TROY – Jay Keeven has taken a new professional challenge after he accepted a new position as Troy City Administrator. For Keeven, it is his first time out of policing where he has spent 36 years, but he is excited about the new opportunity.
Keeven had a comprehensive career with the Illinois State Police. He left ISP and accepted a position as the City of Edwardsville Chief of Police in 2013 until this past Tuesday, July 6, 2021, when his resignation was accepted and a new police chief was named. Edwardsville City Council voted in previous Major Michael Fillback as the new Edwardsville Police of Chief.
“My world has been policing for 36 years, and I really like working for the City Of Edwardsville,” Keeven said. “I received an unsolicited call about the Troy city administrator position from the Troy mayor. I sat down with him and discussed it and thought about it and thought it would be a new challenge to learn something new. I also felt the Edwardsville Police Department was in good shape with a great command team. I thought Major Fillback would be a good chief, and there were several good officers underneath him. I thought I could move on seamlessly with the people who are left, and I decided I wanted to try something different.”
Keeven has constantly said he loved his work as chief of the City of Edwardsville Police.
“I felt the same way I do now eight years ago when I left the Illinois State Police,” he said. “I am not afraid of something new.”
Keeven spoke highly of the City of Troy and Mayor Dave Nonn.
“I think Dave Nonn loves Troy as much as Hal Patton and Art Risavy did as mayors of Edwardsville,” Keeven said. “Troy is a very nice community, and it is doing great with residential housing starts. They would like to see more community growth. Troy is close to nearly everywhere in the region. Troy is 20 minutes from St. Louis, close to Edwardsville, Maryville, Collinsville, and Granite City. It is a nice, safe, semi-country living place for those who work in the city and around here.”
