Awards

50 years ago, the City of St. Charles officially became known as The Pride of the Fox! 

In early 1969, the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce sponsored a contest to select a slogan for the town. Long-time St. Charles resident William R. Ross, who was 69 years old at the time, submitted the winning entry: “The Pride of the Fox.” He was awarded a contest certificate, $25 savings bond, and a photo in the newspaper. The City also held a ceremony awarding the top contestants at the Rainbow room of the Hotel Baker.

On June 30, 2019, at 1:23 p.m. the St. Charles Fire Department was dispatched to a reported river rescue north of the Fox River. By 1:24 p.m. Fire Units were on the scene.

St. Charles Fire Lt. David Chmelar, firefighter paramedics Michael Pyzyna, Chad Tinsley, and Brandon Paus were honored at the St. Charles City Council meeting on August 5, 2019, for their bravery rescuing two adults and one teenager who were in a boat with a failed motor.

St. Charles Police Officer Jennifer Larsen is the Kane County Officer of the Year. Officer Larsen is recognized for saving the life of a baby in 2018 when responding to a 911 call for help.

Officer Larsen was presented with the special award Feb. 27, 2019, at Annual Kane County Officer of the Year banquet. The banquet is hosted by Batavia Moose Lodge 682 and the Kane County Chiefs of Police Association. She was nominated by St. Charles Police Chief James Keegan.

The St. Charles Fire Department has retained Accredited Agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) for once again meeting the criteria established through the CFAI’s voluntary self-assessment and accreditation program. The St. Charles Fire Department is one of only 250 agencies to achieve Internationally Accredited Agency status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. The Department was first accredited in 2013.

The City of St. Charles has been awarded the 2018 Stormwater Management Award from the Illinois Association for Floodplain and Stormwater Management (IAFSM). The City was selected based on the efforts to advance the Community Rating System, floodplain mapping and mitigation, watershed planning and stormwater master plans. 

This is an honor for the City to be selected for this award and be viewed as a community that is doing the right things for effective stormwater and floodplain management, and flood risk mitigation. 

The St. Charles Police Department received the “Outstanding Community Partnership” Award on Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at the Association for Individual Development (AID) Annual Meeting.

Under a publicly-owned electric utility like St. Charles has, power is all about service, not profits. As a result, Midwestern Public Power Utilities earned high marks for satisfaction among business and residential customers in 2017, according to Global Market Research Company J.D. Power. Their annual business and residential studies measured satisfaction with 87 electric utilities nationwide, including the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, which provides wholesale power to the City of St. Charles.

The City of St. Charles was recently named a Breastfeeding-Friendly Employer by the Kane County Breastfeeding Association. The City was granted silver-level recognition by the Association for their support of breastfeeding mothers in the workplace.

The City was recognized for its revamped Wellness Room, a quiet and private space in the Municipal Building for employees to take a break and de-stress, make a private phone call or pump breast milk.