The Peoria Heights Village Board appointed three new members to a revived Police and Fire Commission at the board’s January meeting on Jan. 16.
Unanimously selected were Nick McCumber, Jeff Shields and Greg Walters.
McCumber, 63, is the day-shift sergeant and crime prevention officer on the Bradley University Police Department, where he has worked for the last decade following a 25-year career with the Peoria Heights Police Department. Shields, 59, is the director of sales for TADA Cognitive Solutions, the Peoria-based supply chain/health care software company where he has worked for the past 22 years. He grew up in the Heights, where his father worked for the police department and his mother was a Richwoods Township trustee. Walters, 68, is a 42-year resident of Peoria Heights and the Village’s former fire chief after a long and decorated career with the Peoria Fire Department.
The board oversees some hiring and promotion practices, disciplinary and discharge issues and the establishment of testing protocols, among other matters.
In other action or discussion:
The Board voted 3-2 not to move forward with hiring a water consultant to analyze issues pertaining to the potential sale of the Village’s water system to a private operation such as Illinois American Water Co.
The $20,000 contract with Woodard and Curran was defeated after a couple of trustees raised questions as to whether another study would be redundant following the Missouri-based firm’s previous evaluation of the system.
Community Development Director Wayne Aldrich told the board that Woodard and Curran would be doing a much deeper dive this time around. “Our goal is to give you the facts, not to give you the answers, so you can make a good decision,” he said.
Ultimately, that did not sway the majority, with Trustee Matt Wigginton arguing that “I’m just worried we’re getting all the information we already have for 20 grand and we’re not moving forward.”
To that latter point, Mayor Michael Phelan said that “if board members have made up their minds … to sell or not,” they should provide the administration with some more concrete direction whether to pursue a sale or put the matter to rest and keep the water system in Village hands.
The Board debated whether a change in policy is needed to get items on the meeting agenda for a vote.
Typically, the mayor sets the agenda after getting input from trustees, but Wigginton indicated that he would like to see a change that would allow two Village Board members to compel a vote on an issue as opposed to leaving it to “a single gatekeeper.”
Trustee Brandon Wisenburg said that he has requested agenda items in the past, and “I’ve always found the mayor to be pretty fair.” Trustee Jeff Goett also weighed in, saying “I don’t think we need to make another rule.”
Wigginton did not specify the issue he wants the board to address, but Wisenburg said he would like more time to digest it. “There’s some drama behind this,” he said.
In any case, the board will deliberate on a new ordinance regarding the placement of agenda items at its Feb. 6 meeting