Illinois Central College coverage is much more extensive than usual. There’s a reason for that: Trustees had many questions about closing student housing, new class scheduling and a potential tuition increase.
Check it out.

Peoria County Board

Peoria County Board met March 13 with all members present. In regular business, the board unanimously approved amendments to zoning ordinances regulating commercial wind facilities. No applications have been submitted to date. Anticipating future ones, zoning staff and the state’s attorney staff wanted to ensure the county’s ordinance was consistent with state law and would protect citizen rights. One citizen remark addressed this issue.

Three zoning cases were unanimously approved for commercial solar farms in Limestone, Radnor and Kickapoo townships, anticipated to produce 5.0, 1.2 and 4.95 megawatts respectively. Also in regular business, the board approved a $275,000 worker’s compensation settlement.

The consent agenda passed unanimously, including:

• A reimbursement agreement with Four Creeks LLC to compensate up to $120,000 for legal and engineering services for development and negotiation of a road use agreement associated with its proposed wind farm. A contract with Hutchinson Engineering for up to $80,000 was also approved to provide the engineering and negotiation services.
• A three-year contract to Trinity Service Group for food services at the county jail and juvenile detention center. Meals were approved at $2.25 per meal at the jail and $3.25 at the juvenile detention center.
• A $250,000 civil litigation settlement with a former Heddington Oaks resident.
• $113,115 to the Public Defenders for assistant public defenders and needed software.
• $51,000 for IT Staff Augmentation Services to provide support while a county employee deploys with the Air National Guard.
• $135,180 for Crawford, Murphy and Tilly to provide engineering services for replacement of a bridge on Smithville Road.
• $127,780 for Northern Contracting to repair damaged guard rails, and $30,062 to Bradley University for road pavement management.

ICC Board Of Trustees

On March 20, Illinois Central College Trustees Carl Cannon, Gale Thetford, Alma Brown, Cindy Byrd, Ron Budzinski, Diane M. (Unes) Lamb and Kelly Daniels attended the regular meeting.

They had nothing to do with the closure of student housing — and they weren’t happy about it.

ICC cannot own student housing, by state law, and it does not own the land the housing sits on. Student housing on the ICC East Peoria Campus is owned by Educational Foundation Student Residents, LLC, and run by the ICC Foundation, which hires a manager. The closing was decided by the Foundation with support from the Administration.

Trustees expressed significant frustration, concern and disappointment in the closing itself, how it was handled, the unclear plan to assist displaced students and the lack of information. Trustees felt they had very little knowledge of the closing until it was announced in the media.

Cannon called for a formal investigation by a committee of independent experts and requested a special board meeting to address unanswered questions.

ICC Vice President of Finance Bruce Budde noted the administration and foundation met with affected students on four different occasions to ensure a safe transition for all students and to consider all aspects, like transportation, temporary housing, etc., to meet each student’s needs. They are also looking at a long-term solution to student housing.

The special meeting was to be held April 10.

Scheduling concerns: Trustees questioned the shift to eight-week classes. A normal full-time student would still take five courses per semester. But they could take two classes in each eight-week period and one 16-week course (or similar combination). The goal is to assist students in completing more courses, especially those who are part time.

Some courses will not be eight weeks. For example, content growth might not work in a compressed format, or there might be resource limitations such as lab space.

Thetford noted community concerns around compressed content, requirements and assignments. ICC staff said other colleges have made this transition. One quarter of the courses at ICC are in the eight-week format already; summer courses have always been eight weeks. ICC has eight teams working on this process to make it as successful as possible.

Tuition increase now? ICC administrators recommended increasing base tuition this fall from $160 per credit hour to $165 per credit hour.

At approximately 3%, the increase is in line with current inflation rates and would generate $700,000 in additional revenue.

According to the administration, a modest incremental increase is less impactful to students than a more significant increase in the future. They also feel an increase is essential given uncertainty in state and federal revenue streams and to help balance resources. Current financial projections reflect a significant shortfall in operations.

Five of the seven trustees spoke against the recommended $5 increase. They cited concerns around the current economic climate, loss of federal agencies, funding, grants, workforce projections and the unknown impact on students. Trustees who spoke in opposition said this is not a good time to increase tuition. Instead, the college should find savings elsewhere in the budget.

Based on the discussion, the board of trustees will not consider a tuition increase in this cycle; it will be under consideration again in September for the 2026-27 school year.

Trustees moved to closed session. In related news, the ICC Foundation Board has added seven new members in recent months. There are 16 voting members. The Foundation has raised $1.4 million in fiscal 2025, double the amount of fiscal 2024.

Peoria City Council

On March 11, all Councilors were present, with Councilor Andre Allen attending electronically.

Consent Agenda passed with several items pulled for discussion; all items discussed were passed unanimously. Councilor Denise Jackson recognized importance of improvements approved for Moffatt Cemetery infrastructure project not to exceed $109,700. Amended intergovernmental agreement between Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and City of Peoria; verified ATFE staff using available space.

Other business:

• Amendment to Urban Decay Abatement Ordinance first adopted in 2021. Changes include rehabilitation of structures, as well as new homes, resulting in 10-year abatement requirements for owner-occupied dwellings.
• Approval of a $39,000 grant to Lula, NFP to reimburse hotel expense for unsheltered individuals.
• Amendment of a special use ordinance for elderly housing in area bordering Loucks, Parish Ave., Twelve Oaks Dr., and Forrest Hill for single family duplexes with no age restrictions.

Eight citizens addressed the Council, mostly about the work Lula and other not-for-profit partners have done to improve housing for the homeless.

Election Commission

Peoria County Election Commissioners met April 8. The only public comments concerned questionable behavior by election judges.

Executive Director Elizabeth Gannon reported on the April 1 general election. On the Thursday after the election, 2,000 mailed ballots were verified, processed and checked in. One hundred ballots were waiting to be verified on the 8th, but most were probably postmarked too late. Gannon anticipated only about 20 of those would be certifiable. Votes were to be certified April 16.

Dunlap District 323

The regular meeting was called to order March 12 with seven members present. Director of Student Services Mandy Ellis explained the “Spark” award to be given by administration for outstanding staff. Superintendent Dr. Scott Dearman announced a groundbreaking ceremony for the Dunlap Activity Center was to be held April 16.

It is hoped an architectural firm will be hired in April.

A board member expressed concern about the possible amendment of a Fortress Bank Sponsorship Contract in effect until Jan. 1, 2036. Dearman said the language will be revised.

Payment of bills in the amount of $7,803,445.14 was approved.

Before approval of summer projects, members asked if traffic flow was better after improvements were made this school year. It was observed that it takes students less time to get to the front door — and getting 2,500 students inside is challenging. The board tabled the vote on $90 student fees.

Three staffing requests were discussed. Dearman said the life skills teacher appointment is legally bound and based on needs. The other two positions, psychologist and social worker, are based on student population needs. The board voted unanimously to approve hiring a life skills teacher. The vote was 6-1 on the other two positions.

Airport Authority

Seven of nine commissioners of the Metropiltan Airport Authority of Peoria met at Mt. Hawley Auxiliary Airport on March 26. Present were Commissioners Erik Fehl, Chairperson; Gustav Krantz, Dean Heinzmann, Stephen Roehm, Kevin Shields and newly appointed commissioner Emily Shields, and Ryan Krolicki.

Following Director of Airports Gene Olson’s report, the board approved:

• An air services agreement with United Airlines, pending United’s approval.
• The Byerly Fuel Tank Lease, extending it to September 2031.
• The Flock Safety camera renewal (license plate readers) for two years. These readers have been successful in decreasing theft in the parking lots and are in conjunction with the county sheriff.

Director of Operations and Maintenance Randy Hurst noted parking continues to be a challenge and a new parking lot is needed. The board approved purchase of a new shuttle bus to assist passengers from the parking lots to the terminal building.

Director of Finance and Administration Steve Perrone reported on the vouchers payable, which were approved. The board also approved leasing storage space and two parking spaces to Greater Peoria Honor Flight for a one-year term. This space is by the baggage claim area.

Manager of Marketing & Public Relations Cheryl Bockhold-Sloan said this is a busy time between welcoming the first United flight from Denver and an Honor Flight on April 1.

With no other business, the board meeting adjourned before 1 p.m.

LWVGP observers attend and report on local government meetings. For more information, check League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria website