PEORIA, Ill. — There’s been discussion for weeks on what Peoria will spend violence reduction funds on. Tuesday night, council spent several more hours discussing the process.
Peoria City Council worked in a room full of people wanting action.
Council discussed how they would go about taking submissions for the violence prevention funds.
They have more than $1.2 million set aside, but the funds are still unused in this year’s budget.
“Then we need to make sure we have our game plan in place because we may need to spend those funds pretty rapidly,” said 4th District Councilman Andre Allen.
Previously, council voted down a ‘Cure Violence Assessment’. Members disagreed with the way it was vetted through Mayor Rita Ali’s ‘Safety Network Coalition’.
“I don’t believe the council had a particular problem with Cure Violence, they had a procedural problem,” said At-Large Councilman John Kelly.
Now, council agreed that fund proposals submitted to the city will be vetted through their Community Development Block Grant Public Service Commission before a request for approval to the council.
“I would feel better if those RFP’s were coming back to us rather than going to the CDBG and we additional council meetings to do those ourselves,” said At-Large Councilman Zach Oyler.
“I think there may be programs out there, for people that would be helpful if we could use some of the money to provide legal assistance,” said At-Large Councilwoman Beth Jensen.
They also took fiery public comment with demand for action.
“Perception that I have seen of the city council is inaction, ignorance, and or inability to move. That is a problem,” said Peoria resident, Rev. Benjamin Nicks.
“I don’t like what’s going on right now because I love this community I love it,” said another Peoria resident who spoke before the council.
According to 25 News, the first proposal is expected to be in August and two more will follow.
There is a total of three RFP’s due to different funds coming in at different times and the city not wanting a delay in spending.
