Pekin mayor

Pekin City Council members have struggled with their iPads. They've often been unable to reply to emails. The purchase of seven laptop/tablets for nearly $19,000 will hopefully solve the problems.

The city's residential Tax Increment Financing program allows people who build new homes in certain districts to get the cost of their lot paid back over 10 years through the increased property taxes the new home generates.

The proposed data center project in Pekin isn't dead. The legal process that would void the contract between the city and developer and result in the data center's demise still must play out.

The Pekin City Council is expected to vote on a legal end to its proposed agreement with data center developer Western Hospitality Partners at its next meeting March 23.

Pekin will no longer consider having a data center built in the community. Mayor Mary Burress made the announcement Monday in a statement she read at a city council meeting.

Pekin Mayor Mary Burress took time out from calling 2025 the city's breakout year in her "State of the City Address" to assure residents that a data center project is still in the exploratory stage.

Pekin's annexation of the majority of the 1,000-acre Lutticken property from Groveland Township left township officials with more questions than answers.

City property on Court Street that's located in one of Pekin's busiest commercial areas but is currently being used as a stormwater facility, has been sold to a developer for $100,000.

The 1,000-acre Lutticken property belongs to Pekin. Mayor Mary Burress announced Monday the city had closed earlier in the day on its $14 million purchase of the property.

The Pekin City Council on Monday approved a zoning change from B-1 Local Business to B-3 General Business requested by Kroger for its store at 1607 Broadway St. The rezoning will allow Kroger to install up to six video gaming terminals inside the store.