City of Sterling, Illinois

May your feats of strength be enduring and your grievances fully aired!

There's a mercaptan leak to our south which you might have noticed. It gets added to natural gas and propane so you can detect leaks. 🤞 it is fixed soon!

We sorta kinda (ok, lotta) neglected this account. It's starting to snow. S'posed to be more than a bit. Odd even parking in effect. Dec 7 is odd, park on odd side of the road (address wise) to allow plows to clear roads. Park on the even side Dec 8. Steer into the spin!

As work continues to the west along 2nd St, the turn lane from Rte 40 to 2nd Street will close beginning Monday, July 28. Between Rte 40 and 4th Ave, only 2nd Ave will remain partially open to access businesses south of 2nd St. Alleys, 3rd& 4th Aves will be closed at 2nd St.

If your business uses Light Street between 3rd and 4th, stop by with your questions or concerns!

The Ave G bridge will be closed on July 10th for inspection and maintenance!

2nd Street will be open to local traffic only. except for where they are working. This is a large project. Most of the road work should be complete in 2025, though the pedestrian bridge over Route 40 is likely to occur in 2026. The final completion is scheduled for June 2026.

🚧2nd Street Reconstruction to begin this month! This $6.23m project will rebuild 2nd St from Rte 40 to Broadway & add a multi-use path along the south side to connect downtown to the existing paths at the Dillon Home/Martin's Landing, including a pedestrian bridge over Rte 40.

On Monday, April 14th, the contractor (Gensini) will have traffic control put in place from 1st Ave (IL RT 40) to E. 3rd St (IL RT2). Work will start on the east end at E. 3rd St (IL RT 2) and work west to 9th Ave for the first phase and move west 2-3 blocks at a time.

Starting Monday April 7th Illinois American Water will be replacing water main on E. 2nd St starting on the east end at 3rd St (IL RT 2) and working west to 9th Ave. E. 2nd St will remain open with possible lane closures while this work is being completed.

There will be an open-house on April 8 from 5:30 - 7pm at City Hall to answer any questions on the project. The contractor, engineer and City staff will be present and plans will be available for review.

Due to the impending weather (we shall see), Republic will start trash and recycling pick-up 2 hours early on Wed, Feb 12. Hopefully this allows them to complete all collections before some roads and alleys become impassable for the trucks. Sorry for any inconvenience!

🌨️😬Our first real potential snow storm in... forever! We're instituting a snow emergency beginning at 6am Wed. No parking on snow routes. Park on even side on even days and odd on odd until the roads are cleared. No tickets between 6a-8a to get cars moved.

Road conditions have deteriorated rapidly in the last hour, especially on rural and untreated roads. Please use caution if you must travel. Slow down early and watch your turns!

Tomorrow is the big day! We break ground on Phase 1 of the Riverfront Park. This includes a playground, splashpad and a pavilion with restrooms that will also serve as a stage for a future amphitheater! Anyone is welcome to attend at 2:30pm at Ave B and Wallace Street.

Plans are for visitation @ Sterling McDonald Funeral Home from 4-7 Thursday. Funeral Friday at 10am Friday at St. Mary’s in Sterling. Burial to follow at Oak Knoll Cemetery. City Hall will close for the funeral Friday morning so that employees can honor Ald. Martin’s 30 years.

He was a pound-the-pavement elected official that knew his ward well. He believed in doing things the right way and giving responsive service to his constituents. He was formal in his duties, straightforward, and positive about the City and its employees when discussing.

It is with great regret that we announce that Alderman Joe Martin passed away last night following a recurrence of cancer. Alderman Martin proudly served as the City of Sterling’s 4th Ward Alderman since 1995. He concurrently served as vice-mayor since 2007.

Joe was a friend to many over the years and built long-standing relationships with a number of us here at the City. He and his jokes will be missed greatly here at City Hall. We miss you already Joe!

Joe was a 1978 graduate of Bradley University. He took his degree into sales for most of his career. In 1982, he married Mary Arney, and we were forever blessed with Christmas cards from Mary & Joseph. He also happened to be the biggest Cardinals fan this side of St. Louis.

When he wasn’t representing the City at community events, he was very active with the Sterling Optimist Club, where he could be found raising funds or helping grill and serve at community events. As a long-time member of the Optimist Club, he twice served as president.