Dusty's
		  Installation Speech 
 
DUSTY RHODES
Hamilton County Auditor

Dusty Rhodes was re-elected to an eighth term as Hamilton County Auditor in 2018 almost two-to-one (65%) over his opponent, a margin of over 100,000 votes, the most of any candidate running countywide. In 1990 he became the first Democratic endorsed candidate to win a Hamilton County administrative office in two decades. He was re-elected every four years since and ran unopposed in 2002 and 2006. He plans to retire at the end of his present term in March 2023.
 
Previously he was a Delhi Township Trustee for twenty-one (21) years. He was also President of the Hamilton County Township Association for seven (7) years.
 
He served sixteen (16) years on the Board of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), chairing the Board for three (3) years. PERS is one of the nation's largest private pension plans with over $80 billion in assets. He became a licensed investment broker in 1968 and retired from the Cincinnati office of Paine Webber (now UBS) in 1999 after a twenty-one (21) year association.
 
A long-time Tri-State area radio personality, his oldies music programs air on WMKV, 89.3 and wmkvfm.org Sunday nights from 9pm to Midnight .and on WDTZ 98.1 in Delhi Township and Z98frm.com worldwide from 6pm to Midnight EST. His annual Christmas programs have been heard nationwide since the early 1990s.
 
In October 2009 he concluded a regular morning program on "Oldies 1160", WDJO, which he had been doing since 2006. Previously he did mornings on 1530-WSAI from 2003 to 2005. His top-rated Sunday night show was heard on WGRR from 1991 until 2002. Previously, he was on WLW, WKRC, and the original WSAI at 1360.
 
In 1964, he was one of the "Good Guys" sponsoring the Beatles' Cincinnati appearance during their first American tour, and in 1965 he was named "Cincinnati's Most Popular Disc Jockey" by "Billboard" magazine. In 2001 he was inducted into the Ohio Radio & TV Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
 
He has served on the Executive Committee of the County Auditors Association of Ohio, is a founding member of the Western Hills Community Service Club, is a member of the Cheviot-Westwood Kiwanis, and belongs to several civic and political organizations.
 
Among honors he was the Hamilton County Township Association County Public Servant of the Year in 1999 and the American Subcontractors Association of Cincinnati Public Official of the Year in 2000. In 2001 the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists honored his office with a second place award for the best public information website in the state. In 2019 the County Auditors Association of Ohio named him the Outstanding County Auditor in the state.
 
He was born in Syracuse, New York and is a graduate of Syracuse University's School of Speech and Dramatic Art.
 
He and his wife Jo Ann will celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary this year, have two sons, one grandson, and are members of the St. Vincent de Paul parish in Riverside.
 
April, 2022