News, articles, information about Sterling, Illinois City Council from Sauk Valley News and Shaw Local
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.
Bath & Body Works, which has closed its shop in Northland Mall, opened Friday in Sterling Crossing across the street.
Starting May 1, Sterling residents with UTVs and certain other nonhighway vehicles will be able to buzz along many city streets.
With the year 2023 just one day from its end, join us as we take a look back at some of the memorable events that happened in the Sauk Valley month by month.
The Sterling City Council Monday approved updated plans for the long-anticipated redevelopment of the Lawrence Bros. and National Manufacturing sites, the main components of the city’s $300 million master plan for its Riverfront Reimagined project.
Thanks to the efforts of one very proud veteran’s widow, Sterling is now a POW-MIA City.
More store openings are coming soon to the new Sterling Crossing in the Lincolnway business corridor.
The City Council is working with Police Chief Alex Chavira to create an ordinance that would allow UTVs and other nonhighway vehicles to travel on city streets – as they do in Rock Falls and Dixon.
A 5-megawatt solar farm at Locust Street/state Route 40 and Science Ridge Road would not be compatible with Sterling's future industrial plans for that area, and so the City Council is submitting a letter of objection to the project.
A new steakhouse is coming to Sterling, and a package craft beer joint is opening a full-service tap.
The Sterling City Council on Monday approved easements that will allow the Sterling Park District's Community Recreation Trail to make its way to Sauk Valley Community College.
Demolition of the downtown Sterling apartment building at 406/408 E. Third St., where a man died in a fire July 7, wrapped up Friday, but the fate of two of three other buildings involved still is up in the air.
The Sterling City Council voted Tuesday to establish a business development district to assist with the upkeep and development of Northland Mall. It includes an additional 1% sales tax.
A company with multiple community solar projects in Illinois and five other states is asking to build a 5-megawatt solar farm in a field at Locust Street/state Route 40 and Science Ridge Road, just outside Sterling’s northern city limit.
Demolition began Tuesday morning on the shell of a downtown Sterling apartment building destroyed by a fire July 7 that also took the life of a tenant.
The Sterling City Council held a public hearing Monday on a proposal to create a business development district – the city’s second – that would provide economic incentives to anyone looking to improve the Northland Mall site.
If all goes as planned, by about this time next year, Sterling will have a playground to envy all playgrounds.
The Sterling City Council agreed to provide $58,250 in ARPA funds for four programs and projects: for Sauk’s Impact Program, to install historic plaques and informational kiosks in the downtown, and to fight truancy.
The ATF National Response Team cleared the scene of the downtown Sterling apartment building destroyed by a July 7 fire that also took the life of a tenant, and it's back in the hands of its owner, Mihail “Mike” Mihalios, who must handle its demolition himself.
A Sterling fire engine that hit the 20-year-mark and was replaced by a newer model is serving a new purpose in Odessa, Ukraine, where it is helping the embattled republic fight the war with Russia.
The Sterling City Council on Monday unanimously approved a new three-year contract with its firefighters.
Grant funding will help cities address the economic, social and environmental challenges caused by blighted sites and stimulate economic opportunity and environmental revitalization in historically overburdened communities.
Sterling will pay $191,000 to install two futsal courts and a security system in Wallace Park.
Former Sterling Mayor Skip Lee, who couldn’t make his own retirement party May 1 because he was under the weather, is back in the pink and ready to give it another go.
Sterling swore in its first mayor of Latin heritage, and its second female mayor, at Monday’s City Council meeting.
The Sterling City Council Monday passed a resolution honoring and thanking outgoing Mayor Skip Lee, who decided not to run for a fourth term.
New Sterling mayor Diana Merdian and alderman Joe Strabala-Bright were sworn in Monday, May 1, 2023 after winning April's election.
Sterling has a trailer full of supplies that workers will drop off and pick up at no charge for those groups looking to beautify their local parks and neighborhoods.
Three people were vying Tuesday to replace outgoing Sterling Mayor Skip Lee, who opted not to seek reelection this year.