PEORIA, Ill. – The three incumbent Peoria City Council At-Large members won another term in Tuesday’s consolidated elections.
John Kelly, Kiran Velpula, and Zach Oyler were among the top five vote-getters earning seats on the council.
But, candidate Bernice Gordon-Young, who works for OSF HealthCare, was the top vote-getter, and tells 25 News there’s at least one important priority for her.
“Particularly, the violent crimes — the shootings, the ShotSpotters going off,” said Gordon-Young. “So much so, to where our citizens aren’t even calling in to the police department anymore, because they’re relying on ‘well, they’ll get it from ShotSpotter.’ Everybody deserves a safe neighborhood.”
The other newcomer to the Peoria City Council will be attorney Mike Vespa.
Candidants not winning a seat included Demario Boone, Anu Uddavolu, Clara Underwood-Forman, local activist Lawrence Maushard, and Benjamin Nicks, Junior.
The winners will take their oaths of office next month. Incumbents Beth Jensen and Sid Ruckriegel opted not to seek additional terms.
PEORIA CITY COUNCIL AT-LARGE RESULTS (Source: Peoria County Election Commission) (# of votes, followed by percentage)
Bernice Gordon-Young 8,918 16%
*John Kelly 8,349 15%
*Kiran Velpula 8,275 15%
*Zachary M. Oyler 7,570 14%
Mike Vespa 6,101 11%
Demario A. Boone 5,338 10%
Anu Uddavolu 5,313 10%
Clara Underwood-Forman 3,049 5%
Lawrence J. Maushard 1,955 3%
Benjamin R. Nicks Jr. 1,049 2%
* indicates incumbent — winners in bold
