EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — A former East St. Louis mayor defeated in his April re-election bid has been hired to run the struggling city’s municipal government.
A divided East St. Louis City Council voted Thursday evening to fire City Manager Traycee Chapman, who had been on the job for one month, and replace her with Alvin Parks Jr.
Parks served eight years as mayor but was defeated by Mayor Emeka Jackson-Hicks just four months ago. He will earn $100,000 and have use of a car. Parks earned $50,000 as mayor.
East St. Louis faces a $5.7 million budget deficit due to dramatically declining revenue from the Casino Queen, the city’s largest source of income.
Earlier this week, East St. Louis also named a new police chief. Michael Hubbard is a 19-year department veteran.
