City of Peoria

Located on the Illinois River in Central Illinois, Peoria is the oldest, and presently the third largest municipality in the State of Illinois and is the economic center of the Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the second largest MSA in Illinois.  The 1990 census lists the Peoria MSA population as 339,172 while the City of Peoria itself has a population of 119,218.  The City is an economically and ethnically diverse community and is centrally located within three driving hours of Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis.

The City of Peoria is a home rule city which operates under the Council-Manager form of government.  The City Council is elected on a non-partisan basis and is composed of ten Council Members and a Mayor.  Five of the Council Members are elected from individual districts while the other five and the Mayor are elected at-large.  City Council Members serve four-year terms with elections staggered every two years.  The only other elected officials are the City Clerk and City Treasurer who both serve four-year terms.  The City Manager is appointed by the City Council as the chief administrative officer for the City and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of all departments and appoints all department heads.  Departments and offices reporting to the City Manager include Office of the City Manager, Equal Opportunity Office, Human Resources, Legal, Finance, Information Systems, Public Works, Police, Fire, and Community Development.  The workforce consists of approximately 600 employees.