Elgin Watchman

Send us Fan Mail 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 a...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, November 14th. For almost two hours, commissioners and various city staff members talked about the upcoming expiration of the Waste Hauler contract.   In this episode, Tia & Erik chatter about some of the following topics that emanated from the commission meeting: There is a new commissioners at the table Is Public Works Dire...

Send us Fan Mail It's ladies night! Tia can't make the September commission meeting so the wonderful and talented Kerry Kelly attends in her stead. Tia invites Kerry on to unpack the meeting and is joined by another friend of the podcast, Kendra Kroiss, who weighs in on process and procedure themes from the meeting.  In the September episode, Kerry divulges the commission's priority...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the sixth episode of The Fox River Story , a Season Two collaboration with Friends of the Fox Rive r . Tia Aagesen and her husband TJ ( who is the big sexy voice of Wally the Watchman ) host today's show. This sixth episode of The Fox River Story focuses on how the Fox River is being utilized as a community asset that generates economic development opportunities fo...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, August 8th, and unlike the last few months, this time they were joined by the city's new Sustainability Analyst, Kristin Youngmeyer.  The fourth city staff liaison to the commission in the last six years.   While this month's commission meeting agenda appeared to be designed for brevity, it turned out to be anything but...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, July 11th, without a city staff liaison present to help guide their deliberations -- AGAIN.    Just like last month's commission meeting, this agenda was one of the shortest ones in recent history.  In this episode, Tia & Erik talk about the following issues discussed at the commission's July meeting: Farmers Market...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the fifth episode of The Fox River Story , a Season Two collaboration with Friends of the Fox Rive r . In today's episode, Erik Anderson and Cindy Skrukrud of the Fox River Study Group talk about water quality issues throughout the Fox River Watershed. For more information about the podcast, please visit The Elgin Watchman website , LIKE our Facebook page , and sub...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, June 13th, which marked the first time in recent  years they were without a city staff liaison present to help guide their deliberations. Oddly, this might have been one of the quickest meetings in recent history. LOL This was also Sustainability Commissioner Christ Flaherty's last meeting as a commissioner.     In this epis...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the forth episode of The Fox River Story , a Season Two collaboration with Friends of the Fox Rive r . In today's episode, Tia Aagesen and Gary Swick of Friends of the Fox River (FOTFR) talk about "The Fox," citizen engagement, and reclamation of the Fox River Watershed. As always, today's podcast just scratches the surface. Hopefully, it gets you (...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, May 9th, which was the day after Erik's 53rd birthday. ( Note: Erik was devastated the commission didn't have a cake or sing to him or provide any birthday spankings ). Regardless, he was thrilled to have the chance to cover the following issues: Mrs. Smith's students presentation about plastic pollution East Side...

Send us Fan Mail Tia & Erik attended the Elgin Sustainability Commission's Elgin Earth Summit on April 29th and helped bring an end to another successful Elgin Earth Month. From their exhibitor booth, they invited event attendees to take the microphone and answer this question: What does a more sustainable Elgin look like in the future? There were 17 brave souls who seized the moment and...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the third episode of The Fox River Story , a Season Two collaboration with Friends of the Fox Rive r . In today's episode, Erik Anderson and Pam Otto of the St. Charles Park District talk about habitat related topics throughout the Fox River watershed.  Did you know the Fox River watershed is home to: 96 species of fish 32 species of fresh water mussels 250 bird sp...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, April 11th, and as always they had a lot to talk about.   Tia and Erik ( Yep, you read that right . . . Tia is back . . . Hurrah Hurrah! ) . . . they unpack and summarize all of those commission agenda items including: Elgin Earth Month & the commission's Elgin Earth Summit event on April 29th at ECC Volunteerpalooza ( w...

Send us Fan Mail On March 22, 2023, city staff came back to the Elgin City Council with information to share about the proposed Single Use Bag Fee Ordinance, which was a recommended policy change from the Elgin Sustainability Commission approximately 6-months ago.    Rather than summarize the Committee of the Whole discussion for you. Erik shares the entire audio extravaganza of city staff, counci...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the second episode of The Fox River Story , a Season Two collaboration with Friends of the Fox Rive r . In today's episode, Erik Anderson and Gary Swick talk about the concept of WATERSHED THINKING , which simply stated is a viewpoint that everyone and everything in the Fox River watershed is connected. This complicated system of individuals, organizations, and gov...

Send us Fan Mail I know, I know . . . this episode is neither coverage of the Elgin Sustainability Commission meeting nor is it one of the eight episodes this season dedicated to "The Fox River Story" collaboration with Friends of the Fox River.   However, this episode did spin off from The Fox River Story 8-part series, so please cut us some slack.  *wink*   In today's, special edi...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, March 14th, and as always they had a lot to talk about. In fact, at one point in the meeting, there were 10-minutes  where at least five people were talking over each other. In an effort to summarize things, here is a list of what was discussed over a 2+ hour period of time: Commissioner Kevin Zaldivar resigned and the city of El...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Season Two of The Elgin Watchman podcast .  As we did in Season One, the first podcast episode of every month focuses on coverage of the Elgin Sustainability Commission and an environment sustainability issue ( or city hall ) with which they are grappling. The second podcast episode of every month focuses in-depth on a sustainability issue important to Elgin and its nei...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Valentine's Day 2023, and The Elgin Watchman's Tia Aagesen made a guest appearance sharing her observations from the commission meeting in addition to the February city council meeting. Topics covered were: Lead Service Lines Single Use Bag Fee proposed ordinance Strategic Plan Tyler Creek Watershed Commission Workgroups Fossil...

Send us Fan Mail Season Two of The Elgin Watchman podcast is just beginning. And what better way to get a new season moving in the right direction than by covering the first Elgin Sustainability Commission meeting of the year and talking about: Open Meetings Act refresher from City Clerk Kim Dewes 2023 commission budget 2023 Elgin Earth Month And lots of miscellaneous commission blah-blah-blag Thi...

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Year and welcome to Season Two of The Elgin Watchman podcast!   A special thank you to our friends at Elgin Area Climate Action Now (EA NOW) for agreeing to sit for an interview with Erik. Topics covered during this episode include: Where is the city of Elgin at with what it committed to in the city council's Climate Emergency resolution? What is Elgin Area Climate...

Send us Fan Mail " Get involved. Be engaged. And always keep watch! " This is the mantra of The Elgin Watchman podcast. Today's mini-episode is an infomercial for the Elgin Sustainability Commission's Outreach & Education Workgroup, and it is your opportunity to get more involved.   Erik  interviews commissioner Katie Gronke about the objectives of this workgroup and some o...

Send us Fan Mail " Get involved. Be engaged. And always keep watch! " This is the mantra of The Elgin Watchman podcast. Today's mini-episode is an infomercial for the Elgin Sustainability Commission's Renewable Energy Workgroup, and it is your opportunity to get more involved. Erik  interviews commissioner David Jurina about the objectives of this workgroup and some of their up...

Send us Fan Mail " Get involved. Be engaged. And always keep watch! " This is the mantra of The Elgin Watchman podcast. Today's mini-episode is an infomercial for the Elgin Sustainability Commission's Transportation & Mobility Workgroup, and it is your opportunity to get more involved. Erik  interviews commissioner Tom Armstrong about the objectives of this workgroup and so...

Send us Fan Mail " Get involved. Be engaged. And always keep watch! " This is the mantra of The Elgin Watchman podcast. Today's mini-episode is an infomercial for the Elgin Sustainability Commission's Zero Waste Workgroup, and it is your opportunity to get more involved. Jeff Biss about the objectives of this workgroup and some of their upcoming 2023 projects.   Zero Waste Work...