The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, May 14th at the Edward Schock Centre of Elgin. (Spoiler alert . . . the meeting was adjourned at 7:28pm and Erik came to this episode in a great mood.) The commission meeting contained lots of discussion on a variety of different topics. There was no action, but lots of talk. So, Tia & Erik used one of their podcast games to summarize all the chatter. The following is a laundry list of topics you will hear discussed in this e...

In today's third episode of our Season Three deep-dive series -- Waste Wars -- Tia interviews Elgin City Council Member Carol Rauschenberger. To say Council Member Rauschenberger's "mind is blown" on so very many topics related to the city's Waste/Recycling contract is an understatement. What seems logical to this council member appears to be an foreign concept to waste haulers. [TEASE] For example, should the city council consider NOT renewing recycling services with a contracte...

The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, April 9th at the Edward Schock Centre of Elgin. Surely, this meeting occurred in an alternative universe because: 1) 100% of the city council appointed commissioners were in attendance AND 2) the commission got through a very busy agenda within the 1.5 hour time limit they recently mandated for themselves in 2024. In this episode, Tia Aagesen & Erik Anderson summarize the agenda items and discussions. They a...

In today's first episode of our Season Three deep-dive series -- Waste Wars -- Tia interviews Elgin City Council Member Tish Powell. Broadly, they discuss the city of Elgin's upcoming decision on who to hire for garbage and recycling services for the next 3, 5, or possibly even 10 years. Throughout this discussion, the following topics are discussed and explored:Process for securing proposals from interested waste haulers . . . aka "requests for proposal" (RFP) . . . and whe...

The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, March 12th at the Edward Schock Centre of Elgin. An efficient meeting by all measurements with virtually no tangents, side conversations, talking over each other, and long-winded echoing of each other. Maybe it was because the commission's City Councilperson liaison -- Carol Rauschenberger -- wasn't in attendance. *wink* (Just kidding, Carol). Truthfully, it is more likely the influence of the commission's new lion tamer (aka Sustainability ...

The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, February 13th. After cancelling the January 2024 meeting due to weather, the February meeting touched on a lot of different topics. Unfortunately, the commission couldn't vote on anything because of an agenda snafu that entangled the group in Illinois Opens Meetings Act hell. In this episode, Tia Aagesen & Kerry Kelly summarize the whole enchilada, which included all of these topics:Starting meetings on time (or not) and respecting ...

Welcome to Season Three of The Elgin Watchman podcast. As you know, we got off to a slow start with this podcasting season . . . winter weather, public meeting cancellations, etc. Regardless, we're back in the saddle again. We appreciate your patience as we find our podcast publishing rhythm again. As we've done in the past, the first podcast drop of each month is coverage of the Elgin Sustainability Commission. The second podcast of each month is an episode that is part of a deep-dive ...

Tia and Erik chat about their favorite podcast moments of 2023 and look ahead to what's on deck in 2024 for The Elgin Watchman podcast. Spoiler alert #1 . . . Erik's biggest disappointment was the Elgin City Council's inability to govern effectively when it tabled the proposed Single Use Bag Fee ordinance recommendation from the Sustainability Commission. Spoiler alert #2 . . . Season Three will focus on Waste, Recycling, and Composting, which is where you can bet the proposed Singl...

The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, December 12th. What looked like a potentially short meeting with only two agenda items, turned into a two hour debate about the pros vs. cons of using artificial turf in city parks/playgrounds and Sports Complex fields. In this episode, Tia & Erik chatter about some of the following topics a heated debate between commissioners and city staff about artificial turf:Americans with Disabilities ActMicroplasticsPFASData-driven Decision-m...

Erik is still lost and no where to be found so Tia and Gary Swick pick up the slack and tackle the hottest topic in town: the dam! Ahhh yes..the Kimball Street dam...what is going on with that? Why's everyone talking about this?!Listen to Tia and Gary as they navigate the latest findings from the Army Corps of Engineers and what their recommendations mean for the Fox River and Elgin. What's the history of the dam? How is it impacting our community and environment? What's happened recently tha...