Elgin Watchman

Send us Fan Mail We're back, with new changes to the podcast. We talk about upcoming events where you can get involved, Kendra gets hyperbolic about a law that was passed in January, and Tia takes a deep dive into the plastic bag discussion, which finally made its way back to the council. We're back and excited to dig into all things Elgin.  Correction: Kendra meant to say that "15...

Send us Fan Mail As 2024 turns to 2025 in the next few days, the city of Elgin prepares to change waste haulers, moving on from a 20+ year contract with Waste Management (WM) to a new contract with Lakeshore Recycling Services (LRS). This is the final episode of The Elgin Watchman's Season Three special series on Waste. We've been calling this series WASTE WARS.   In this episode, Tia an...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, December 10th at the Edward Schock Centre in downtown Elgin. The following issues were discussed by commissioners on December 10th and cheerfully shared with you by Erik & Tia after the fact:  Tia did not attend the ESC meeting, so she hosted this episode Not enough commissioners thought attending the December meeting was imp...

Send us Fan Mail In our last episode , Tia & Erik covered the November 12th Elgin Sustainability Commission meeting and unpacked the commission's discussion about their Single Use Bag Fee ordinance proposal to the city council ( which happened almost two years ago ). They also reported on what commissioners were saying, which was they were hearing the city manager's office was warmin...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, November 12th at the Edward Schock Centre in downtown Elgin. The following issues were discussed by commissioners on November 12th and cheerfully shared with you by Erik & Tia after the fact:  Climate Action Planning process Carpentersville Fox River dam removal Status of t-shirt purchase for commissioners Commission's r...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Watchman welcomes special guests Brian Pinion, Downtown Neighborhood Association Vice President and Jamie Berry, owner of Vern's Tavern as they explain the complex issue of simply throwing things away in Downtown Elgin. As a business owner, Jamie provides insight into the long-standing issue of trash contracting in a confined space like the downtown area and exposes...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, October 8th at the Edward Schock Centre in downtown Elgin.     While Tia was off this month celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day, Erik and his Siamese Cat (aka Luang) summarize this month's commission meeting using a multiple choice question format.     The following issues were covered by Erik & Luang:  Climate Action Pla...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, September 10th at the Edward Schock Centre in downtown Elgin.     Tia and Erik unpack the run-of-the-mill agenda items. It did not seem as if there was very many new topics being discussed this month. Until . . . Tia and Erik accidentally stumbled upon the agenda topic of the East Side Neighborhood Garden workday. It was during t...

Send us Fan Mail Our season three special series on Waste continues with this episode in which Tia, Kendra, and Erik unpack what happened at the August 28, 2024 city council meeting. Every council member weighed in with their opinions There was a motion to enter contract negotiations with Lakeshore Recycling (LRS) There was a amendment to that motion to NOT move forward with LRS and instead enter...

Send us Fan Mail Our season three special series on Waste continues with this episode in which Tia chats with the Elgin City staff recommended waste hauler in the 2024 RFP, Lakeshore Recycling Services. She is joined on this hot August day by Katie Neary, Manager of Municipal Services and Josh Connell, Co-Founder and Board Director and Vice President of Government Affairs from LRS. The Watchman wa...

Send us Fan Mail In today's sixth episode of our Season Three deep-dive series -- Waste Wars -- Tia, Kendra, and Erik discuss the August 14, 2024 meeting of the Elgin City Council. Last month, Tia and Kendra unpacked and discussed ( season 3 episode 9 on July 8, 2024 ) the city of Elgin's request for proposals (RFP) from area waste/recycling companies for a potential five to 10 year cont...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, August 13th at the Edward Schock Centre in downtown Elgin.      To summarize the commission agenda items, Tia and Erik typically play fun little podcast games to keep things interesting. However, this month's podcast studio vibe was different. Kendra Kroiss, who is part of Team Watchman and a periodic guest on the show, was...

Send us Fan Mail In today's fourth episode of our Season Three deep-dive series -- Waste Wars -- Tia talks with Clair Ryan, who is Kane County's Recycling Program Coordinator. Lots and lots of ground was covered throughout this episode, but here is a summary  Electronics recycling Kane County's Solid Waste Plan Recycling and waste data collection Landfill capacity monitoring Local m...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, July 9th at the Edward Schock Centre in downtown Elgin.      To summarize the commission agenda items, Tia and Erik typically play fun little podcast games to keep things interesting. This month's game was based on the 1986 movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."  Erik and Tia covered all of the following issues and...

Send us Fan Mail In today's third episode of our Season Three deep-dive series -- Waste Wars -- Tia and Kendra go through the request for proposals (RFP) for the city of Elgin's waste hauler contract starting in 2025.  How long will the waste hauler contract be? Will there be a renewal trigger? Will there be an opt-out What changes are being asked for from bidders? Will there be garbage...

Send us Fan Mail The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, June 11th at the Edward Schock Centre of Elgin. ( Spoiler alert . . . the meeting was adjourned at 7:28pm for the second month in a row ... so, kudos to Commission Chairperson Tom Armstrong ).     The agenda was small, but it felt like everyone had something to say on the following topics: Elgin's tree planting program Clima...

Send us Fan Mail 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 gam...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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: Pr...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 cove...

Send us Fan Mail 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.   Spoile...

Send us Fan Mail 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 commission...