DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - Friday afternoon, former Decatur Mayor Mike 'Tuna' McElroy was inducted into the Decatur Hall of Fame.
McElroy served on the Decatur City Council for six years before running for Mayor, where he was overwhelmingly elected and later reelected for a second term.
Current Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe said of McElroy, "The reason Tuna got involved in all the glory of local politics was really about his love for this community and a heartfelt desire to make it better."
Former Mayor Paul Osborne, who McElroy served on City Council under, said, "For those 12 years when I was Mayor and then he was Mayor, we kind of split those years, and we never stopped talking, even up to a day or two before he passed away." Osborne went on to say, "I can tell you Tuna had a heart for Decatur. He really had a heart for people."
McElroy's son, Matt, remembered being a teenager and stuck in the back of his dad's car as he drove around to different neighborhoods in the city checking on things.
"He would go by and say 'This guy called and he wanted a couch picked up,' so we'd be driving through neighborhoods and making sure things were done," Matt said.
Under McElroy, the city underwent a nearly $100 million dredging of Lake Decatur, a $72 million fix of the city's sewers, and the building of Decatur Police's new headquarters.
McElroy served as Mayor for six years before passing away in 2015.
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