Courtesy photo
For the first time in Macomb s long history, the city will have a Black police chief.
Mayor Mike Inman said he will appoint Jerel Jones to the position. The mayor will ask the city council on Tuesday, February 16, to approve appointing Jones as Transitional Police Chief beginning March 1. Jones would then take over the department on May 3.
Jones is a lieutenant at the McDonough County Sheriff s Department. He joined the sheriff s department after serving as a lieutenant for the Bradley University Police Department in Peoria. Prior to that he worked for the Office of Public Safety at Western Illinois University.
Updated 2/9/2021 7:26 AM
The first real permanent snowfall of the season caught some people off guard and created shoveling and driving problems but also provided opportunities for sledding fun in the suburbs in The Week in Pictures photo gallery for January 23-29, 2021.
Two men cross the street after heavy snow fall Tuesday, January 26, 2021 in West Chicago.
Brian Hill | Staff Photographer
A large number of people sledding dot the side of the hill after heavy snow fall at Randall Oaks Park Tuesday January 26, 2021 in West Dundee.
John Starks | Staff Photographer
Voice Correspondent
MACOMB Mayor Mike Inman discussed Friday a three-legged stool of community strategies for coping with the coronavirus pandemic. He said they are mitigation, testing, and vaccination.
Inman spoke from Macomb City Hall and his comments have been posted to the Macomb You-Tube channel.
The mayor said McDonough County has a less than three percent COVID-19 positivity rate and that the regional rate is around five percent. He said three days at 6.5 percent or less is the Restore Illinois Phase 4 standard.
Inman announced Illinois Department of Public Health COVID-19 testing dates in Macomb. All will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tanner Hall Circle on the campus of Western Illinois University. Testing will be done on February 4, 8, 15, and 17.
Rich Egger/file photo
Macomb firefighter Dan Meyer began learning a new job on Monday, January 25. He is being trained to become the city s next fire chief.
The city council agreed to promote Meyer to the position of transitional chief at an annual salary of more than $73,572, which was the pay for the deputy fire chief before that position was eliminated.
Meyer will learn the budget process and be trained in the other duties of the chief. Mayor Mike Inman said the plan is to hire Meyer as chief when current Chief Rick Driskell retires at the end of August.