The Rochelle City Council on Monday, Nov. 10, unanimously approved its 2025 tax levy in which it will collect $3,104,199 – an increase of 3% over last year.

Ogle County has estimated the city’s equalized assessed value (EAV) at $354,394,722, an increase of nearly $30 million from last year. Based on that EAV, the city’s tax rate would decrease .052204 per $100 of EAV to .875916. The levy includes funding the city’s police and fire pension funds as recommended by the pension boards’ actuarial studies.

“My goal was to get us below 90 cents per $100 of EAV, which this does,” City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said. “My goal will continue to be to reduce that levy as much as possible every year or at least maintain it. The reason we’re able to do this is because we’ve had enough economic growth in our community.”

Property

The council unanimously approved the purchase of property at 313 W. Fifth Ave. and a vacant lot to the east of it for a total of $110,000. The city recently purchased the property to the west of the parcels and demolished a home on it. All of the land will be used for parking for the Rochelle Fire Department and the public, following its decision to use previous parking south of the RFD station for a new bathroom, storage and stage structure, which is currently under construction.

Easements

The council unanimously approved five easement agreements during the meeting related to the construction of its upcoming new Centerpoint Drive electrical substation for Rochelle Municipal Utilities. The project will see overhead lines run from RMU’s Ritchie Road substation to the new Centerpoint Drive substation.

Easements and associated payments approved included John Norton for $12,558 and $4,056, Chicago Title Trust for $99,723, Donald and Frances Cappell for $20,124, Fresh Furrow LLC for $78,408, and Noggle Family Limited Partnership for $65,664 and $122,740.

The easements will ensure permanent access for operations, maintenance and emergency response. More easements will come before the council in the future, Rochelle Municipal Utilities Superintendent of Electric Operations Blake Toliver said.

At its Oct. 27 meeting, the council approved a $7,673,358 bid from Tri-City Electric Co. for the construction of the Centerpoint Drive substation. The basis for the new substation off Illinois Route 38 is to free up two power feeders that are currently tied up to feed one customer. The new substation will alleviate that congestion and make RMU able to serve residential customers more reliably.

RMU

City Risk & Safety Coordinator Brittney Zick presented an update during the meeting on cleanup work relating to an incident where an RMU utility pole and transformer fell into the waterfall area at Spring Lake on June 5.

Clean Harbors took soil samples and found the continued presence of mineral oil from the transformer, and required the excavation of the oil-impacted soil. At its Sept. 22 meeting, the Rochelle City Council approved a $73,937 expenditure for cleanup. After recent Illinois Environmental Protection Agency approval, no more water and soil sampling is needed and the project will be closed.

RMU has installed a new transformer on a pad to prevent future issues. The city will be restoring the bottom of the waterfall after a dam was put in place to contain the initial spill. Fence repair will be done by the city as well. Those projects will be done by the end of the year.

Toliver said during the meeting that RMU’s electrical system recently underwent a line inspection report to identify failures before they occur, which mapped 6,696 assets and found 236 thermal anomalies to address. The inspection cost $90,000 and could save $188,800 in outage costs. RMU also recently acquired equipment that will help it to address the stability of utility poles.

“This has been great,” Toliver said of the line inspection report. “I’d like to have the council’s support to do this every 2-3 years.”

During the meeting, the council voted 6-1 to accept a proposal from AIDash for vegetation management services around RMU electric infrastructure for $54,000 a year for five years.

AIDash is an artificial-intelligence platform built specifically for utilities and uses satellite imagery and data analytics to help utilities monitor and maintain their systems more efficiently. Rather than relying solely on manual inspections and routine tree trimming cycles, AIDash provides insight into which areas pose the greatest reliability risks.

Small business

City Community Development Director Michelle Pease made a presentation on a potential new small business interior improvement program. Businesses in Rochelle’s downtown would be eligible for the program, which would budget $30,000 per year in matching funds with a maximum of $10,000 per project.

The program would start in January 2026, and eligible projects would include flooring, lighting, HVAC, accessibility, plumbing and electric work. Businesses would be eligible to receive funds every three years.

In the past, the city has offered a similar facade improvement program with matching funds, but that program only covered improvements to exterior business fronts.

Hoffman sworn in

A swearing-in ceremony was held for new city Finance Director Matt Hoffman during the meeting. Hoffman replaces Chris Cardott, who will retire this year after 20 years of service. Hoffman most recently served as assistant finance director for the village of Lake in the Hills.

Proclamations

Mayor John Bearrows read two proclamations at the meeting. The first was in honor of Focus House’s 50th anniversary, which will take place Nov. 14. The Ogle County treatment facility just north of Rochelle provides a continuum of services for at-risk youths including residential, counseling, education and alternative programming.

The second proclamation was in honor of Veterans Day on Nov. 11. The proclamation was accepted by members of Arnold Heltness American Legion Post 403.