Beecher is getting a new police chief.
On Dec. 8, the village board voted to hire John Galvin to replace retiring chief Terrence Lemming. Galvin will be sworn in at the Dec. 22 meeting.
Galvin has been the director of police operations at American Heritage Protective Services Inc. for the past two years. He spent 24 years in the Country Club Hills Police Department including five years as its chief.
For Lemming, this is his second retirement this decade. He retired from the Lockport Police Department, where he was the chief from 2014-2021. He was hired by Beecher as an interim chief in 2021 but stayed on for four years.
Trustee Joe Tieri, the Public Safety Committee chairman, read off a long list of Lemming’s accomplishments, especially helping to oversee the new public safety building that opened in May.
“He walked around town with the trustees to try to get the referendum passed for the new police station,” Tieri said of Lemming. “He secured all of the new furniture and saved us a lot of money. He built that police station.”
Lemming didn’t talk about himself at the meeting and said the police station was a “collaborative effort” and said that Galvin is lucky to have it.
“For a small town, it’s a beautiful police department,” Lemming said.
Before his stints in Lockport and Beecher, Lemming was a lieutenant colonel for the Illinois State Police Department.
Levy set
The council voted for a 2% levy for 2025 to be collected in 2026.
The total requested is $1,042,248.
Last year, there was a zero percent increase but inflation is causing the latest increase.
“It’s a way to help us stay stable,” Trustee Todd Kraus said.
Mayor Marcy Meyer recalled a time when the village went eight straight years with a zero percent increase, but those days are gone.
“It became unsustainable because you can’t make up for it later,” she said. “Doing it year after year after year makes it extremely difficult with the costs. Nobody likes to raise taxes but it’s necessary.”
Beecher bits
- Meyer recognized the retirement of clerk Janett McCawley, who has worked for the village for 35 years.
- The board approved a three-year agreement with Pyrotecnico for Independence Day celebrations. The price is $41,010 for 2026, $41,820 for 2027 and $43,075 for 2028.