That being said, I was asked to contribute to the paper.  There are so many things going on that it is hard to focus on just one thing.  When I was selected to be the City Manager, after serving as the police chief, it was certainly a change in my comfort zone as far as managing.  Instead of keeping up with laws and focusing on crime, now I suddenly found myself trying to attract business to our community and utilizing TIF and other incentives to grow the City.  In the end though, leadership is simply leadership and it transfers.  Finding the right people and placing them in key roles, providing them with the tools, and mentoring them is what is moving us forward.  It is planning for the succession so we are not always in crisis.  We are doing that and we are starting to see the success.

As we enter into 2024, some of the things that we are working on are the audits.  We continue to move forward and anticipate that the 2021 audits will be completed very soon, and we are already planning to start the 2022 audit.  If all goes as planned, we anticipate having that audit done by late fall and immediately start on the 2023 audit.  It is a major task, but we have a plan and are moving forward.

We are reaching out to, and receiving many inquiries from a variety of businesses that want to come to Pekin.  As I write this, Cullinan Properties has announced the first store(s) that will be coming to Pekin.  There are three initial stores that are coming.  While I really want to tell the community who they all are, we simply cannot and I must adhere to the non-disclosure agreements, but I am very excited with this.  Also, know that others are inquiring and we are hoping to announce more along with Cullinan very soon so stay tuned.

We also are working on bringing another business to town along the Rt 98 corridor very soon, and are hopeful that agreement is entered into within the next few weeks.  We continue talking to an international business that is looking to open in Pekin as well and there are a few more in the works that we can’t wait to divulge, but we are growing as the Mayor said in her State of the City Address.

Court Street and Derby Street have resumed construction.  This year we should see some major movement on the construction and paving taking place.  This will hopefully attract more people to shopping.  PLEASE be patient and please visit the stores.  We are understanding as related to the inconvenience of construction, but for businesses to stay and be successful we need to shop local to keep them here.  So, be sure to frequent these businesses.

As we move forward, I hope to highlight many of the positive things taking place in our community.  If anyone has any particular topics they wish us to address, please email me at [email protected].