Belleville announces death of City Council member
Belleville City Council member Jane Pusa died on Friday following an illness.
She was 74 and had been ill following a brain tumor operation last year, her husband, Dave Pusa, said.
“She always worked real hard for everybody,” Dave Pusa said. “She was fair to people and if they had a problem she always tried to correct the problem or help them out in some way.”
Jane Pusa served on the council from 1993 to 1997 and again from 2015 until her death.
She was appointed to represent Ward 2 in December 2015 after the death of former Alderwoman Janet Schmidt and then was elected in 2017 to serve Ward 2, where she lived her entire life.
Pusa told the News-Democrat in 2015 that she was ready to return to the council , although it was under unexpected circumstances.
“Am I excited? Yes. Is the city doing great things? Absolutely. Very excited about the whole thing,” she told the BND.
Mayor Mark Eckert appointed Pusa to the council in 2015.
“She was just an absolutely remarkable lady,” Eckert said. “I enjoyed her friendship. No matter what we were facing in the city in the years that I worked with her, she’s always say, ‘What do you want me to do?’ How can I help?’”
Tributes to Pusa poured into the city’s Facebook page on Friday.
“Jane was a vibrant, caring and civically minded individual,” the city’s post said. “She firmly believed in participatory government and led her ward and community throughout her entire life. She volunteered and spent endless hours working to better our community.”
Jane Pusa recently decided that she could no longer serve on the council and had told her family she wanted her husband to take her seat. Dave Pusa said he is interested in finishing his wife’s term, which ends in May 2021, and he had previously talked to Eckert about it. In this type of case, the mayor makes an appointment and the City Council members then vote on the recommendation. Eckert said he expects this to happen next month.
Renner Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 1:48 PM.
