Every morning before he officially clocked in to work, Mike Peters would drive through the streets of St. Joseph.
He would look for downed tree limbs, potholes and street lights that were out.
Anything that may need fixing.
Then he would go to work and make sure it got fixed.
The former St. Joseph Public Works Director started working for the village in 1972.
He was a high school worker who needed a summer job and the village needed someone to help lay water mains in the Northgate Subdivision. Peters worked for the village for three summers.
“My Dad was on the board then and they needed some help,” Peters said. “They needed someone down in the ditch. I was the guy in the ditch, tightening all the bolts.”
After high school, Peters went to work at a fertilizer plant in Urbana while also working part time for IDOT running a snow plow.
In 1993 he became a full time laborer for the Village of St. Joseph. He read meters and did other tasks that were given to him by the public works director.
“Back then we still had the water system so we would put out meters,” Peters said. In the late 90s, he was promoted to Director of Public Works.
“I had been there a while,” Peters said. “I knew what was going on. I learned from those who had the job before me and I felt prepared.”
In 1996, the Village decided to sell their water plant to Illinois American Water. Peters said that was a big change, but a welcomed one.
“It was one less headache,” Peters said.
Before deciding to sell, the village had dug three test wells and couldn’t find any water. Plus, the infrastructure was failing and public works laborers would often find themselves working on pipes or mains during frigid winter temperatures.
“I would volunteer to go down in the hole because it was warmer than standing outside,” Peters said.
The sale of the water plant wasn’t the only change Peters dealt with as Public Works Director.
As the years passed he utilized technology in different ways and the job required more paperwork. He was also dealing with contractors as the village expanded.
One thing that didn’t change was Peters’ dedication to the community.
Being born and raised here, he knew the people he was serving.
“They knew me and knew they could contact me and ask questions,” Peters said. “I felt an obligation to see what they might need and we would go from there. It may have been something simple or more indepth.”
Peters said different mayors handled dealing with Public Works in different ways. Former Mayor B.J. Hackler encouraged Peters to work directly with the people. He also came to the Public Works Building every Monday to ask what was planned for the week and what they needed his assistance with.
“B.J. was always in contact,” Peters said. “It made it easier because he was always involved. He would come to the job sites and see what was going on and we would go from there. He was the best boss I had.”
Previously, Public Works had more contact with village board members as well. Former board members Forrest Chism, Jim Haake, Bill Crawford, Bob Rigdon and Roy McCarty were all very involved in what public works was doing.
Peters said one reason is that the village used to have committees that would oversee certain aspects of the village.
“If you had a problem, you went to that person,” Peters said.
Now, Public Works answers directly to Village Administrator Joe Hackney.
Peters said one issue Public Works has faced recently is being short handed. They often work on two or three jobs at a time and while he enjoys being hands on he said a full staff would be helpful.
Peters said the current staff, Josh Reese and Stuart Purcell, are hard workers who know what they are doing.
“I can just mention something and they can go do it,” Peters said.
Peters said part-timers that the village has hired through a temp company don’t always work out.
“You need to hire local because they know the people, they know the town and they know the streets,” Peters said. “You have to babysit part-time people.”
Reese said Peters was an excellent boss who trusted his staff to learn what needed to be done.
“When I started working 24 years ago for Mike, I’d been working part time for the village when they moved me to full time, I needed to learn to run some of the bigger equipment,” Reese said. “He told me to take the backhoe out to an open area by the sewer plant and just start doing some digging and practicing. There was never any pressure from him and it was the best way to learn. He always wanted what was best for the public and the village. He was a good boss to work with and cared about his employees.”
Former Village Trustee Todd Hitt said Peters historical knowledge of the village, activities and its infrastructure is unmatched.
“Mike was the knower of everything in St. Joseph,” he said. “He always had a resource he could tap into if he needed to, a person he could call to assist. Always willing to help at any hour of the day or night. His knowledge of all things St. Joseph is unmatched and his presence on the streets will be sorely missed.”
In November 2010, Peters’ knowledge of the town and those who work in it saved a life. When he got home from work he noticed a water company truck down the road but he didn’t see a worker. A half an hour went by and when he still didn’t see a worker, he went down the road to see what was going on. An American Illinois Water worker was upside down in the meter pit.
She told Mike she couldn’t get out. Peters had no idea how long she had been in the meter pit but knew they needed to get her out. Peters called the fire department who got the worker out.
“The hospital told her if she had been down there much longer she would have died,” Peters said.
Mike’s wife Cheryl, said that she always tells Mike he is nosey and in this instance it paid off.
“Sometimes it has helped and kept problems from happening,” he said.
Public service has always been a part of the Peters family.
MIke’s dad served on the village board and was mayor. When he retired as mayor he then went and served on the township board.
Cheryl said that even when Mike was technically off the clock, he was still always willing to help his fellow community members.
“I’ve just come to accept it,” she said.
Cheryl said that on a recent Mother’s Day, they had family members over and a wind storm knocked a tree into a house.
“Mike and all of my brothers-in-laws go down and cut the tree down,” Cheryl said.
He also serves on the St. Joseph-Stanton Fire Protection District.
He has served with the fire department since 1983.
“It helps communication between the village and fire department,” he said. “Public works can block off streets and help with that.”
Fire Chief Josh Reese said Peters has been to a lot of calls and helped a lot of people.
Reese said Peters is good at training the new firefighters.
“He’s great at teaching our new folks about pumping the trucks and drafting from porta tanks,” Reese said. “Just leave him on the pump panel with a new person and he’ll have them feeling comfortable pumping in no time.”
Reese said he’s also good at making sure tankers are filled up when there is a rural fire.
“It’s nice to know we can always depend on that,” he said. “Mike’s time here and at the village public works is about public service and what he could do to help out folks in our town.”
Reese said it was always clear that Peters was concerned about his fellow citizens.
“You could see it on his face in some of the bigger fires that we have had that he was genuinely concerned about the people and property and wanted to do all that he could to help,” Reese said.
Peters said the community works better when different groups work together.
“We don’t have any formal agreements,” he said. “We work together with the schools, the businesses that may need help.”
Cheryl said one of his biggest concerns when deciding to retire was who would help maintain the pulley on the flag at the middle school.
“He was the one who does that,” Cheryl said.
Former St. Joseph Grade School Superintendent Todd Pence said Mike was always willing to help.
“Mike is old school and understands that the community is a much better place for everyone when all the taxing bodies work together,” Pence said. “Mike has dedicated his life to making our community a place we can be proud of to call home. On behalf of the grade school and the community thank you Mike and God bless you.”
Another way Peters has served the community is with his work with the St. Joseph Community Council, which organizes the St. Joseph Community Festival in August.
Before chairing the committee, Peters took care of the electrical work at Kolb Park for the carnival rides and vendors.
Once he started chairing the committee, his responsibilities included organizing all the events and spending countless hours getting the park set up for the festival. Peters took his responsibility seriously. He also wanted to take care of the vendors and carnival workers who made the festival enjoyable.
“One year he even told the carnival workers to come to our house and get water,” Cheryl said.
The week of the festival, Peters works 80 hours that week.
“It’s more or less repetition,” he said. “I know what we have to do.”
Two years ago, Peters suffered a health episode during the festival.
“We knew something was wrong,” Cheryl said. “He was very nervous and stressed. He came home and said his face was numb.”
That was Monday.
On Thursday, his fingers were numb.
“He is never one to complain about not feeling well,” Cheryl said. “It was the festival and he would have suffered through it.”
Cheryl made him go to the hospital.
“He was very upset he couldn’t be there,” she said.
Peters stayed in the hospital during festival weekend, missing seeing his favorite part of the year in person-the fireworks.
However, community members came through.
Cheryl said a few people videoed the fireworks and sent it to them while Mike was in the hospital.
‘He cried when he saw it,” Cheryl said.
That health episode got Peters thinking about retirement.
He told the village last August that 2026 would be his last year working as Public Works Director. He originally planned on working through 2026 but resigning from his position on the Community Council. The village told him they still wanted him to run the festival, so Peters moved up his retirement date.
“After the festival, I sat down with the Mayor, told him that this was my last festival,” Peters said. “Next year, I will sit down on the sideline and relax and enjoy it. Page said that as long as I was employed by the village I would be working on the festival. I discussed it with family and we decided on July 31, 2026.”
In early 2026, Peters decided to move up the timeline. He told the village in early February that March 31 would be his last day, bringing his time with the village to an end.
Peters said he felt overall, it was a good career.
“I think it was all good,” Peter said.
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