City Council

COVID-19 Update

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CITY COUNCIL License for new brewery is approved

Coliseum museum job description approved

BY JEFF HELFRICH jhelfrich@oglecountynews.com

The Oregon City Council unanimously approved a new liquor license Tuesday for Ogle County Brewery, a business that will open this fall in the newly-remodeled National Clothing Building on the corner of Illinois 64 and Illinois 2 in downtown Oregon.

“It’s a microbrew business,” Oregon Mayor Ken Williams said. “They need this before they can go to the state to get the brewer’s license. I’m looking forward to it being something very neat for the downtown. They want to be open by October. I was in there today and it’s just fantastic.”

Calls seeking more information on the business placed to the remodelers of the building, Kevin Wiegmann and Mark Gale, were not returned by time of publication.

CMAAA Director Description

The council also unanimously approved a job description for the Coliseum Museum of Arts, Antiquities and Americana Director position that was created when the city approved a lease of the Oregon Coliseum to CMAAA to turn it into a museum early this year.

The director’s salary will be paid 75 percent by CMAAA and 25 percent by the city. The director will work for the city 25 percent of the time and help

Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media

When the awning was taken off the old National Clothing House building an old sign advertising Gilberts Hardware store was exposed. Kevin Wiegmann and Mark Gale have been busy working on the building in downtown Oregon for their new tenant, a micro-brewery.

with the development downtown and bringing in shows, festivals and other tourism, Williams said.

“They’ll most of the time be executive director of the museum,” Williams said. “But for the city we look for them to promote and enhance collaborative efforts among other taxing bodies, fraternal organizations, volunteer groups, the chamber of commerce and other community groups.”

Mosquito Abatement The council unanimously approved tabling any action on implementing a mosquito abatement in town after subcommittee meetings and possibly putting up a referendum that would fund spraying for mosquitoes.

“We’ve decided to table this indefinitely,” Public Health Commissioner Kurt Wilson said. “We’ll play it by ear and look at it year by year. Especially with the COVID costs we’ve incurred, we’re not ready to drop anything financially on this. Nor do we want to look to a referendum and have this be a burden financially to the town.”

Wilson also said he hasn’t gotten calls on mosquito concerns in the past month from citizens and that the county has only discovered one West Nile virus case in Rochelle earlier this month.

BerryView On the Go

Cheri Slack of Byron carries apple cider donuts and an aronia berry slush after visiting the BerryView Orchard food truck in Oregon on Saturday. The food truck, making its inaugural appearance, was met by a long line in the morning of anxious customers wanting the specialties from the Mt. Morris orchard. The orchard will be open starting Aug. 29 with a new store currently being constructed.

COVID-19 & RECREATION Pool closes after some staff exposed to COVID-19

Polo High School’s prom could have been contact source

BY JEFF HELFRICH jhelfrich@oglecountynews.com

The Polo Pool closed on Monday afternoon due to some staff members being potentially exposed to COVID19 that may have stemmed from Polo High School’s prom on July 18.

The pool, operated by the City of Polo, voluntarily closed after staff members learned of their exposure on Monday. The Ogle County Health Department did not mandate the closure and is working with the pool and the City of Polo on getting testing done.

“We’re not sure how long we’re going to close for,” Polo Pool Manager Kayla Bergstrom said. “We did it on our own. Staff members were exposed. We’re taking precautions and getting people tested. If they’re all negative, then we’ll open the doors. We’re following health Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media

A sign was taped to one of the doors at the Polo Pool on Tuesday announcing that the pool has been temporarily closed due to some staff being “only exposed” to COVID-19. The pool sits empty until it reopens.

department recommendations.”

Bergstrom said she had eight employees lined up for testing at the pool. Polo City Clerk Sydney Bartelt spoke to the OCHD on the pool’s behalf.

OCHD Public Administrator Kyle Auman said contact tracing related to the situation is being performed.

“There were potential links to the prom,” Auman said. “These are the types of situations we want to try to avoid and why we discourage large masked gatherings. We’re still working on contact tracing. We’ve had 50 people linked to the situation. The prom and various other activities.”

Auman said he’s “heard” that the prom, held at the Brandywine in Dixon, was consistent with masking and social distancing but that transmission can still happen through things like touching door handles.

Polo School District Superintendent Kelly Mandrell declined to comment on the situation Tuesday.

The mother of an attendee to the prom confirmed to Ogle County Newspapers on Tuesday that her daughter tested positive after attending the prom.

She was tested July 20 at KSB Hospital and received her positive test on July 27. Other family members, some not showing any symptoms, have also tested positive.