Pekin has put the brakes on renewing its annual contract with CityLink for public transportation services.
With no CityLink representatives in attendance at this week's Pekin City Council meeting, the council delayed a renewal decision until July 27, when it should get a chance to talk to CityLink staff.
Council members lobbed several criticisms in CityLink's direction.
"There's a lot we have to discuss," said Dave Nutter. "I have a laundry list of things that need to improve."
"I really want to speak with the CityLink people," said Karen Hohimer.
"I asked for some information from CityLink last year, and they've refused to provide it," said Rick Hilst. "That's left a bad taste in my mouth."
The subject of most of the council members' ire was CityLink's downtown Pekin bus stop.
"They need to clean the oil that's on the street there," Nutter said.
Mayor Mary Burress said she contacted CityLink a year ago about removing the oil, and nothing has been done.
"It looks pitiful," she said.
John Abel said he believes homeless people who camp out at the bus stop most of the day — including those who arrive on buses — are deterring some Pekin residents from using the bus service or at least making them leery.
"It looks bad for downtown Pekin, in front of the courthouse. Those people hang out there all day," he said. "Are those people bringing anything else into town that we don't want? Just asking."
Under the current agreement, CityLink provides bus service from 7:45 a.m. to 5:40 p.m. Monday through Friday along three routes: a Pekin-Peoria connector that runs 12 times per day and two Pekin routes that run 11 times per day.
Also, CityLink maintains the buses that are used and offers a complimentary ADA paratransit service within 3/4 of a mile of each of the three routes.
The city is responsible for the maintenance of the bus stops and pays CityLink up to $210,000 annually. Pekin paid CityLink $157,500 for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
CityLink says there are about 100,000 rider trips in Pekin annually — a number Nutter questioned — and the Pekin-Peoria connector is on time about 78% of the time while the Pekin North and South routes are on time 90% of the time.
Josh Wray, Pekin's economic development director, said CityLink representatives were not able to attend this week's council meeting because of another meeting commitment, and the staff member who normally attends Pekin council meetings left the bus company Friday.
More body cameras
City building inspection and code enforcement personnel will wear body cameras purchased from the same company that provides body cameras for the Pekin Police Department.
"The cameras will enhance employee safety, improve transparency during field inspections, document interactions with contractors and the public, preserve evidence when code violations are encountered, and reduce liability for the city," said Nic Maquet, the city's chief building official.
The approximately $40,240 camera package purchase over five years from Arizona-based Axon Enterprise approved this week by the council includes eight cameras, cloud-based evidence storage and management software, training, warranty coverage and technical support.
Cell phone evidence
In other action at this week's meeting, the council:
- Approved the city's annual contract with Magnet Forensics for its GrayKey software. GrayKey is a law enforcement-only forensics tool that extracts digital evidence from cell phones. Pekin Police Chief Seth Ranney said information was downloaded from more than 100 cellphones by his officers using GrayKey over the past year. Thousands of staff hours were saved, Ranney said. Cost of the contract is nearly $20,600.
- Approved the city's annual $25,000 contribution to the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council, a regional organization that serves Tazewell, Peoria, Woodford, Mason and Logan counties. The vote was 4-2, with Jake Fletcher and Hilst casting the "no" votes.
- Approved an agreement with Kansas-based CivicPlus to use its DocAccess software. DocAccess converts PDF documents to searchable, accessible HTML transcripts. The HTML versions of documents will improve public access to city records and bring the city into compliance with new federal and state digital accessibility requirements, said City Clerk Nicole Stewart.
- Approved an $85,000 purchase of a new spray-patch vehicle, the lowest of three quotes. The city's current vehicle is 20 years old and "needs repairs every week," Grimm said, but it will be used occasionally if needed.
- Approved the sale of about 430 square feet of city-owned property at 7 Kenmore Court to Randi Linton, whose driveway is located on that portion of the property. The property was purchased by the city as part of the Court Street reconstruction project and the home there was demolished. The city and Linton will share closing costs, estimated at less than $500.
- Approved an annual renewal of software maintenance with the California-based Environmental Systems Research Institute. ESRI software houses the city's GIS mapping. The renewal cost of $45,000 is the same as the 2025-26 fiscal year.
- Tabled until July 27 a city staff request to look into vacating a portion of city-owned right-of-way located in the vicinity of David and Melvina streets.
