DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — The City of Danville will have some new faces in leadership positions.
After yesterday’s election, three of the 14 alderman will be replaced starting this May — and the newcomers say they’re ready to make a difference.

Tom Hightower won Ward 3 in the south part of the city, Jaleel Jones won Ward 1 in the east, and Doug Ahrens won Ward 7 to the north. All three told WCIA they are excited to start their new roles, but each have different areas they’re passionate about.

“We were very excited,” Ahrens said. “It’s something that, you know, has been considered for quite some time.”

Jones shared a similar sentiment.

“It’s very exciting,” Jones said. “It’s very crazy.”

Hightower said he was ecstatic.

“I was head over heels,” he added.

All three think they’re uniquely suited for the new role. For Aherns — it’s his three decades of experience working for the city, most recently as Public Works Director.

“Loved all that work, love being able to contribute to my hometown and with retirement coming on, I felt this was another way that I could serve and hope to utilize some of that knowledge that the citizens had invested in me,” Ahrens added.

He said one of his goals is to have a couple of town hall style meetings in his ward each year.

“I think as leaders of the community, our job is to engage the community and get their input and what kind of a community they want,” Ahrens said.

Just east of Ahrens’s Ward 7 — both Jones and Hightower have similar visions for what they want to do.

Jones works at Seven-Point dispensary, and Hightower runs the Hightower family Fellowship Center. They already call each other on a regular basis, which Jones says should help get the ball rolling.

“He amped up my excitement about talking to him because he he’s very passionate about making changes in Danville,” Jones said.

Both him and Hightower were born and raised in Danville. They said it helps them know what needs to change in the city.

“My main focus is going to be the criminal activity in the east end of Danville,” Hightower said. “I want to make sure that we have a safe community, something to look forward to, something to leave to the next generation.”

One other thing all three of them talked about was bringing business to Danville. Hightower said he’s urging people to shop at locally owned stores hoping to improve the economy of the city.