East Moline city leaders shared positive updates at the annual “State of the City” luncheon Thursday at the Bend Event Center.
“We are seeing great collaboration and partnership between communities in the Quad Cities. Each city is unique, but we are all striving to make this region a better place to live, work, and grow,” Mayor Reggie Freeman told the meeting sponsored by the East Moline Silvis Rotary Club. “East Moline is no different, and in our corner of the Quad Cities, progress is in high gear.
“But that progress doesn’t happen on its own. It’s driven by a
dedicated team working every day to move this city forward,” he said.
Mayor Freeman has a long history of service to the community, including over 32 years in the East Moline Police Department, retiring as its police chief in 2005. He subsequently worked for the Illinois Secretary of State Office for 13 years, managing various offices across the state in Western and Central Illinois.
In 2017, Freeman was elected to his first term as mayor, and re-elected in 2021 and again in 2025.
The city is in its second year of a major downtown revitalization project, repaving and landscaping major thoroughfares, making them more pedestrian friendly.
“With a $23.7 million federal RAISE grant and $11.5 million in local and state funding, we are taking a major step forward in transforming our downtown,” Freeman said, introducing East Moline director of engineering, Tim Kammler, to discuss the timetable of street work.
This year, reconstructing 12th and 15th avenues downtown will be the focus, as well as streetscaping in The Bend and Rust Belt areas.
“We have actually already finished some of the streetscaping improvements, adding multi-purpose trails where there weren't any, adding sidewalks,” Kammler said. “Those help make things safer for pedestrians to make our entire greater downtown area more walkable, more connected, more vibrant, giving people, visitors the things that they need.”
15th Avenue has been a “sea of concrete,” he said. “There was a lot of parking. We're still getting comments about parking from some of the business owners, but it was very vehicular centric. And the change that as we discussed with some of our master planning with elected officials and with the public that came down to talk to us at public information meetings, they wanted a place where they could spend some time, hang out with their family, with maybe a pet or something like that,” Kammler said.
“So we've got a much more pedestrian-focused downtown that is coming. Less parking in the street. There will be more areas for outdoor seating for gathering for events. We'll have two blocks of curbless festival street between 7th Street and 9th Street for all of the wonderful festivities and parties that we like to throw in East Moline downtown.
"So it is going to be a completely reimagined, transformed area here on 15th Avenue," he said.
Some of the changes include permeable pavement, where water soaks into the ground, instead of storm sewers, he noted.
Along The Rust Belt complex, a new multi-purpose trail will be added along the north side of the road, “so that the folks that are walking along that sidewalk, that are pushing this forward can interact with the shops, with the business owners,” Kammler said.
A pedestrian access node across from The Rust Belt and new pedestrian crossing will be added across the railroad tracks at 7th Street, he added.
“The idea is to make the community safe. We can't have people going back and forth crossing railroad tracks,” Kammler said. “They won't feel like they can unless they feel safe. And so that's the goal.” And the city will do a long-planned extension of Bend Boulevard from the Hyatt hotel, to be completed in 2027.
Tim Wymes, community development director, talked about the year-old city initiative to support local businesses, the Business Improvement Grant (BIG) program.
It’s funded through the city’s Business Development District, comprised of a 0.75% sales tax on retail sales. The funds generated in the district help fund the BIG Program that provides up to $50,000 grants for property improvements, and $500,000 has been approved so far for 17 businesses this year, with a second round of applicants expected this summer, Wymes said.
“East Moline is eager to facilitate development,” city administrator Mark Rothert said. “Whether it’s small business development in our downtown; commercial retail on the Avenue of the Cities; industrial development in our Industrial Park; sports-tourism at Jacobs Park with more and more tournaments; or more residential housing, the city is primed for new growth.
“In fact, we are aligning our economic development tools for maximum utilization by the development community," he said. Along with the Business District, the city also plans to:
• Create a new TIF District stretching from the Avenue of the Cities to Industrial Park;
• Make amendments to Enterprise Zone boundaries to align with other TIF and Business District boundaries;
• Create a new River Edge Redevelopment Zone, that allows for a new state historic tax credit;
• Pursue designation of a federal Opportunity Zone in East Moline;
• Establish a STAR Bond District for QC Downs area through the State of Illinois, which would allow for major regional commercial development and attraction;
• Push infrastructure out to the I-80/I-88 interchange for mixed use industrial and commercial development;
• Use a retail attraction consultant to help bring nationally prominent retailers to the Bend, Downtown, and the Avenue of the Cities; and
• Foster continued partnerships with REDEEM, East Moline Main Street, Grow Quad Cities, Visit Quad Cities, and others.
The city has done studies on its water treatment and wastewater treatment plants, and Freeman said they’re looking at approximately $100 million in capital improvements across these two systems over the next 10 years.
“And while those numbers are significant, the purpose is simple: To ensure that every resident has access to safe, reliable, and sustainable water services—not just today, but for generations to come,” he said.
East Moline is also upgrading equipment and playgrounds at city parks, improving accessibility, and looking at renovations to City Hall and moving some administrative functions to a potential new municipal services complex, Freeman said.
The city will purchase a new $1-million fire engine, and is getting a new fire chief. Fire Chief Rob Defrance recently retired with 27 years as chief.
“We are grateful for his service and he will be missed,” Freeman said. “In his place, I am happy to announce that I have made the decision to appoint Battalion Chief Darrin Armstrong as East Moline’s new Fire Chief, contingent upon city council consent and approval on April 6.”
You can see the slides from Thursday's presentation below.
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