What it does
Peoria County runs the courthouse and courts, the county health department, roads and bridges outside the cities, the county sheriff's office, emergency management, and the county's own parks and clinics.
Who runs it
- Peoria County uses a Board–Administrator structure. The County Board is 18 members, one from each of 18 districts, each elected by the residents of that district to a four-year term. Districts hold roughly 10,000 people.
- There is no separately elected county executive. The Board Chair is chosen by the board members themselves at the organisational meeting, so the chair's power comes from peers rather than from voters.
- The County Clerk sits ex officio as Clerk of the Board and keeps the records and minutes.
- Seven county department heads are elected by voters and are NOT under the Board's control: the Sheriff, State's Attorney, Treasurer, Circuit Clerk, County Clerk, Regional Office of Education Superintendent and Coroner. Each runs their own department. This is why "the county" is not one thing.
- Find your board member by address with the county's official lookup.
When and where it meets
- Meets
- Second Thursday of every month at 6 p.m. Committee work happens on the third Monday and Tuesday, which is where most decisions are actually made.
- Where
- Room 403 of the Peoria County Courthouse, 324 Main Street.
How to be heard
- Fill in a comment card and hand it to the Chair or the County Clerk.Public comment is at both board and committee meetings. You get five minutes per person, with a maximum of 30 minutes per meeting. Committee meetings are usually called for by the chair without a formal sign-up.
- Aim for Citizens' Remarks, which is agenda item 7.It falls after proclamations and before the consent agenda, so a matter raised there can still be discussed rather than bundled and passed without discussion. It is the highest-leverage five minutes in the county system.
- Go to a committee meeting, not just the full board.The board refers almost everything to committee. Committees meet the third week, in the same room, and are where testimony actually shapes an item. Zoning Board of Appeals hearings are multi-day and are the place for land-use concerns.
- Do not rely on the stream.The county states plainly that comments left on Facebook and YouTube are not entered into the public record. Streaming is for watching. To be on the record you must be in Room 403 with a card.
- Agenda packets are posted at least 48 hours ahead — read them.The packet is where you find the item number a matter will be called under, and it is available in the agenda centre well before the meeting.
- If you need an accommodation, ask 48 hours ahead.Contact County Administration at 309-672-6056 or ada@peoriacounty.gov.
The part nobody tells you
The comment card is the whole trick. Five minutes at the podium without handing in a card is much weaker evidence that you said it. Fill the card in, give it to the Chair or County Clerk before the meeting, and note the item number.