Under the “Police, Fire, and Courts” section of the Journal Star today is this little blurb:

PEORIA – A 64-year-old East Peoria man was hospitalized Tuesday night after he jumped from the Cedar Street Bridge. Peoria firefighters on their rescue boat plucked the man from the water near the East Peoria shoreline. He was taken to Methodist Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition. Peoria and East Peoria rescue personnel were called to the bridge after the man was seen parking his truck in the westbound lanes, turning on his hazard lights and jumping over the side about 1:45 p.m. Police spotted the man floating near the bridge, which carries Illinois Routes 116, 8 and 29 over the Illinois River.

Does anyone not know who this is? It happened in the early afternoon yesterday, was reported on radio and television news, and even mentioned by Mayor Jim Ardis at the beginning of the City Council meeting.

In case you’ve been living in the same cave as the Journal Star, the 64-year-old man was Andre Bohannon, former city council member and former assistant city manager.

The good news is that he survived and is recovering in the hospital. Let’s keep him in our thoughts and prayers as he deals with whatever issues led to his actions.

Most of the meeting last night focused on the budget. Each department head has been giving a budget presentation to the council, then taking questions from council members. Tonight, the head of the Economic Development Council presented, and all other department heads were in attendance in case the council had questions for any of them. All other business was dispensed with quickly.

The consent agenda passed with only one item pulled out by Sandberg for clarification.

The item I was most interested in — expansion of and traffic-flow changes to the Glen Hollow shopping center — was tabled. That passed unanimously, so obviously there was some sort of agreement to table it ahead of time, but I don’t know what the reason is.

I was pleased with the new towing ordinance. You may remember I was critical of the plan to charge people $25 whenever a police officer calls a tow truck for them. However, they have since changed the proposed ordinance and consulted with tow truck drivers on the issue, and everyone is happy now. Here’s the ordinance:

There is hereby imposed an additional administrative fee of $25.00 for each rotation tow for which a vehicle owner is required to obtain a release from the Peoria Police Department prior to reclaiming the vehicle or any personal belongings . The administrative fee shall be collected by the Peoria Police Department when the vehicle owner obtains its release . This fee shall not apply to unclaimed vehicles which are scrapped by the tow operator, tows paid for bythe City, or vehicle owners who are victims of theft or vehicular invasion of their vehicle.

“Rotation tow” just means that the city, not wanting to give preference to one tow company over another, will call tow companies in a rotation so they get equal business. That part is not new. The change is that the $25 fee will now only apply to cars that are abandoned or involved in illegal activity. It will not penalize the law-abiding citizen whose car breaks down or is stolen. Excellent compromise, and kudos to the council for taking the time to improve this ordinance.