May 6, 2022 – This morning, the Decatur Civic Center hosted the State of the City Breakfast. Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and Chief of Police Shane Brandel spoke on the current state of Decatur over the past year and what is being done to help move the city forward.
In her speech, Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe noted the Decatur Park District’s additions. “If you haven’t been down to look at the new docks, you need to. It’s the next phase of lakefront development that the city and Park District have been working on for more than a decade,” she said. “Speaking of the Park District, they put together an awesome lineup at the Devon. The Zoo is open. So is Overlook Adventure Park and all the action at Splash Cove is just weeks away. The Park District is working daily to improve our quality of life and make Decatur a true destination for fun.”
Chief of Police Shane Brandel was the keynote speaker at the event, and he spoke from the heart about what our local police department is seeing, and what they are doing to be the best they can be.
“Since 2020, Springfield, Decatur, Bloomington-Normal, Peoria, and Champaign-Urbana all of their police chiefs retired. It’s a tough time,” he said. He also spoke on police reform that has taken place since 2020. “When the conversation could’ve taken a really, really good positive, ‘How can we be better?’ and it went to, ‘Police officers are evil, everything they do is intentional to do something they shouldn’t be doing.’ that changed everything. It really did. You could see it in the souls of every police officer I spoke to.”
To listen to the State of the City Address in full, go HERE.
