The gloves came off Thursday as the six candidates running for three open seats on the Pekin City Council made what could be their final pitches to voters with the April 1 election less than three weeks away.
The occasion was a candidate forum held in the Community Room at the Pekin Public Library. About 100 residents that filled the room listened for nearly two hours to candidates' responses to questions they had not seen.
Caterpillar retiree Dave Nutter, who has been on the council for six years following his appointment and election, is running for re-election.
Pekin Community High School teacher and coach Chris Onken, who was appointed to the council in January 2024, is running for election.
Council member Lloyd Orrick is not running for re-election.
The other candidates are Jim (Jake) Fletcher, Matthew Johnson, Chris Hogue and Peg Phillips.
Fletcher is the owner of Pekin Downtown Auto Sales and Striketown Bowl & Bar in North Pekin.
Johnson is an engineering project leader for Caterpillar.
Hogue is a Pekin firefighter.
Phillips is a CPA and the owner of Phillips Tax Service in Pekin.
Johnson and Fletcher were critical Thursday of recent council actions and the council's decision-making process on spending issues.
Johnson ran for a council seat two years ago, but was not elected. He said he's the candidate voters need to elect this time.
"The balance of power shifted on the council two years ago. And for two years, the council has been fiscally irresponsible," he said, referring to 4-3 votes that have frequently passed financial measures.
"Fiscal responsibility and common sense need to be the status quo," Johnson said. "We're a small community. We need to start acting like one."
The 4-3 votes Johnson was referring to have Mayor Mary Burress, council members John Abel and Karen Hohimer and Onken on one side and council members Rick Hilst, Nutter and Orrick on the other side.
Johnson said he disagreed with the city's purchases of the Davison-Fulton-Woolsey Funeral Home just south of City Hall and 1,000-acre Lutticken Farm property, saying on the latter that the city overpaid for it.
The price tag for Lutticken Farms was $14 million, paid over four fiscal years, for land city officials say is in an investment in Pekin's future, with the planned Veterans Drive expansion to Interstate 474.
Fletcher also said the price tag for the Lutticken Farms property was too high.
"We paid $14 million for a gulley," he said.
With the city facing a $70 million state pension crisis, Johnson thinks the city should offer incoming employees retirement benefits like the 457(b) deferred compensation plan that's available for local government employees.
Fletcher said it's time for the city to be run like a business, with council votes determined by the standard of something is a want or a need.
"I know I'll approach my votes as if I'm deciding something for my own businesses," he said.
Fletcher took aim at a 5% utility tax enacted by the council in April of last year. He said that's the main reason why he's running for council.
"The city needs more transparency," he said. "Most of the people I spoke with after the tax was passed had no idea about it or why it was needed. We need to get feedback from the public and look into what can be cut before we start raising taxes."
Hogue agreed about the need for increased transparency for the city. He said the city should make an investment in transparency by hiring someone whose job is to constantly push information out to the public.
Johnson said he'd like to have conversations with residents just before each council meeting to discuss what's on the council agenda that night.
Fletcher elicited some positive murmurs from the crowd when he said the city needs to do something about the Avanti's Dome, which has not been rebuilt since it deflated after sustaining wind damage from a storm in 2021.
"I don't want the city to own the dome, but we need to reach out to the owners," he said. "If we get that open again, it will bring so many visitors to the city."
Fletcher also said he'd like to see every street in the city get inspected every three years, and every local business get an occasional cordial visit from the city.
"I've had two businesses in Pekin for more than 30 years. Nobody from the city has ever checked on me," he said. "My bowling alley is in North Pekin. The mayor there and I talk frequently."
Here are other notable quotes from the candidates:
• Phillips: "We're headed into unprecedented times with the loss of federal funding. Everyone will need to work together to get us through these times."
• Phillips: "One of the reasons I ran is because of the complaints I've heard about the city's code enforcement. I got a ticket for having my garbage cans stored in the wrong place. I've heard from landlords who are frustrated about having to pay for the actions of their tenants."
• Hogue: "Sure, there are some votes I'll have to abstain on votes because I'm a firefighter. But if the city is buying a new fire truck, that doesn't benefit me."
• Hogue: "The council's first priority is to take care of what we have."
• Hogue: "Residents over politics."
• Nutter: "Are we making money running the schools' bus department? I'm not convinced about that. I never have been."
• Nutter: "For those who will be elected ... you need 18 months to find out how the city is run."
• Onken: "I was against the utility tax at first (and the garbage and wastewater fee increases also approved that night). But after I studied those items, they were things we needed to do."
• Onken: "We've had as many as 33 vacant buildings downtown. Now there are 11. That's great."
• Onken: "Some of our fire stations are in deplorable shape. We need to keep the people safe who keep us safe."
The forum was a collaboration between the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce, Dirksen Congressional Center in Pekin, League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria, WCBU Peoria Public Radio and the library.
Chris Kaergard, communications manager and associate historian at the Dirksen Center, was the moderator.
Voters wishing to watch the entire forum can do so on the Chamber of Commerce and LWV websites.
While the election is April 1, early voting has been held since Feb. 20.
