Washington city administrator resigns; construction of $2.3 million police evidence building is back on track

Washington lost its city administrator and gained a police evidence storage building on Monday.

Jim Snider voluntarily stepped down as city administrator before his contract expired April 30, 2025. The city council approved Snider's separation agreement and accepted the low base bid of $2,337,400 for construction of a police evidence storage building from Peoria-based P.J. Hoerr.

The vote on each action was 5-2, with council members John Blundy and Lili Stevens casting the no votes. Council member Brian Butler did not attend the meeting.

Before council's vote on Snider's separation agreement, a motion by Blundy for the council to go into closed session to discuss personnel failed because of a lack of a second.

With Snider leaving, Washington will be looking for its sixth city administrator since 2015. Tim Gleason resigned that year to become Decatur's city manager.

Richard Downey, Jim Culotta, Ray Forsythe and now Snider were hired as city administrator and have resigned since then.

Snider was hired as Washington's city administrator in 2021. He'd been the county administrator for Rock Island County since 2018, and previously was the administrator for Stephenson County and the Kewanee city administrator.

"Thank you, Jim. It's been a pleasure working with you," council member Mike Brownfield said to Snider at the end of Monday's council meeting.

Snider said "Thank you" to Brownfield, then Snider and Mayor Gary Manier each issued a statement in a news release following the meeting.

"Thank you to Mayor Manier and the council for the opportunity to serve the citizens of Washington for the last three years," Snider said. "I'm especially going to miss our department heads. Each one is the finest I've had the privilege of working with in my 27-year career. I'm looking forward to the next chapter of my life."

Manier said the city and Snider "determined it's in the best interests of the city and Mr. Snider to agree to a voluntary separation from employment ... the city thanks Mr. Snider for his services as city administrator."

Here are the highlights of Snider's six-page separation agreement:

• He will continue to work until he's placed on paid administrative leave from Aug. 30 through Feb. 3, 2025. While he's on administrative leave, he'll receive his regular pay and benefits, plus an additional $100.
• On Feb. 3, Snider will receive an additional $38,579 lump sum payment.
• In exchange for those considerations, Snider agreed not to file legal claims against the city, mayor, current and former council members and staff and others connected to the city.
• The agreement isn't an admission by the city that it acted wrongfully against Snider.

Snider's salary for the 2024-25 fiscal year is $161,500.

Manier will serve as the acting city administrator until a new one is hired, according to city code.

The council's approval of P.J. Hoerr's bid to construct the police evidence storage building is the latest twist in a long story.

On June 17, the council voted 5-3 to reject a request by city staff to add $600,000 to the line item for the construction of the evidence storage building in the city's 2024-25 budget.

Because of the rejection, the council didn't vote on the awarding of a construction contract and it was thought the evidence storage building project would be rebid.

So what changed in two months?

Council members were warned in a memo from Dewberry Architects, the project architect, that rebidding the construction contract could result in higher bids, and City Engineer Dennis Carr informed council members the construction cost now will be spread over two fiscal years [2024-25 and 2025-26].

The remainder of the funding for the project will come from state and federal grants.

Washington Police Chief Mike McCoy recommended the council approve the bid from P.J. Hoerr instead of the low bid of $2,376,900 from Peoria Metro Construction to include seamless epoxy systems on the floor and walls.

Blundy asked McCoy why the Peoria Metro bid wasn't being recommended because city staff had advocated for the epoxy systems.

"Because we need an evidence storage building. We've been working on this for five years. If we have to sacrifice epoxy floors to get this done, I'm fine with that," McCoy said.

City staff will work with P.J. Hoerr to see if there are ways to lower the cost of the building that will be build on green space just west of the Washington Fire Station.

The police department formerly stored its evidence in a building it shares with the city's Public Works Department. After a fire in that building in February, the evidence has been stored in a building the city rents in East Peoria.

The Washington Historical Society's request for reimbursement from the city for renovations the Historical Society needed to make to its headquarters building because of the construction of a downtown square restaurant could come before the council for a first reading on Sept. 3.

That information was in Planning and Development Director Jon Oliphant's report to the council on Monday.

Oliphant also said one of the items the Historical Society has on its list of expenses, window removal and wood framing installation, hasn't been completed but should be done soon.

As a result, the Historical Society's reimbursement request will be divided into two payments, Oliphant said.

The first payment will be for the renovations that have been completed and the second payment will be for the window removal and wood framing installation. Copies of paid invoices must submitted for all the items, Oliphant said.

The Historical Society asked the city for the reimbursement because of problems the community organization says were caused by a variance that allowed the restaurant to be two stories instead of one story.

The Historical Society also is seeking reimbursement from La Salle-based CL Real Estate, the developer of the Grist Mill restaurant, for damages done to its headquarters building during construction.

Washington police officers made contact a handful of times with an unhoused person in the 2100 and 2200 blocks of Washington Road who likely was attempting to live in a storage unit in the vicinity, Police Chief Mike McCoy reported Monday to the council.

McCoy said a relative of the person was contacted by police and came down from Chicago to offer assistance.

"We had contact with two other unhoused persons recently," McCoy said. "That's an unusual number for us for a short time. We don't know if this is a statistical blip or a trend."

In other police news reported to the council by McCoy:

• Washington officers used a Taser to help capture a man who said he was suicidal and armed with a handgun. The man told officers to shoot him. Medics took the man to a hospital to receive mental health treatment.
• The police department has openings for two sergeants. The Police Supervisor Selection Committee will receive a list of recommended candidates for the positions.

City Engineer Dennis Carr said Monday in his report to the council that the city has requested that Catherine Street remain passable for residents during a road construction project.

"While it's difficult at times, Stark is doing its best to make it happen," Carr said, referring to Bloomington-based Stark Excavating.

There's been several changes to the project, Carr said, but "everyone has been working well together to make these changes on the fly."

Carr also reported that Freedom Parkway is on track to be open to traffic by mid-September.