July 01, 2025
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Peru positions appointed, talks with Police Chief Doug Bernabei still in the works

Police chief, city attorney positions absent from Monday’s appointments

By Jayce Eustice

Peru Police Chief Doug Bernabei

The Peru City Council approved many appointments Monday at Mayor Ken Kolowski’s request — not among the reappointments, however, were Police Chief Doug Bernabei and City Attorney Scott Schweickert.

Kolowski said the city has had talks with Bernabei and it is still a work in progress.

“We’re in a process with that right now,” Kolowski said. “That’s about all I can say is it’s a process right now. Something will be coming down the pipe a little bit, but as for now, we just wanted to start with these appointments first and then we’ll be moving forward after that.”

While no further information was provided on the status of the discussion with Bernabei, Kolowski was hopeful he will be able to provide more information in the coming weeks and council meetings.

“It’s a process,” Kolowski said. “We’ll be cleaning it up pretty fast. Sometime, hopefully this month, we’ll get everything taken care of.”

As far as the position of city attorney, Kolowski was shocked it wasn’t addressed during Monday’s meeting saying there may have been an oversight on the agenda.

“I’m surprised we didn’t do the city attorney,” Kolowski said. “I’ll have to ask about why that wasn’t on there (Monday night).”

It appears Schwieckert soon will be reappointed as the city attorney from the mayor’s comments.

Many positions were appointed Monday night as Kolowski recommended Alderman Dave Waldorf to chair the Public Services Committee and Alderman Tom Payton to chair the Finance Committee.

Under the mayor’s request the council also formed a new committee entitled the Police and Fire Committee that will be chaired by Alderman Aaron Buffo. The council also approved Jeff King as fire chief and public services manager.

Roelif Loveland was reappointed to the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners for a three-year term ending April 30, 2024.

Cary Miller, Tom Atkinson, Mark Lucas, Angela Kalsto and Gary Grabowski were all reappointed to the Planning and Zoning Commission for five-year terms ending in May 2026.