Here are the department leaders and their salaries for southwest IL’s newest town

Nearly two weeks after being sworn in, Cahokia Heights Mayor Curtis McCall Sr. says he’s focused on building his new administration and being more available to residents who’ve dealt with years of flooding issues in the former north Centreville community.

McCall has appointed nine department heads to run the government of Cahokia Heights, a new city formed by the merger of Cahokia, Centreville and Alorton. All have previously been employees or elected officials with one of the former governments.

One of the new department heads is former Centreville Mayor Marius Jackson, who will work part time as leader of the city’s Emergency Management Agency and will be paid a $25,000 annual salary. Annual salaries for the others range from $58,292 to $84,075.

McCall announced at his swearing-in ceremony for Cahokia Heights earlier this month that nearly 150 employees were let go in an effort to start the new town on a balanced budget. He said his main priority is working with department heads to see if some of those employees need to return.

“.... Over the next 60 days, I’m going to be just asking all of these department heads which are running very short on manpower...I will be asking each of these department heads to do an assessment of manpower and equipment,” he said.

The names of the departmental leaders for Cahokia Heights and their respective salaries include the following:

All leaders, including the mayor and elected officials, have taken a 5% salary cut to eliminate the deficit. McCall said Cahokia Heights is working from the budgets of the former three cities, which had a $2 million budget deficit along with $4 million in outstanding debt.

“We know that the budget is going to go up depending on the assessment that I get from the department heads, but I can assure the citizens of Cahokia Heights that we will live within our means, and we’re just going to have to ask our police department, our public works department to just do more with less,” McCall said.

He said the pay cuts and the merger will significantly help the new city get on the right financial footing.

“...Centreville, Alorton and Cahokia each touch each other’s boundaries, again, still, we had three of everything,” McCall said. “By eliminating one of those layers there, is going to save drastically. I can tell you that those budgets were drastically cut in half, and I think that we’ll be fine financially.”

New leaders and their past experience

In addition to Jackson, the eight other new department heads had previously been part of one of the three governments that merged.

Demario Helm was the clerk for Centreville. Francella Jackson was the administrator for Cahokia. Lunetha “Lynn” Branson-Matchingtouch is the former director of Cahokia’s Water and Sewer Department. Rory Morgan also served with the department.

Steven Brown is Centerville’s former police chief. Robert Darnell is the former zoning director for Cahokia. LaMar Gentry is the former city manager for Alorton and TIF director for Centreville. Trevon Tompkin is a former Cahokia village trustee and former city parks director.

McCall said he’s confident in the capabilities of the people he’s chosen to lead the new town.

“I think it’s my responsibility as a mayor of Cahokia Heights to pull the most professional people that I could that I knew and I felt could do a professional job for the citizens.,” McCall said. “ I believe that everyone that I have chosen as departmental heads are number one, professional at what they do, and number two, are going to do an outstanding job for the citizens of Cahokia Heights.”

McCall is aware that Tompkin pleaded guilty in a voter fraud case in 2010 and was sentenced to 10 days in jail and five years probation. The mayor said his decision to appoint Tompkin was informed by recommendations from former city employees.

“From talking with other departmental heads, they thought he was the right man for the job. “ McCall said. “ As a Black man that has seen Black men become victims of criminalization, I’ve always felt that if we don’t give Black men an opportunity to redeem themselves, then who in the hell is?”

McCall said he made the right choice in appointing former Centreville Mayor Jackson to lead the Cahokia Heights Emergency Management Agency, citing Jackson’s background as a fire chief.

Jackson previously worked for the fire departments of Centreville and Alorton before becoming elected as mayor in 2007.

“I was with the fire department for about 18 years and served as chief for 10, and so I’ve been kind of in the emergency management deal in dealing with the fire departments probably since 2004,” Jackson said. “With me being a former fire chief and me being a resident of the city, why not me?”

Jackson, McCall and Gentry, in their capacities as public officials , are defendants in a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of two residents over years of flooding issues in the former north Centreville community.

Flooding in Centreville

Earlie Fuse, one of the plaintiffs, has dealt with extensive damages to his home because of flooding. He said Jackson’s new position is a disappointment.

“He shouldn’t be nowhere,” Fuse, 80, said. “He shouldn’t even be affiliated with Centreville or any other city. For 13 years, he’s never taken and called a meeting negotiating with us or talked to us about the flooding.”

Jackson said he’s spoken to Centreville residents about the city not having enough money to fix the flooding issues. Earlier this year, the city and other entities applied for a $22 million FEMA grant designed to fix the poor sewage infrastructure. Jackson cites the grant as a solution to the problem.

“There was nothing that could be done, and the thing about it is I was just as frustrated as my residents because I couldn’t do anything to help them,” Jackson said. “If the money is not there, it’s not there.”

He went on to say:” I am willing to talk….in the end, I don’t have the answers and I didn’t have the answers, and they were mad at me. I get it. I’m big enough to understand that I’m the mayor and people want results, and, unfortunately, the results that were needed, I couldn’t give it to them because of financial shortfalls.”

Nicole Nelson, who’s one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, said she wasn’t aware of the appointment.

“That feels concerning given his tenure as mayor with a town that suffers from historic stormwater flooding and sewage….so it seems concerning that he would be given this role,” Nelson said.

McCall said fixing the flooding issues and reaching out to residents are among his priorities. He’s interested in meeting with Centreville Citizens for Change, a group of Centreville residents who’ve demanded solutions to fix the area’s flooding and sewage problems.

“I wanted to set up a meeting with that new group just to let them know that I am the new mayor and that I would not be there to concentrate on the lawsuit and things of the past, but that I will be there for them in any way that I can and just to let them know that,” McCall said.

Fuse said McCall recently met with him and mentioned McCall’s idea to engage with more residents. Nelson, who’s also a legal advocate for residents of the former Centreville, said her team is working on presenting that idea to residents for approval. Still, Fuse doesn’t trust the intentions of the new government, especially given Jackson’s new role.

“Why would we want somebody who has abused us for over 13 years over anything with Cahokia Heights or any parts of this,?” Fuse said.

This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 7:00 AM.

DeAsia Paige

Belleville News-Democrat

DeAsia Paige joined the Belleville News-Democrat as a Report for America corps member in 2020. She’s a community reporter covering East St. Louis and surrounding areas. DeAsia previously interned with VICE and The Detroit Free Press. She graduated from The University of Kansas in 2020.