Incumbent Dave Nutter, who was re-elected Tuesday to the Pekin City Council, had some words of advice for Jake Fletcher and Peg Phillips, who also were elected.
"It's always good to get new faces on the council, but I learned it takes 18 months to get up to speed on how the city is operated," said Nutter, who has been on the council for six years following his appointment in 2019 and election in 2021.
Despite the lengthy learning curve, Fletcher and Phillips, each a longtime Pekin business owner, said they're ready to get to work after they're sworn in May 12.
Among Fletcher's early focuses will be exploring if an outside contractor for solid waste collection and recycling would be a cost savings for the city, devising a plan for road maintenance, reducing spending, and creating more housing in the city.
"The medical equipment plant coming to Pekin next year will create 100 new jobs," he said. "We need places in the city for those new employees and their families to live. Right now, we're lucky to have housing for 20 of those families. I'd be happy if we had housing for 50 of those families."
As for Pekin's roads, "I'll bet eight of 10 people who commented on my Facebook page after the election asked me what can be done with our roads," Fletcher said.
Fletcher said during the campaign that he'd like to see each road in the city be examined every three years.
This is a busy time for Phillips, a certified public accountant and owner of Phillips Tax Service in Pekin, with the April 15 tax deadline rapidly approaching.
So she issued a quick statement about the election and went back work to work.
"I'm grateful for the faith the voters placed in me and I'm looking forward to jumping in head first with both feet as soon as I get through this tax season and back from my after-tax season break," she said.
Nutter said he'll continue to look into the complicated winter averaging process for sewer bills that equalizes payments through the year.
"I'm sure most residents don't understand winter averaging," he said. "I'd like to know if the city would be be better off to eliminate it?"
Nutter thinks it's possible the new council will give residents an opportunity to vote on whether or not Pekin should remain a home-rule community after they learn about the pros and cons of being a home-rule community.
Fletcher said he didn't go door-to-door or make any phone calls during the election.
He said he knew that went against conventional wisdom.
Instead, he said, he relied on the customers and other relationships he's made as a 36-year business owner (Pekin Downtown Auto Sales and Striketown Bowl & Bar) to help him win the election. The strategy worked.
The turnout for Tuesday's election was 17.8%. Even though the number seems low, it exceeded Nutter's expectations.
"I thought the turnout would be around 10-12% because it was an 'off-year' election," he said, meaning there were no statewide or federal elections on the ballot.
To help voter turnout in the future and better educate the public about candidates for the Pekin City Council, Nutter said, he'd like to see at least three candidate forums held.
"The two forums we had for this election cycle were well-attended, and there were a lot of views of the forums online and on social media," he said.
Here are the results of Tuesday's council election (with unofficial results). Six candidates competed for three seats:
- Nutter: 1,646
- Fletcher: 1,639
- Phillips: 1,539
- Matthew Johnson: 1,402
- Chris Onken: 1,378 (appointed to the council in 2024)
- Chris Hogue: 908
Here's the makeup of the new council, which will be seated May 12:
- Mayor Mary Burress (term expires in 2027)
- Karen Hohimer (term expires in 2027)
- John Abel (term expires in 2027)
- Rick Hilst (term expires in 2027)
- Nutter (re-elected Tuesday)
- Fletcher (elected Tuesday)
- Phillips (elected Tuesday)
Council member Lloyd Orrick did not run for re-election.