Sterling City Council

The Sterling Police Department honored two of its own Monday with its Cadet T. Thorp Officer of the Year and Non-Sworn Employee of the Year awards.

The Sterling City Council swore in two new police officers and two new firefighters during a City Council meeting on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.

The Sterling City Council on Monday, Jan. 6, will add to the ranks of the city’s police and fire departments.

The Sterling City Council has hired Stichter Construction Co. of Erie to demolish several properties across the city.

The Sterling City Council has hired Matt Hughes from the lobbying firm MRH Solutions to assist in securing a designation that, if approved, could provide millions of dollars in additional funding for city development.

2024 has been a big year for Sterling, with several projects and plans that will shape the city’s future underway.

Rodriguez is a former Sterling volleyball player who has dominated the volleyball courts during her time at the libero position for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The Twin Cities Homeless Shelter, known as PADS, in Sterling is asking the community for help following passage of a city ordinance banning public camping.

Public camping is now banned in Sterling as city officials try to address issues that have arose with Sterling’s growing homeless population.

With the state of Illinois set to phase out the local grocery sales tax, the Sterling City Council voted Monday to implement its own 1% grocery sales tax.

Sterling Industrial Development Commission approves motion to recommend sale of vacant properties in the 200 block of West Seventh Street to T&P for $1.

On the ballot for the April 1, 2025, election will be two incumbents running for two open seats on the Dixon City Council along with two incumbents and two newcomers running for two open seats on the Sterling City Council.

Sterling’s Riverfront Commission met Wednesday to discuss updates for Sterling’s $300 million multi-phase Riverfront Reimagined project.

Dixon’s City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to ban sleeping and camping in public spaces on Monday in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that now allows cities to do so.

Sterling has been awarded over $300,000 in federal grant funding to improve road safety, U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Rockford, announced Monday.

The actual property tax rate in Sterling could decrease by nearly 6% next year, city officials say.

Sterling City Manager Scott Schumard said owner M5 Property Holdings hopes to finish the project within a year of starting.

The Sterling City Council designated the last of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds Monday, choosing to put the remaining funds toward building demolition costs and a new fire department training center.

Owners claim ordinance would unfairly impact ‘good’ landlords and tenants.

Sterling Building and Zoning Superintendent Amanda Schmidt said she has been working on the project with Mavco Real Estate Development of Chicago since May and expects ground to be broken this year.

Sterling’s City Council is discussing the possibility of adopting a residential rental housing code that, if approved, would hold owners and tenants accountable for substandard living conditions in rental properties throughout the city.

Mayor Diana Merdian and Riverfront Reimagined commissioners met Wednesday, Oct. 16, to discuss the River Edge Redevelopment Zone Act, which is legislation encouraging economic growth through redevelopment and revitalization projects found typically in areas along waterfronts.

After a sobering report on the condition of Sterling Fire Department’s apparatus, many have asked: “How did we get here?” To answer those questions, we need to go back a few years, writes Shaw Local reporter Brandon Clark.

The council at its meeting Monday night approved appropriating $655,203, or as much as is needed, to match the required funding to complete the proposed bike path.

Problems range from property deterioration and abandonment to free-flowing sewage and infestation.

Sterling resident Aida Baker was sworn onto the council Monday to represent the 4th Ward, a seat Joe Martin had filled for 29 years.

Sterling held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for its yet-to-be-named riverfront park at 201 Wallace St., the city’s first step toward a $300 million project known as Riverfront Reimagined.

Local discussion about housing people without shelter is surfacing In the wake of U.S. Supreme Court action that now allows cities to establish an ordinance to ban sleeping and camping in public spaces.

The new park along the Rock River at the former Northwestern Steel and Wire Mill site is Phase One of Sterling’s $300 million Riverfront Reimagined Project.

City Council starting discussions about if it should pursue creating an ordinance, and where to direct the homeless population.

Sterling residents will be voting in the upcoming 2025 consolidated election to fill two seats on the Sterling City Council.

The Riverfront Commission has already landed $2.75 million in commitments from potential donors for Phase 2 of Riverfront Reimagined. Now, the commission is asking the council to decide how to proceed with naming rights for the park, its buildings and amenities.

Joe Martin had served on the Sterling City Council as the city’s 4th Ward alderman since 1995, while also serving as vice mayor since 2007.

Union Pacific has officially added Sterling as a whistle-stop along the iconic Big Boy No. 4014 steam engine’s “Heartland of America Tour.”

Interested party wants to put senior assisted-living facility in National buildings.

Sterling alderman: Rockford, Sycamore, Mt. Morris, Dixon, Rock Falls, and now Sterling are discussing creating the right incentives to stimulate a stagnant housing development market.

The Sterling City Council and the city’s consulting planner are honing in on how to diversify housing offerings for all demographics while maintaining a balance between ownership and rental opportunities and housing costs.

Mayor Diana Merdian swore in Eldon Oltmanns as the newest Sterling police officer Monday night.

Sterling’s planning commission is recommending the City Council reject the proposal for a new solar farm on a 45-acre site at the corner of West Le Fevre Road and McCue Road.

Plans call for park to be completed by May or June of next year.

Sterling Mayor Diana Merdian also introduced 12-year-old Brynn Ordean, who served as Mayor for the Day, during Monday's council meeting.

Forest Reeder, who was welcomed onto the department at the June 3 Sterling City Council meeting, stepped out of retirement to assume the role while the city looks for a permanent replacement following the recent retirement of former Sterling Fire Chief Michael Dettman.

The proclamation recognizes that Pride Month “serves as a time to recognize the contributions and struggles of LGBTQ+ individuals, to promote awareness and acceptance, and to advocate for equal rights and protections under the law.”

The Sterling City Council voted Monday night to increase police officers’ wages in fiscal 2025, increase holiday pay, extend the collective bargaining agreement until 2027 and give 3% wage increases in each of those 2 additional years.

A little over a week before her planned retirement on June 12, Brinkley, Sterling Police Department’s current community service dog, will be the city’s honorary mayor of the day.

Millie and her handler, Community Service Officer Mary Toth, started their first day working together at the station on Monday.

The Sterling City Council on Monday allocated $370,000 more of its American Rescue Plan Act funds, and the biggest recipient so far has been the downtown Sterling Theater.

The Sterling City Council agreed Monday not to object to a request for a special-use permit for a 5-megawatt solar farm just west of city limits, at Freeport and Science Ridge roads.

Over the objections of the city of Sterling, the Whiteside County Board approved issuing a special-use permit to build a 5-megawatt solar farm at Locust Street/state Route 40 and Science Ridge Road.

After negotiating with the owners of properties along the 400 block of East Third Street downtown that were destroyed or damaged by a fatal fire on July 7, the city will pay $138,000 for four sites it plans to redevelop.