Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. says that he has restructured some city positions in order to better serve the needs of residents.
City council members on Tuesday night approved the creation of a new Community Relations Administrator, which Williams says will be in charge of three things: 1) the city’s website, social media and communications, 2) neighborhood associations, and 3) planning community events.
Williams says the city needs to have better communications, and he would also like to see a revitalization of neighborhood and community groups. He says when he first became an alderman there were 20 neighborhood groups, but only five are active currently.
“I have people actually calling (and) asking for this, so to be able to have a liaison to help them develop this and to help people get to know their neighbors and take pride in their neighborhoods, I think is something that will fundamentally change Danville,” he explained.
Coinciding with a new corporation counsel, James Simon, being hired earlier this week, his office will once again include a separate city attorney. The mayor says the city had a corporation counsel and city attorney until five years ago, when it went to just the corporation counsel. Other new positions include an information technology assistant and a planner with the Danville Area Transportation Study.
The new positions are being paid for with new revenue. Williams says the Illinois Municipal League is now projecting that Danville should receive $360,000 more in revenue than projected. The city is also saving more than $25,000 in interest fees by paying off an early retirement incentive that previous employees used. In addition, a new contract was approved with the firefighters’ union which changes the base and longevity pay for the assistant chief and captain, which will save the city $23,000 per year, and over the long run will save $40,000 per year in 20 years.
Williams says the city will have $7.2 million in its reserve fund in April, up from only $300,000 when he took office in November 2018.
