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Season One of The Elgin Watchman podcast is almost over, but there are still a few loose ends to tie-up. Loose ends such as the December 2022 Elgin Sustainability Commission meeting.

So, this episode is unlike any other 2022 episode. Tia is on sabbatical. Erik was out-of-state and couldn't attend the December meeting. So, Franklin Ramirez did The Elgin Watchman a "solid favor" by agreeing to attend the meeting and allow Erik to interview him after the fact.

Did we mention that Frankin's 16-year-old nephew -- Trey -- joined us in the podcast studio and provided "color commentary".

Again, this was a very unique and interesting podcast episode. In fact, it was kinda cool to have a Generation Z individual sharing their observations and commentary.

Overall, meeting topics discussed included: Elgin Robotics Club; grant report for Sherman Hospital compost structure; grant report for Eastside Neighborhood Community Garden; volunteer recruitment consultant proposals; 2023 project budgets; commissioner term limits; and public power project.

For more information about the Elgin Robotics Club and their upcoming competition at Elgin Community College, please go to The Elgin Watchman Facebook page.

For more information, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform. 
 
And if you haven't downloaded The Elgin Watchman's Single Use Bag Fee Advocacy eGuide, please do so ASAP:

• Go to our Waste webpage at www.elginwatchman.com/waste
• Scroll a little bit down the page and you will see it
• Expand it to full screen, read, and click the buttons/links to learn more
• Consider downloading or sharing the eGuide with likeminded friends
• Start calling and emailing Mayor David Kaptain and all city council members using the information on the last page of the eGuide. Ask them to please adopt the Single Use Plastic Bag Fee ordinance

You can make a difference. Get involved . . . get engaged . . . and always keep watch!

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Welcome to episode 29 of Season One, which is a special edition podcast following up on the city of Batavia's efforts to pass a Single Use Bag Fee ordinance (which is something the city of Elgin has been trying to do for more than three-years).

In episode 23, Erik floated down the mighty Fox River and facilitated a panel discussion with two Batavia Environmental Commission members and a city council member. The focus of that discussion was the city of Batavia's proposed Single Use Bag Fee ordinance.

Interestingly, the city of Batavia had started its Single Use Bag Fee ordinance efforts around the same time as the Elgin Sustainability Commission -- approximately 2018/2019.

In the final analysis, both cities were in exactly the same place with their proposed ordinances. So, The Elgin Watchman decided that Batavia was a good benchmarking partner for Elgin's efforts, and Erik has been following Batavia's story for comparative purposes.

Well, there is breaking news coming out of Batavia. So, Erik called Batavia Environment Commissioner Alex Zelles to check-in on the situation and asked her to share the news with Elgin Watchman listeners in this episode.

In addition to updates on the Single Use Bag Fee ordinance, Erik and Alex talk a little bit about a recent joint meeting between the Batavia, Geneva, and St. Charles sustainability commissions.

For more information, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform. 
 
And if you haven't downloaded The Elgin Watchman's Single Use Bag Fee Advocacy eGuide, please do so ASAP:

• Go to our Waste webpage at www.elginwatchman.com/waste
• Scroll a little bit down the page and you will see it
• Expand it to full screen, read, and click the buttons/links to learn more
• Consider downloading or sharing the eGuide with likeminded friends
• Start calling and emailing Mayor David Kaptain and all city council members using the information on the last page of the eGuide. Ask them to please adopt the Single Use Plastic Bag Fee ordinance

You can make a difference. Get involved . . . get engaged . . . and always keep watch!

Send us Fan Mail

Where oh where oh where is Erik's podcast partner, Tia Aagesen?
 
Tia mysteriously announced a few months ago she would be taking a 7-month sabbatical from podcast. Tia comes back to share her BIG announcement with Elgin Watchman podcast listeners. You won't want to miss this interview.
 
After dealing with Tia's dramatic announcement, Erik uses the rest of the podcast to wrap up The Elgin Watchman's Season One special series of podcasts about Lead in our Drinking Water & Lead Service Line Replacement program.

Erik does a deep dive on the city of Elgin's new interactive online map that residents can use to determine if their home or business receives its drinking water via a lead service water line. You can check out this resource at http://leadsafeelgin.com/.

For more information about The Elgin Watchman podcast and access previous episodes, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform.

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In most previous city budget construction cycles, November would have been a little late in the game for the Elgin Sustainability Commission to start constructing its next fiscal year budget. This is why the commission used to host a budget retreat in late July to iron out these details. However, with federal ARPA funds sloshing around many city halls around the country -- as is the case in Elgin -- everyone is still scrambling to figure out how to spend the excess money. And Elgin, IL is no different.
 
So, the Sustainability Commission's November special meeting retreat to work on developing its 2023 budget apparently was right on time.
 
In addition to ironing out wrinkles in its typical $24,000 budget allocation, there were a number of special projects being tossed around, including but not limited to:

• Residential solar revolving loan fund
• EV Charging Stations
• Hiring a consultant to help develop a Transportation Plan
• Electric Lawnmowers
• Hiring a consultant to help develop a Sustainability & Resiliency Plan (e.g. maybe a Sustainability Action Plan with a Climate Action section)
• And there was more

This is a short episode, but it does a nice job of summarizing all of the budget ideas swirling around the commission's meeting room table.

For more information, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform.

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As always, the November 2022 meeting of the Elgin Sustainability Commission was long. There were lots of topics discussed ranging from purchasing seeds for native plants seeds to the upcoming budget retreat (which was covered by The Watchman and will be the next podcast episode dropped). However, the fireworks for the evening were produced in an exchange between Commissioner David Jurina and Commissioner Chris Flaherty. The conflict was over whether or not the city should issue a Request For Proposals (RFP) to hire a consultant to help the commission with volunteer identification, recruitment, and retention.

For more information, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform. 
 
And if you haven't downloaded The Elgin Watchman's Single Use Bag Fee Advocacy eGuide, please do so ASAP:

• Go to our Waste webpage at www.elginwatchman.com/waste
• Scroll a little bit down the page and you will see it
• Expand it to full screen, read, and click the buttons/links to learn more
• Consider downloading or sharing the eGuide with likeminded friends
• Start calling and emailing Mayor David Kaptain and all city council members using the information on the last page of the eGuide. Ask them to please adopt the Single Use Plastic Bag Fee ordinance

You can make a difference. Get involved . . . get engaged . . . and always keep watch!
 
PS -- And a big 'ol congratulations to the City of Batavia for beating the Elgin City Council in adopting its Single Use Bag Fee ordinance before the end of 2022.

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While driving down Interstate 90 into the city of Chicago, Erik noticed a billboard advertising a specialty branded public service announcement webpage -- leadsafechicago.org -- where people could easily access information about lead service lines, replacement projects, and lead in drink water risks.

Since The Elgin Watchman has been focused on Elgin's lead service water lines as its Season One in-depth series, Erik decided to do a compare/contrast exercise between the city of Chicago's new lead information website and what the city of Elgin has posted on its website.

Long story short . . . The Elgin Watchman has a few questions they suggest you may want to ask mayoral and city council candidates during the upcoming winter/spring campaign.

For more information, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform.

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Throughout all the coverage of the Elgin Sustainability Commission's . . .

• attempts to create a draft Single Use Bag Fee ordinance, and 
• recommend both city staff and city council take up the issue

. . . there was always someone on the commission (or city staff) saying something like this:

"What are other communities doing? How are they dealing with _________ as it pertains to a Single Use Bag Fee?"
     
This question came up often enough that Tia & Erik started wondering if anyone was going to do anything about it?
 
Truth be told, after hearing the same question for the umteenth time, Tia & Erik decided to take matters into their own hands. They tracked down a municipal worker (someone who would only speak anonymously on the record) who previously worked in a community that approved a similar ordinance . . . AND THEY INTERVIEWED HIM. Click Here To Listen To That Episode
 
Similarly, today's episode was inspired by the same frustrating questions.
 
Erik floated down the Fox River and found himself in Batavia, IL speaking with two members of that community's Environmental Commission and one of its city council members.
 
Batavia's Single Use Plastic Bag Fee ordinance efforts started at about the same time as Elgin's -- four years ago. Similarly, they find themselves in the same place right now:

• both commissions did their due diligence
• both commissions have put their thoughts in writing regarding what an ordinance should looks like, and
• both commissions made a recommendation to their respective city staff and city councils, urging action by the end of 2022..

 It will be interesting to see which community "gets the football across the goal line first."
 
Who has more political clout and leverage . . . Elgin city councilwoman Carol Rauschenberger or Batavia city councilwoman Abby Beck?
 
Today's episode marks the podcast's first ever panel discussion. We hope you tune in because we thought is was a refreshing change of pace from what we've been pumping out lately. **Fingers Crossed** We hope you like it!

Keep yourself tuned in to this podcast for additional news on both Elgin's and Batavia's Single Use Bag Fee ordinances and further developments.

For more information about this and more, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform.

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Trying to produce THREE podcast episodes in a 24-hour period was exhausting. 

And this third and final podcast in that marathon was coverage of the October 2022 Elgin Sustainability Commission meeting, and it might have been the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back." It also likely explains why this episode is a compact 20-minutes in length.
 
However, don't let the length of the podcast fool you. You will still find fun content around every corner. For example . . .

• There is a FUN podcast game that involves Elgin city councilwoman Carol Rauschenberger. Playing the game could win you a prize. Come on . . . what do you have to lose?
• I also announce the inaugural recipient of the Tia Aagesen Sustainability Sunshine Award. This award is the opposite of The Lady Elgin award, which has yet to be awarded (YES, this is a blatant teaser for a future podcast ). Regardless, you will want to stay tuned to hear who received this month's Tia Aagesen Sustainability Sunshine Award. It is a shocker!

For more information, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform. 
 
And if you haven't downloaded The Elgin Watchman's Single Use Bag Fee Advocacy eGuide, please do so ASAP:

• Go to our Waste webpage at www.elginwatchman.com/waste
• Scroll a little bit down the page and you will see it
• Expand it to full screen, read, and click the buttons/links to learn more
• Consider downloading or sharing the eGuide with likeminded friends
• Start calling and emailing Mayor David Kaptain and all city council members using the information on the last page of the eGuide. Ask them to please adopt the Single Use Plastic Bag Fee ordinance

You can make a difference. Get involved . . . get engaged . . . and always keep watch!

Send us Fan Mail

During our podcast coverage of the September 2022 Elgin Sustainability Commission meeting, Erik questioned whether commissioners had violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act. He made a promise to The Elgin Watchman's listening audience to roll up his sleeves and get to the bottom of things.
 
In this podcast episode, Erik . . . 

• Interviewed former Elgin Township Supervisor Franklin Ramirez
• Shares a few thoughts from a newspaper reporter
• Conveys additional thoughts from a downstate attorney
• And shares court cases provided by a good government nonprofit organization's intern

After hearing (and reading) all of the information put in front of him, Erik has no doubt that the Elgin Sustainability Commission violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

Erik asks listeners to call/email city of Elgin General Counsel Bill Cogley.
 
For more information, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform.

Have you downloaded, read, and shared The Elgin Watchman Podcast's Single Use Bag Fee Ordinance Advocacy eGuide? If not, then please . . . 

• Go to our Waste webpage at www.elginwatchman.com/waste
• Scroll a little bit down the page and you will see it
• Expand it to full screen, read, and click the buttons/links to learn more
• Consider downloading or sharing the eGuide with likeminded friends
• Start calling and emailing Mayor David Kaptain and all city council members using the information on the last page of the eGuide. Ask them to please adopt the Single Use Plastic Bag Fee ordinance

You can make a difference. Get involved . . . get engaged . . . and always keep watch!

Send us Fan Mail

Starting in May 2022, The Elgin Watchman podcast has been doing a deep dive on the topic of lead service lines and the possibility of high lead levels in some Elgin residents drinking water.
 
Today's episode is a departure from the last few months of interviewing the city of Elgin's former and current Water Department Directors in addition to our discussion with a pediatric nurse.

Instead, we turn our attention this month to nuts-and-bolts questions homeowners may have around what it takes to replace a lead service line to their home. We try to accomplish this objective by interviewing Elgin resident Carl Strathman who replaced his lead service line a few years ago.

Please join us in thanking Carl for caring enough about transparency and inclusion to share his personal story with us for education purposes.
 
For more information, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform.