Danville’s newest elected aldermen officially took their oaths of office on Tuesday night, and the new group is one of the most diverse in the city’s history.
Three new women were elected to the council: Carolyn Wands in Ward 2, Heidi Pertell in Ward 3 and Tricia Teague in Ward 4. With Ward 1 Alderwoman Brenda Brown, Ward 3 Alderwoman Sherry Pickering and Ward 5’s Eve Ludwig included, six of the council’s 14 aldermen are women. Four Black aldermen are serving on the new council.
Teague notes that she has known Ward 4 her entire life.
“I am especially honored and privileged to have gotten votes from those in my ward, the ward that I grew up in and the ward that I consciously chose to come back to, when I came back to Danville,” she says.
Pertell explains that she wants to help move the city forward as a council member.
“Our city deserves much more than what it is right now,” she explains. “I saw so many things the way they used to be, and I would love to see them maybe not go back to that, but to something greater.”
Wands, who won a write-in campaign for Ward 2, says that aldermen should be the best representatives of the community that they can be.
“I believe as (aldermen) we ought to be examples in what we do and what we say, so that the community can see that we are truly involved and believe in what we’re doing,” she says.
Three appointed aldermen, Ward 1’s Robert Williams, Ward 6’s Jim Poshard and Ward 7’s Darren York, were sworn in to their first elected terms at Tuesday night’s meeting. Mike Puhr started his sixth term on the council representing Ward 5.
Bob Iverson was chosen to be Vice Mayor for the next two years. Puhr was re-appointed as the chairman of the council’s Public Works Committee, and Rick Strebing was selected as the chairman of the Public Services Committee.
