in mid-sentence.

For those of you who've never heard Michael Hedges, or of him, he was an incredible guitar player who recorder on the Windam Hill label in the eighties. Hedges was only 43 when he died in a car accident in 1997

And if you read this far, and you're interested in supporting my campaign for Congress, please do the following things:

Thank you.

If you enjoyed reading true breaking news, instead of broken news from the major media in Dayton, make sure you subscribe to this site for an email every time I post. If you wish to support this blog and independent journalism in Dayton, consider donating [19]. All of the effort that goes into writing posts and creating videos comes directly out of my pocket, so any amount helps! Please also subscribe to the Youtube channel [18] for notifications of every video we launch – including the livestreams.
2 Comments (Open | Close)

2 Comments To "The Dayton Metro Library Needs Real Oversight, and more"

#1 Comment By Donald Phillips On February 22, 2026 @ 6:32 pm @ 6:32 pm

People won’t reelect Mike Turner because his campaign is well funded. (Is there a Brinks truck parked next to the voting machine?) People will reelect Mike Turner because they know which side of their bread gets the butter. And all you have to offer is hogfat. Use some of your lard and make a humble pie.

#2 Comment By Melissa On February 22, 2026 @ 8:31 pm @ 8:31 pm

It looks like Donald Phillips is concocting a homemade delicacy for himself. Watch out it isn’t full of Republican pie crust promises – easily made, easily broken.

You can be sure Republicans know how to buy their way into the pockets of unsuspecting Americans and into the coffers of the government via political party graft, criminality, and corporate welfare.

Speaking of special things in life, Windham Hill Records is a fine company chock full of superb artists. Pianist George Winston’s body of work is a treasure. It appears a documentary is coming …

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Here’s an excellent example of David’s pick, Michael Hedges. Both George Winston and Michael Hedges have slipped into the ether, but their legacy lives on.

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