Sycamore mayor talks police chief search, new fire station, city’s 2025 goals

SYCAMORE – Running unopposed for a second term this spring, Sycamore Mayor Steve Braser has the luxury of knowing he’s likely got another four years in office.

Braser said that fact hasn’t altered his course.

“I would have continued going forward with what we’ve got going anyway,” Braser said. “Am I disappointed that nobody’s running against me? No, not really.”

With a familiar face running Sycamore City Council meetings, city officials largely know what to expect from Braser, who’s held the mayoral office since May 2021 and previously served as a city alderman. Now four years into his mayoral stint, Braser said he keeps a positive outlook for the city but believes it has largely cleaned up situations that he inherited from previous officials.

“We’ve cleaned up a lot of our issues that I inherited, not necessarily from the previous mayor, but from previous city managers,” Braser said. “We have great, great department heads right now, and I’m very pleased with all, everything we’ve accomplished.”

Street resurfacing and water main projects are scheduled to be completed in 2025, according to city documents. Braser said such infrastructure projects are constantly in the city’s annual project lineup.

“Moving forward, we’d like to come up with more money for roads,” Braser said. “Just like every other community, we’d like to have more money to improve our infrastructure.”

Water infrastructure has been a steamy topic for the city this decade.

A lawsuit was filed after residents in fall 2020 began protesting what they described as the discolored, foul-smelling water coming out of their homes’ taps, saying they refused to use it. Those complaints soon turned into a larger fear that high levels of toxic lead, which can cause severe health problems, was prevalent in city water.

In 2023, the city of Sycamore agreed to settle a $6 million class-action lawsuit filed by area residents that alleged the city was negligent in maintaining its water quality, and agreed to steer millions of dollars toward infrastructure and to increase water testing, records show.

In 2024, Sycamore officials completed the citywide water service line material inventory as well as the associated city-funded lead water service line replacement program that allowed property owners with lead service lines to have the city replace the line at no cost to the owner.

Illinois cities had until 2024 to submit an inventory of water service lines, and they have until April 2027 to submit to the state a complete replacement plan for the lead service lines, according to the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act.

Sycamore officials in late 2024 said only five properties with lead service lines still are connected to the city’s public works water system, and four of the five property owners refused to take part in the city’s replacement program.

“So the water thing we’ve got pretty well caught up on everything,” Braser said. “In fact, I think we’re ahead of most communities, so [I’m] very, very glad with how that’s progressed. But, you know, every winter you have pipelines break and you find out things need to be replaced in the well, and it’s just an ongoing thing. You can’t neglect it.”

Infrastructure work on roads and water mains have been common in Sycamore in recent years, but the infrastructure project that Braser said he’s most looking forward to in 2025 will be one that means better housing for Sycamore firefighters.

The city included funding for a new $10.5 million Sycamore Fire Station 1, to be located just south of the intersection of South Prairie Drive and Borden Avenue, in the 2025 annual budget.

In August, some Sycamore residents said they were opposed to the location of the new fire station because they were worried for the safety of schoolchildren and the ability for fire engines to navigate the residential streets. City officials subsequently moved the location of the proposed fire station to the south side of the land donated for the cause by Ideal Industries.

Braser said the decision to move the fire station south on the lot had “a little bit to do with” the comments from the public.

“We really hadn’t considered moving it. Then, a couple of the people who lived nearby there wanted us to consider that,” Braser said. “It should not have a big effect. In fact, it might be better having the station farther back on the property than right up on the corner.”

Braser said ground is expected to break on the project in March.

Among the focuses for 2025 is the search for a new police chief. Sycamore Police Chief Jim Winters announced plans to retire by March. The search for his replacement is underway.

The city has contracted with the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police to help officials pick Winters’ replacement. Braser said that effort so far has been productive, with the search narrowed down to six candidates.

“Hopefully one of those will stand out, or one or two of them, and we’ll bring him in for second interviews, let more of the council members and city people meet with them,” Braser said.

Braser heralded Winters’ work, saying the exiting police chief had “done a fantastic job.”

“It’s going to be hard to replace him,” Braser said. “We have a lot of young police officers right now and young sergeants, too, that haven’t been in those roles for quite a while, so it’s gonna take a strong leader to get that done.”