PEORIA MAGAZINE June 2023

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO…?

CARVER’S COUNCIL The most ambitious Peoria City Council in modern times holds a 50-year reunion ... and mourns the loss of its leader

BY STEVE STEIN

Peoria's 1973 City Council. Standing, left to right, are Jim Bateman, Frank Renner, Dick Neumiller, Bruce Brown, Warren Reynolds and Tom Dunne. Seated are Les Bergsten, Dick Carver and Joe Mudd

E xactly 50 years after they were sworn into office, three of the four remaining members of the 1973 Peoria City Council gathered for a reunion recently in Peoria. Former Mayor Dick Carver, the leader of arguably the most active and ambitious council in modern Peoria history, wasn't at the Lariat Steakhouse on May 1. “He so desperately wanted to come to the reunion. He had so much respect for the other members of the council,” said Kathy Binau, Carver's daughter. Sadly, Carver died just a few days later, on May 5, at his home in Sarasota, Florida. He was 85. His wife Judith died in January. Now Les Bergsten, Jim Bateman and Bruce Brown are the lone living

GETTING THE GANG BACK TOGETHER

The 50-year reunion was the ’73 council’s fifth, starting with the 30th and continuing every five years thereafter. Bergsten organized all of them. “I organize the reunions because we really enjoy them. And it has been great to see all the media members who stop by each year,” he said. Carver was Peoria's mayor from 1973 84. Those who served with him on the council said it was his leadership that paved the way for all of City Hall’s accom plishments, including the construction of the Civic Center — the 11,000-seat arena there bears his name — along with the respect they had for one another.

members of “Carver's Council,” a group of nine young visionaries who transformed the city for a dozen years starting in 1973. The others were Tom Dunne, Joe Mudd, Richard Neumiller, Frank Renner and Warren Reynolds. Bruce Brown, Jim Bateman and Les Bergsten at the 50th anniversary celebration of the 1973 Peoria City Council, of which they were all members. Brown is holding a photo of former Peoria Mayor Richard Carver

88 JUNE 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE