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Government

New Alderman Chosen for Rock Island City Council

WVIK, Quad Cities NPR | By Herb Trix
Published December 22, 2021 at 3:46 PM CST
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A local businessman has been appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Rock Island City Council. Monday night, aldermen chose Bill Healy to represent the 7th Ward.

He replaces Dave Geenen who resigned following accusations that he embezzled money from the Doris and Victor Day Foundation.

With his father, Healy is co-owner of the Stern Center in downtown Rock Island and Bridges Catering.

"I ultimately left and moved back here, I moved my business here. So we're looking for as a city someone like me - how can we bring a family into the city and how can we bring business into the city."

He considered running for the 7th Ward seat last spring, but decided not to for family reasons. He'll serve until April of 2023 when the seat will go up for election again.

Healy says some of the major decisions he and the council will have to make in the coming months are finding a new city manager and new police chief.

Government Rock IslandRock Island City Council
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Herb Trix
A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois. While a graduate student in the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield (then known as Sangamon State University), he got his first taste of public radio, covering Illinois state government for WUIS. Here in the Quad Cities, Herb worked for WHBF Radio before coming to WVIK in 1987. Herb also produces the weekly public affairs feature Midwest Week – covering the news behind the news by interviewing reporters about the stories they cover.
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