Dunlap officials are hoping to persuade hundreds of Peoria County residents to annex to the village. In a pre-annexation informational meeting, Radnor and Medina township residents carefully listened as speakers outlined the pros and cons of joining the village of Dunlap.

Among the perks stressed by officials were lower taxes than if they were annexed to the city of Peoria, as well as higher property value.

Peoria county resident Terry Haas says it was important to start the process now. "We did this because we were concerned in terms of Peoria's growth pattern coming to the north and to the west- large tracks of land coming under the auspices of the City. We were also concerned in terms of preserving what we call our community cohesiveness in the area".

The Dunlap Mayor, Jack Fennell said, "we'd like to have our village boundaries protected a little bit so we have a chance to grow in the future and we don't get land locked in by Peoria just surrounding us all the way, so there's way for the village to grow".

The pre-annexation attorney says the process could take years to complete. He says if one resident on a plot farther from the village wanted to annex, but his neighbor closer in didn't, that resident could be out of luck.

The pre-annexation process will cost each participating household approximately 300 dollars in attorney fees. Tonight's meeting at Dunlap High School was for officials to gauge the amount of interest...and more than a hundred turned out.