PEORIA History was made Tuesday night as the first woman and the first Black person was sworn in as Peoria s mayor.
Rita Ali beamed broadly as the oath of office was administered to her by newly elected City Clerk Stefanie Tarr, who then handed her the gavel while the room erupted in applause. I would be remiss if I did not mention the historic meaning of today. The city has elected its first woman after 185 years, Ali said, before noting she was also the first Black person to wield the mayor s gavel.
Her election, she hoped, would break down barriers and prejudices.
PEORIA
Jim Montelongo is taking a wait and see approach on his decision whether to challenge Rita Ali s 43-vote win in the city s mayoral race in court. I can t tell you what our next steps are yet as we have to see what happens next week, Montelongo told the Journal Star as he was cleaning out his desk in the City Council chambers after Tuesday night s meeting.
By that, he s referring to the results of a discovery recount Tuesday the same day Ali will be inaugurated to determine whether to take the next step and bring a court challenge.
If he chooses to, it s not expected to upend the planned inauguration ceremony for Ali and the five district council members. A far-tighter result in the Decatur area in 2018 was taken to court, and it didn t affect the swearing-in of the declared winner there, though that case is still ongoing.