Matthew Johnson for Pekin City Council 2025

03/28/2025

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.

I met my wife downtown after her hair appointment at Rustic Roots Cosmetology and voted.

Please get out and exercise this right. Grab a friend and go together.

Let's do this Pekin!

03/27/2025

Canvassed about 175 homes this evening. Had an incredible discussion with an older gentleman who grew up in Pekin; moved to Arizona, and recently moved back to be closure to his 2 grown daughters. Him and I share the same passion about or current roads and infrastructure and how we need to start maintaining what we have.

He elaborated that we are one of the highest taxed states in the nation, but our roads are going to crap (his word). Then pointed to his road outside his home.

These conversations are incredibly valuable, because it shows the passion our citizens have for our city and why we need to prioritize our current roads, sidewalks, and sewers.

Have a great night, be safe.
Matthew

Send a message to learn more

03/22/2025

Promised this one Starbucks after we got some neighbors.

03/21/2025

Friday Thoughts,

At the 2nd candidate forum there was a question about prioritizing downtown (at the 47:20 video mark). It was stated by a council candidate that we have now 11 empty buildings downtown. That’s great, but what about all the empty buildings on Derby street? What is that number? What about the Save a lot building rumored to close in June? This is what happens when you neglect your current infrastructure and roads. You end up hurting your local community by performing a complete tearup and redo of a main artery. Businesses then struggle during the construction; which extends into months, and then sadly have to close.
Governing is choosing, Governing is Prioritizing. We need to prioritize our current infrastructure. This is how you move the city forward by taking care of your own.

03/18/2025

After 2 candidate forums, 1 meet n’ greet, and countless conversations with concerned Pekinites. Here is my closing argument as to why I’m a good choice for Pekin City Council.

First, I’m just a guy whose lived here his entire life and works in the private sector. I have no ties to other governing bodies or committees. My views and opinions will be my own along with weighing important feedback from our 30k citizens.
I will stand true to my commitment to fight against fee and tax increases. You cannot simply spend money at the rate Pekin has and then keep asking for more. Governing is choosing and governing is prioritizing. We need to prioritize the Roads, Sidewalks, and Sewers. If we must raise fees, then we must cut something. This is how you govern. If you can’t make cuts, I cannot approve raising fees.

Second, Transparency, Transparency, Transparency. I believe in open, honest, and fearless communication. It’s vital to the operation that I talk with our residents, I will make myself available and take your thoughts and concerns into consideration. I will listen to you and not just hear you. I believe more public hearings are needed on all fee increases, new fees, and considerable land acquisitions. You can have a public hearing in 48 hours in accordance with the Open Meetings act. This is something I will argue for. You deserve this level of transparency.

Third, I will strive to make fiscal responsibility the status quo by approving a budget that makes sense and aligns with the priorities previously mentioned; roads, sidewalks, and sewers. I will argue heavily against all luxury spending items.

On April 1st, put a check mark next to Matthew Johnson, the common sense candidate who will help push the city forward while being fiscally responsible. We are a small community and we need to start acting like one.

03/15/2025

My Campaign flyer. I'm a common sense kind of guy who believes in Open, Honest, Fearless communication. For 2 years we've heard the council gets paid to make the "hard" decisions. I don't agree with that, because they are all "hard" decisions. They get paid to make the "Right" decision and the "Right" decision should NEVER be to simply raise fees and install new fees. You have to look at cutting costs.

Did we really need a trench burner, no we didn't. Why are we always buying new vehicles, is the used market that bad? Probably not.

We are a small community and we need to start acting like one.

03/15/2025

Coffee is on. Come have a cup and talk shop. Hope the damage was minimal for everyone last night.

03/14/2025

Thank you everyone who showed up last night to the candidates forum. It's always a fun event.

Friendly reminder for my meet n' Greet tomorrow at coffee connections starting at 8.

03/13/2025

Counting down to 6:00pm this evening at the Pekin Library for the City Council Candidate forum.

What questions are you anticipating being asked?

Hope to see you there for some much needed “Open, Honest, and Fearless Communication”.

03/09/2025

Putting boots to the ground this morning with my campaign manager.

03/03/2025

Monday Thought, Why is the City of Pekin wanting to collect more money and spend more money? Why is City Hall expanding when our population has shown a decrease? Wouldn't it make more sense to downshift a little? Stop spending more, which would not require the constant need to collect more.

Please Consider me - Matthew Johnson - The common sense candidate.

02/27/2025

In honor of my “Open , Honest, Fearless Communication” slogan. I’m needing to weigh in on the latest discussion about “Running the City like a Business”.

First, there is no one operational model that fits all the inner workings of City Government. At it’s core, the City of Pekin is a service provider; however, there are situations that come up within a fiscal year where I truly believe the City could base their decisions using a business model. Is it 100% of the time, no it’s not. Is it 50% of the time, probably not. I feel it’s probably a 20/80 split.

20% of the time; make decisions using a business model. Land acquisition is not one of the City’s strengths. We purchased $600K dollars of land on Sheridan only to pay an additional $200K to back out of the agreement with the seller. To date, nothing is being built on that property we purchased. We are now in the hole 800K dollars with no line of sight for a return on that investment. Then on the other side of the equation, we sold prime real estate for 1 dollar. Neither one of these scenarios is an example of common sense business practices. No return on investment and essentially zero revenue on a property sale. These are the types of scenarios that come up where the City needs to make decisions acting through a business model.

The other 80% of the time; I feel the City needs to run under the Personal Finance model. Basically, treat it like your own family budget. Money in and Money out. Are we operating in the green? If so, how much green? Are we operating in the red? If so, why? How can we fix it? Where do we need to tighten up?

For example, I might have the means to buy a 100K Corvette, but is that a good financial investment for my family? Simply put, no it’s not. I need to prioritize my family’s needs vs. my family’s wants.

Transition this strategy into City Government, what are the needs of the Citizens vs. what are the needs of the City? Let’s keep in mind we operate under the Management Form of Government, so it’s the City Manager’s entity to run. Is the City Manager running it like a business or are they running it like a personal finance model?

We need to prioritize the needs of the citizens while balancing out the needs of the City. Are those needs or are they wants? In the beginning I said the City of Pekin is a service provider? So why did the City buy a trench burner? What service is that providing our citizens? Again, wants vs. needs? For example, shortly after I got married I bought a $1500 pool cue? Certainly wasn’t a need for my wife and I at the time, but I wanted it and bought it. City Government is no different in my opinion. We have to balance wants vs. needs.

As for the garbage service and bus service, I simply need to see the balance sheet for both operations. I need to be convinced it truly is cheaper? How is it cheaper when you tack on payroll, insurance, diesel fuel, maintenance, and the potential unplanned workman comp claims? Being a service it should be at least operating at a break even point. If it’s not, why isn’t it? How do you course correct? Raising fees is never the initial go-to strategy solution. These are just common sense questions that I feel everyone should be asking, which I plan to do if elected to a council position.