Recently elected Peoria township and city officials were sworn into office Tuesday night at city hall.
Several familiar faces including mayor Jim Ardis, city clerk Beth Ball, five returning council members and other officials took the oath.
There are two new men on the city council. Zach Oyler is an at-large councilman and Denis Cyr, after winning the fifth district race by a single vote, now sits at the council horseshoe.
Cyr says one priority is to look at new sources of income for the city. “I want to try to expand our revenue in the fifth district, bring new businesses and work with whoever I can work with at the city, city hall and all the small
businesses.”
Cyr says the fifth district has plenty of land for business growth, and business growth in his district is new money for the entire city.
New at-large member Zach Oyler agrees. He says the primary focus must be economic development. “Without more tax revenue and without more business coming into create jobs, we’re really going to struggle as a community going forward. And so we’ve gotta have a critical eye on how we’re going to improve that, how we’re going to make it more flexible for businesses to come in, how we’re going to keep the ones we have.”
Oyler also wants to increase city efforts to preserve older neighborhoods.
Cyr adds, after hearing many complaints from citizens during the campaign, he will also attempt to improve the condition of roads in the city.
Peoria Township Supervisor Frank Abdnour and township assessor Max Schlafley also stepped into their respective offices.