Killion Sworn In as New Village Trustee

By Jeremy Coumbes on November 5, 2021 at 6:07pm

The Village of South Jacksonville has a full Board of Trustees again and made history Thursday night after the first black resident to serve as a Village Trustee was sworn in.

Jackie Killion tossed her name in the ring for consideration for an open Trustee’s seat last year that eventually went to current Trustee and Finance Committee Chair Megan Davidson.

Killion says fellow Trustee Paula Belobradjic-Stewart had first suggested to her that she would be a good fit for serving on the board, and although she wasn’t appointed the first time, this time around the effort paid off.

Killion says she was driven predominantly to apply for the position, by a desire to serve her fellow neighbors.

I want to be of some kind of help. You know, you’ve got to do something in this world besides work to pay bills. You’ve got to have some kind of goals, and I am a devout Christian, and we are supposed to be servants. We’re supposed to have a servant’s heart, and at this stage in my life, I am so much more in tune with that. I’ve always been the helper kind, but I want to do that on a larger scale. I want to see if I can actually do something positive that matters in someone’s life, not just mine, not just my family’s, not just my church, but community-wide.”

Killion says right now she is like a sponge in trying to learn everything she can and get up to speed in her new position. She says one of the appeals of her new position is how much there is to learn about the inner workings of municipal government.

She says she hopes she can bring a new voice and fresh outlook to the Board of Trustees. “I’ve been to a few meetings, but when you’re sitting on this side, you don’t learn what you do when you’re sitting on that side. So right now it’s just a learning experience for me to see if just maybe I can throw a little something different into the mix and maybe get a good outcome from that.

Maybe help some people that may feel like they are not being heard, or maybe I’m a little easier to talk to. Maybe my approach will be different because I haven’t been wrapped up in all of this. There’s been a lot going on, up and around our whole city government. And so I’m like the girl who’s looking from the outside in and maybe I can throw a little light and help clear out some of the static so we can move forward.”

Killion will have to hit the ground running as not long after being sworn in last night, Killion was appointed as Chair of the Public Planning Committee.

Village President Mike Broaddus informed the Board last night that Committee of the Whole meetings in November and December will be moved up one week to give room for members to spend time with their families during the holidays, so committee meetings would also need to move ahead by one week.

Killion’s first meeting in her new role as Public Planning Committee Chair will be next week on Tuesday at 7:00 pm.