There was no shortage of news in Monroe County and the surrounding areas in 2025, and 2026 is shaping up to provide plenty of newsworthy happenings in the community, local governments, schools, athletics and more.

The celebration of America 250 kicked off 2026 with local ceremonies on New Year’s Day. A number of other festivities are planned throughout the first half of the year ahead of what has been described by one county official as a “Fourth of July extravaganza” to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.   

The new year brings in a sweeping monetary policy with national and local implications. The U.S. Mint announced it suspended production of the penny in late 2025 due to its production cost exceeding the coin’s value. At least two Waterloo businesses have already begun to round cash transactions to the nearest factor of five. At Rural King and Walmart, cash payments with cent totals ending in one, two, six or seven are rounded down while those ending in three, four, eight or nine are rounded up up to the closest nickel amount. Local bank branches are also preparing for the end of circulation. In the fall, Dieterich Bank made an announcement regarding its penny policy, although a lack of uniform policy throughout the major economic sectors has forced the bank to delay implementation of its penny measures for now. Only time will tell how the phasing out of the national one-cent coin will be accomplished.

A hearing is scheduled for later this month to consider motions from the cities of Waterloo and Columbia regarding a dispute over utility service to a property just west of Route 3 near the Hanover Industrial Drive. At the beginning of 2025, Columbia took steps to develop water infrastructure to service the Old Monroe Distillery Co. event center north of Hanover Road that opened last spring. In April, the City of Waterloo challenged Columbia’s actions, stating it has jurisdiction over water service in the area. Following a number of back-and-forth legal maneuvers and several requests for continuance, motions in the matter are set to be heard in Monroe County Court on Jan. 20.

Other legal action in Columbia related to its handling of water may be on the horizon as a resident of  the Joy View Acres Subdivision off Gall Road in the southern end of the city has promised to involve a number of agencies in response to what he and his neighbors perceive to be a lack of response to repeated flooding in the area caused by improper drainage designs. A number of other residents in other parts of the city also spoke publicly about what seems to be a lack of concern and action by city officials in light of recurring and costly damage caused by improper stormwater runoff drainage throughout Columbia.  

A hot topic from 2025 is expected to be resolved in early 2026 as the City of Columbia is expected to attend a Jan. 7 “pre-construction meeting” in preparation for repairs on Valmeyer Road. A stretch of that roadway has been closed from D Road to Bluff Road following a collapse of the street surface precipitated by heavy rains in April 2025. While the road’s proximity to Carr Creek slowed progress considerably due to required involvement from a number of environmental organizations, Columbia City Engineer Chris Smith reported repairs to Valmeyer Road should not take long once the planning phase is complete, with hopes the thoroughfare can be reopened by March, weather permitting.

Another Columbia road project expected to be completed later this year is the addition of a second roundabout on Palmer Road in the north end of the city. In 2022, Smith was notified of a grant award to fund construction of a second roundabout to alleviate problematic traffic at the intersection of Palmer Road, Quarry Road and Ghent Road/Old Route 3. That news was delivered just after the first roundabout project not even a mile to the east was being completed. With preliminary work completed, Smith estimated the second roundabout could be completed sometime this summer or fall, with further consideration of school traffic in the area a determining factor in the final project schedule.

In terms of infrastructure matters in Waterloo for 2026, the city enters the second year of its new water plant following an eventful first year that encountered early concerns with hardness and then reports of water leaks – of which the city announced will be reimbursed if they meet certain criteria related to copper flare fittings. 

In terms of power, Waterloo plans to have a new dual-fueled Taurus 70 combustion turbine package with 13.2 kV generator fully installed and online later this year. This third turbine adds to the Waterloo plant’s three Caterpillar generators and two turbines, which can be used interchangeably based on demand.

Waterloo will also embark on a Fourth Street improvement project this year.

Another road project in Waterloo that has become a perennial inclusion in “What to Expect” is a planned extension of Rogers Street to the north and a realignment of Country Club Lane. Monroe County Engineer Aaron Metzger reported Monday during his three-year overview that this project is expected to move forward in 2026. That has been the hope since late 2021 when the Monroe County Highway Department and Road District 2 took over jurisdiction of a part of Country Club Lane. The extension and realignment project has been funded for nearly five years, although right-of-way acquisition and other considerations have prevented any significant forward motion. Perhaps 2026 will be the year that sees that trend bucked.

One project with the end already in sight is the continued repair of a scour hole near a levee that caused minor panic for residents of Fults and Prairie du Rocher during the late summer and fall of last year. With the Monroe County Board announcing Monday it has already expended $300,000 from its contingency fund budget to finance ongoing repairs to a section of levee near the southern border of Monroe County, a progress report is expected in the coming weeks. It was also noted that Randolph County will reimburse about $100,000 of the cost, although a timeline for payment has not been established.

In other county news, details will be hammered out about how to fund and operate the recently established Monroe County Veterans Assistance Commission.

With Monroe County bowing out of its involvement in the senior care industry last year and entering the first five-year lease term of Oak Hill in Waterloo to Accolade Healthcare, commissioners will be reviewing periodic reports on the state of the facility which had been run by the county in some fashion for the past 75 years. 

Continued discussion and possible action by the Waterloo School Board regarding the future of Waterloo Junior High School is anticipated. With past talk focusing on a substantial renovation to the aging structure or a full replacement elsewhere in the community, more recent talk has centered around replacing the older wing of the school. Waterloo residents can also expect further requests for public input from the board on the matter.

Construction is still progressing at Columbia High School. The Columbia School Board has been discussing the steady progress toward an auditorium with a competition gym and further work on the current building to follow.

Another construction project in Columbia will involve the city government as it prepares to relocate its municipal operations and two-thirds of its emergency services to 11800 Bluff Road, just north of the 11 South complex. Engineering studies are currently being conducted at the site.

Work on the oft-delayed Creekside Park project in Columbia took major strides at the end of 2025 following a false start that paused excavation mere weeks after it began. The progress attained in the waning months of last year is expected to result in a finished product sometime in 2026.

In Valmeyer, a bid to bring an AI data center stalled as one prospective tenant of the Rock City Admiral Parkway Development recanted its stated intention of moving into the former limestone quarry in Old Valmeyer. There may be other data center suitors in store for the caves in 2026, and a proposal to make Rock City the first commercial use site of a self-contained SILO nuclear power module is still on the table. 

Proposed last fall, progress toward a natural gas pipeline stretching across the Mississippi River from southern Monroe County into Missouri is expected to continue. The pipeline would start in Monroe County in the area to the southeast of Renault. Reportedly, at least one property owner in the bottoms has received an offer for an easement to allow for the pipeline on their property.

An item for the Southwestern St. Clair County Emergency Services District is set to appear on the ballot, establishing a property tax of no more than 0.40 percent for those who live in the Millstadt and Smithton fire protection districts as well as the parts of the Waterloo and Hecker districts in St. Clair County. Town halls concerning the formation of this EMS district are scheduled in Millstadt and Smithton, where residents will be able to learn about the district meant to provide the additional funding needed for the Millstadt Ambulance Service.

With Life Community Church in Columbia having purchased 57 acres of land near the intersection of Route 3 and South Main Street in Columbia at a cost of $2.2 million, more information is expected regarding the future of the church. Pastor Jamey Bridges previously spoke about “exploring the possibility of moving the church and development around it.”

Though the request for special use exception for a solar farm to the southwest of Waterloo was rescinded after the Monroe County Planning Commission recommended denying the petition in early December, another attempt could be made on behalf of Chicago-based Monroe Sun LLC and Monroe Sun 2 LLC later this year given the multiple commission meetings that were attempted in 2025.

Locally, the only contested primary race as it stands now will be on the Republican ballot for county commissioner between George Green and Marvin Wittenauer. The winner of that race will face Democrat Pat Kelly, who is running unopposed in the primary. Statewide, voters will have a say in whether incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker stays in Springfield or is replaced by the Republican challenger to be decided in March.