PEORIA, Ill. – The newest council for the city of Peoria was sworn-in Tuesday night, and looks almost identical to the previous council.
Peoria Mayor Rita Ali was sworn-in to a second term in office, while councilmen Denise Jackson, Tim Riggenbach, Andre Allen, and Denis Cyr are beginning a new term on the Horseshoe.
The new faces include Jim Montelongo as City Treasurer, and Alex Carmona as the new councilman in District Two. Carmona takes over for Chuck Grayeb, who decided to run for mayor instead of another council term.
Carmona says one of his first objectives is building relationships with his fellow councilmen.
“To get to know each other better because we’re going to end up having very difficult conversations in the future about our budget, and those conversations are a lot easier to have if you know somebody personally,” Carmona said.
Carmona praised Grayeb as well, saying he’s set a “great example” of what a councilman should be.
As for the work ahead, Carmona says one of his goals is to help build confidence in city government amongst the population.
Mayor Ali says she feels great about the new council, saying there’s a sense of unity and working together.
What Ali says excites her the most is the diversity of thought and ideas the 10 council members can bring. But she also feels good about keeping continuity from the prior council, noting there’s “new energy” on the Horseshoe.
“We’ve been on the same page with our budgets pretty much and a lot of the issues that we support,” Ali said. “There’s not going to be a lot of conflict, in my opinion, so I think we’re going to make some real progress.”
For her second term, Ali plans on focusing on adding more housing in the city and improving the city’s quality of life.
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