Peru Mayor Steps Down Calling Council Hostile

Mayor of Peru, Katy Novak, resigned Tuesday, citing a “hostile council,” on the same day the Peru City Council met and overrode two of her vetoes regarding changes to city staff capacity.
Novak announced her decision in an official letter addressed to city residents and posted on Facebook, saying she was stepping down effective June 17, 2026. She did not attend the council’s regular meeting that evening. 
In the letter, Novak said she had spent the past year being asked “to tolerate behavior and actions that go against everything I believe in,” and that she had weighed whether staying was “worth the cost to me and my family.”
She listed a series of challenges during her tenure, including “a water shortage, a staffing crisis, a personal health emergency, an unfounded recall effort, and a hostile council” that she said was not supportive of the progress she came to office to pursue. Novak said she was proud of bringing the city “financial clarity and stability” but was disappointed more had not been accomplished. “We could have, and we should have,” she wrote.
Novak also defended city staff, writing that employees “have been treated as collateral damage in this council’s agenda” and that “they deserve better.” She closed by saying, “trying to help Peru has been an honor.”
Novak’s connection to Peru predates her family’s move to town three years ago; she has written that the community “was the background to my childhood.” 
Peru City Clerk Dennis Kirkpatrick said that in accordance with state law, Council President Theresa Westfall will step in as Mayor once council approves the move and would serve till the end of her term in December of 2028. The council met June 22 to accept the resignation and assign Westfall to the role of Mayor. With the transition there is a vacacy on council. Applications for appointment are available at City Hall until July 1 at 10am.
Council overrides vetoes
The resignation came hours before a council meeting marked by friction over Novak’s vetoes. With the mayor absent, council members Theresa Westfall, Rachel Brown, Brent Brown and Josh Whisler voted 3-1 to override her veto of an ordinance separating the deputy clerk and grant coordinator into distinct positions, and 3-1 to override her veto of an ordinance setting compensation for the mayor, council and city employees. Rachel Brown cast the lone dissenting vote on both overrides.
Water rate increase held
The council approved Ordinance 2026-06, pausing updates to a range of city rates and fees and providing for a scheduled water rate increase effective July 1. Members suspended the rules to pass the ordinance in a single reading after discussing the city’s water rate study, which a council committee said needs several more months of usage data before any further changes are recommended.
Three nuisance properties declared
In three actions, the council declared properties at 517 5th St. and at 604 and 608 5th St. to be unsafe public nuisances and ordered abatement.
For a fourth property at 619 5th St., the council voted to revisit a nuisance declaration in 90 days after DJ Schmidt of ELRH and property owner and his attorney asked for time to pursue a private sale to a large regional healthcare facility. The representative said interested buyers would require the building’s demolition as a condition of purchase, and offered to deed the property to the city for roughly $5,000 if they wished to use the property and not give an extension.
Other business
The council approved a temporary easement allowing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers additional room for levee-approach work along Boat Ramp Road; approved repairs to a city one-ton truck; and approved a new agreement with Kinetic to move city phone and internet service to gigabit fiber at a reduced monthly cost.
The council took no action on a proposed uniform stipend for maintenance employees or on past water-billing issues involving Peru State College, both of which were tabled pending additional information.