ROCHELLE — On Wednesday, March 5, City of Rochelle Mayor John Bearrows and City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh presented their 2025 State of the City address at City Hall and live on Facebook. 

The address covered the city's work during 2024, its work so far in 2025 and its plans for the rest of the year. In its operations, the city adheres to its strategic plan goals of economic & business development, financial management & stability, community inclusivity & engagement, infrastructure effectiveness & improvement, core service delivery, and quality of life.

Fiegenschuh briefly covered the city's finances during the presentation. The city's total fiscal year 2025 balanced budget is $133.5 million. 

"The city's finances are in very good shape," Fiegenschuh said. "That's due in part to our strong staff and finance department and the mayor and city council. The mayor and council have made it a priority to improve our finances and reinvest in infrastructure. And I think we've done a very good job with that."

The city's work during 2024 included the welcoming of two new housing complexes on its south side; preliminary work on a downtown project that will see a new bathrooms, storage and stage structure and parking lot improvements and expansion; work on an industry taskforce and a hiring expo, and a visit from the Union Pacific Railroad’s Big Boy No. 4014 train engine that attracted 60,000 visitors to Rochelle. 

The City of Rochelle currently has 130 full-time employees, six part-time employees and 47 seasonal employees, Fiegenschuh said. 

"That covers police and fire all the way to sanitation and utilities," Fiegenschuh said. I'm very proud of our employees. This past year our staff donated close to $37,000 to the Rochelle Area Community Foundation through a payroll deduction program. We're RACF's single-largest donor and I'm very proud of that and how our employees give back to our community."

The year 2024 saw hiring in the Rochelle Police Department and Rochelle Fire Department as RPD filled open positions and RFD expanded its staffing to meet rising call levels. RFD emergency call levels rose by over 1,000 from 2018 to 2024. RFD added a total of six new firefighters and a grant it received covered the expenses associated with three of them for three years. The department also recently established the rank of captain. 

In its public works and engineering departments, the City of Rochelle replaced 38,000 square feet of sidewalk in 2024. That program is funded by utility tax. Those departments also resurfaced Steward Road from South Main Street to the Lee County line with shoulder widening and new pavement marking. That project cost $1.5 million and was partially funded by $630,000 from the Illinois Department of Transportation to expand the city's industrial area. 

"I love to stand here and talk about these projects," Bearrows said. "But if we didn't have all of our staff and support from IDOT and the federal government, these projects couldn't happen. And the council is the reason these projects go forward."

In its Rochelle Municipal Utilities Departments in 2024, the city added new streetlights in the Lake Lida area as it works to replace them through residential areas, remodeled its new South 7th Street location for RMU operations, saw an increase in service customers, and improved its RMU customer service building at 333 Lincoln Highway. 

Bearrows and Fiegenschuh covered 2025 goals for the city, including new cameras at the police department, the hiring of a new full-time police officer, and a potential third school resource officer. On the fire side, RFD plans to continue to grow its fire training facility to improve safety and potential use by other entities. 

The city's community development department hopes to complete a new urban park at the former site of Vinny's Barbershop at 517 4th Ave. by the end of 2025. That department also hopes to see development at the former site of Sullivan's Foods, along with the completion of the aforementioned parking lot project downtown. 

Street improvements in 2025 will include the resurfacing of Creston Road east past Dement Road and north to 7th Avenue along Caron Road. The Flagg Road and 20th Street intersection will also be reconstructed, widened and improved in conjunction with Ogle County. 

There are 2025 plans in the RMU water/water reclamation departments for a new iron removal plant at Well 8, a second phase of improvements at the wastewater treatment plant, relining of sanitary sewers, and the completion of a water tower rehabilitation project. 

In its community engagement department, the city plans to replace the signs at its entrances. At Fairways Golf Course, the city and park district have plans to add a pickleball court, trim trees and improve tee boxes. 

Bearrows thanked Fiegenschuh and the rest of the city council for their leadership, along with city staff as Rochelle moves forward in another year. 

"We have the right people in the right spots and we all have the same vision going forward," Bearrows said.