Just over six months ago, the City announced our sale of land in the Riverway Business Park to Epic Medical for their development of a manufacturing plant that aims to bring 100 new jobs and $25 million of investment to Pekin. Since then, Epic has been working diligently on its construction plans and has chosen a construction management company, and is moving full speed ahead to get its site plan submitted to the City so they can break ground this fall.

I bring up Epic first to remind everyone of the great progress Pekin is making. Growing a community the right way takes time, professionals, and a vision from the City’s leadership. I’m proud that the land deal with Epic was unanimously approved by the City Council in March, and I foresee nothing but smooth sailing for this project that will bring great benefit to the community.

I also bring up Epic as a prime example of why home rule status as a municipality is important for Pekin. Some opponents to home rule claim that the City has unfettered power with our home rule status, which is not true. However, home rule does give us flexibility to do some things our way rather than having to follow the rules set in Springfield. The land deal with Epic simply would not have happened without home rule. If the City were non-home rule, we would not be allowed to sell City-owned property for less than 80% of appraised value. That sounds like it could be a good rule, and the City does, by default, seek to get market value for property when we do sell, but having the flexibility to sell the property for less made the project happen in this case. Epic sought information about incentives the City could offer for its development. Our staff proposed a see-saw approach where the City would entertain a higher level of tax incentives if they were willing to pay market value for the property. If their development plans were such that having a lower land cost was more important, the City would offer less tax incentives. As it turned out, this was a key component in Pekin winning the project because Epic ended up offering $500,000 for the land, or about 36% of appraised value, with no tax incentives at all. The low cost of land was the incentive in this case, and that was only available because of home rule status.

Epic’s CEO also noted that he chose Pekin because the City was the best to do business with among the many choices they had elsewhere in Illinois, the Midwest, and even one site in Texas. They met with other communities, and our staff was able to show them the best commitment to their project. We took business meetings at 5am and 9pm to match their time zone. We focused our legal team on nothing but their transaction to ensure we could get it done on the very, very swift schedule. We engaged our lobbyist to push the State along in its review processes. None of that happens without a true professional staff working the project with a qualified city manager at the helm.

The public is welcome to ask questions of and even criticize their local government, but, at a time when home rule status and professional staff are being challenged, we have to understand the real implications of our decisions. Without both of those things, this multimillion-dollar manufacturing facility would not be coming to Pekin. We are so proud of our team for landing this project, and we look forward to seeing Epic move things forward with Pekin.

Oct. 3 Witches Walk

Oct. 4 Derby Street Trick or Treat

Oct. 4 Mid-Illinois Corvette Club Autocross

Oct. 10 Artistic Community Theater Ghost Walks

Oct. 16 Pekin Area Chamber Annual Business & Community Recognition Luncheon

Oct. 18 Downtown Trick or Treat

Nov. 28 Small Business Saturday

Dec. 5 Christmas on Court

Visit DiscoverPekin.com to see more awesome community events!