Dayton community organizer Darryl Fairchild, a local minister, announced Friday that he will run for Dayton City Commission in 2013, while Joey Williams says he will seek a fourth term.

“I’ve seen how great our city can be,” said Fairchild, 46, a Democrat. “We can continue to make Dayton a great place to live and raise a family, by creating new jobs, improving our schools and strengthening our community.”

Williams said he is pleased with the progress that the city has made since his last re-election bid in 2009. “I’m really happy because we’re in a much better place than we were then,” he said. “We’ve implemented fiscal discipline, and when we make cuts, they are very targeted. We have achieved improvements in our credit rating and we have been keeping up services where other cities have been reducing them.”

The other open commission seat is being vacated by Nan Whaley who is running for mayor against Mayor Gary Leitzell and former judge and county auditor A.J. Wagner.

Fairchild said running for commission seemed “the next logical step” after a long history of involvement in the community, most recently as a field coordinator for Sharen Neuhardt’s failed bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton. He is also the newly-appointed pastor of Old Town Methodist Church in Xenia.

Fairchild and his wife, Kim Armentrout, have a 2-year-old daughter, Maya. “Throughout my life I’ve witnessed how the people of Dayton overcome challenges and adversity,” Fairchild said.

Fairchild knows about adversity. He has been in a wheelchair since a 1992 bicycle accident in Denver while training for a triathlon. “It has given me empathy and the skills to overcome obstacles,” he said.

Fairchild said that too many Dayton children are living in poverty and he hopes to create a brighter future for them by creating more programming for youth, revitalizing blighted neighborhoods and “balancing our priorities between downtown and economic development with the quality of life for our neighborhoods.”

Williams said he’s excited about a fourth term and hopes to continue his efforts to reduce crime and gun violence. “That’s an increasingly important priority, especially with what’s going on nationally,” he said.

In 2011, former Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin became the first of the three candidates who have now declared for the commission race. Since that announcement, McLin has joined the Montgomery County Board of Elections —a position she would have to leave in order to run for city commission. She could not be reached for comment Friday.

Candidates have until March to file the required signatures to make the ballot. If more than four candidates make the ballot for the commission, or more than two candidates make the ballot for mayor, there will be a May primary. The four top vote-getters then move on to the November election in the commission race, the top two would move ahead for mayor.