PEORIA, Ill. (25 News) – In a 3-2 vote, Peoria Heights Village Board voted to stop consideration of a contract with the Peoria Fire Department.
The contentious deal drew in crowds at two separate board meetings. Both times public comment stretched over an hour as citizens spoke against the deal one after the other.
On August 1, the board took the same vote they did Tuesday night. However, it was an impromptu vote led by Trustee Brandon Wisenburg, with the village’s legal counsel and one trustee not present.
It’s technically a vote to rescind a previous decision by the council in July to look into the contract with PFD. Village Counsel Mark Walton said a significant vote can’t be taken without it appearing on the agenda first. The August 1 vote was voided.
“[Tuesday’s vote] is just putting it back on the agenda so the open meeting’s act is complied with and now we can have a vote with the public,” Walton said.
Wisenburg, Trustees Jeff Goett, and Sarah Devore voted to stop looking into the contract. Trustees Matt Wiggington and Beth Khazzam voted to keep it in place.
In the two weeks since the August 1 vote, Trustee Mark Gauf resigned for personal reasons.
Khazzam and Wiggington argue this could take away an important option for the village while the PHFD struggles to find volunteers. There were no final decisions in place for the deal. At the beginning of August, lawyers for Peoria and Peoria Heights were still determining the details of the contract.
Neighbors who spoke up are vocally against the idea. Instead, they want to support the current volunteer department. PHFD staff and residents called for a full-time duty crew to supplement the volunteer operation. The department has a vacancy for its chief.
“At no time in the 106-yer history of the Peoria Heights Fire Department has it been more well-funded as it is today,” Wiggington said. The contract plan was colloquially called the “Wiggington Plan,” which the trustee pushed back against.
Mayor Mike Phelan wants to fill the chief vacancy, and then let the chief assess the needs of the department. PHFD staff said the needs have remained the same.
“I don’t understand why we keep going back to the drawing board here if we’ve got the plan and we need to move forward with it,” Assistant Chief Dalton Carlson said.
The board now has to explore other ideas for what to do with the department.
