A Pekin City Council member is in the running for the mayor’s seat in 2023.
Becky Cloyd has been a city council member for a year and a half and announced her run for mayor on Aug. 13.
Born and raised in Pekin, Cloyd’s family moved to Georgia when she was 12. Decades later, she returned to Pekin as the single mom of five daughters.
“The community reached out to me and helped me raise my girls and they were able to finish school,” said Cloyd. “I had the support of a community, even though I didn’t know everyone.”
She now runs her own small business, a personal training operation called Little by Little Fitness.
Cloyd said her priorities as mayor would be funding pensions, developing new strategic and comprehensive plans for the city and making infrastructure improvements, particularly to roads.
“I would like to see that take the front seat and be, you know, a change in our community,” she said. “Where people not only feel like their cars are not in danger of getting damaged, but they also feel like they’re proud of their community because the roads are good.”
As far as comprehensive and strategic planning and getting pensions funded, Cloyd cited her “relational approach” to leadership and varied experiences across her jobs, skills like real estate, church administration, counseling and small business management.
The city council recently approved a controversial new measure in response to a lawsuit regarding ADA accessibility issues. Residents have raised concerns over a new rule that will require them to clear snow from sidewalks before a certain amount of time, or face fines. Cloyd said these rules afford a lot of time to get snow cleared.
“Once the street is plowed, you have 48 hours to clean the sidewalk. If in that 48 hours, it's not done, you receive your first warning. It starts the clock again for 48 more hours,” she said. “So now we're two days, four days in, before you even get your second warning, still no fine.”
She said that fines only come after as many as six days and the city would offer volunteer help before it reaches that point. Fines start at $25 and max out at $75.
“Pekin has solid, committed people to this community,” said Cloyd. “I’m just surprised it hasn’t taken off more than it has. I see so much more for Pekin.”
As of this story being published, current Pekin Mayor Mark Luft had not responded to inquiries from WCBU on whether he will be seeking reelection in 2023. He has not made any public announcements on the topic.
