Recently, Pekin City Manager John Dossey learned a contractor hired by the city has delinquent property tax issues with Pekin and Tazewell County.
With that discovery in mind, city officials have launched an effort to ensure companies that bid for city work in the future don't have similar issues, and risk contract termination if they get into trouble.
"Companies must be in good standing and remain in good standing," Dossey said at the council's meeting on Monday.
A draft ordinance will be presented to the city council Oct. 27.
City attorney Jim Vasselli and Josh Wray, the city's economic development director, listed for council members some other issues that are red flags for a contractor.
They include not having legal corporate status, bankruptcy, city code violations, violations of state and federal laws, and property tax issues in other communities and counties.
Police chief Seth Ranney said Pekin's ordinance will deal with contracts for future work, not existing ones.
"We don't want to go backwards," he said.
Rebranding or road maintenance?
Also Monday, the council approved a new Pekin brand and strategic plan.
The vote for the rebranding was 4-3; it was 6-1 for the strategic plan. Council member Jake Fletcher voted no on both items.
"I've said all along that I'm not in favor of spending taxpayer money on rebranding before we had a road maintenance plan in place," he said.
"I maintain that stance on everything that comes before me. I want to see the issues that were debated during the election campaign being worked on. I would much rather see the money being spent on rebranding going towards roadwork."
Fletcher said he looks at each item on the council's agenda and asks himself if it will benefit the majority of Pekin residents.
"To me, average residents don't care about rebranding or our strategic planning. They care about the roads they drive on everyday, and the taxes they have to pay," he said.
Rick Hilst and Dave Nutter also voted "no" on the rebranding.
Council member Peg Phillips said she and other council members know residents are concerned about the roads in town.
"We haven't forgotten about the roads. We'll get them fixed," she said. "It'll take some time and money to figure it out."
In other business
Also at Monday's meeting, the council:
• Approved the low bid of 12.91 cents per kilowatt hour from Direct Energy Services for the city's electricity supply aggregation program. Direct Energy's price will be in effect from May 2, 2026 through May 1, 2027. Residents and small businesses can opt out of the program and seek their own electricity supplier.
• Authorized purchasing 14 replacement police squad car laptops for $47,823 from SHI International, and 10 replacement desktop computers and six replacement laptops for $26,710 from Dell; and spending $41,815 to continue the city's yearly maintenance agreement for Adobe Acrobat and Creative Cloud software.
• Approved an agreement with Illinois American Water Company to reimburse the city nearly $470,000 for the replacement of IAWC's water main under Court Street between 8th and 10th streets. The work is being done by William Charles Construction of Rockford as part of the Court Street rehabilitation project.
