Déjà Vu in City Hall:
Another Big Payout to Fehr Graham
FREEPORT, IL – October 9, 2025
At the October 6, 2025 Freeport City Council meeting, residents once again witnessed the Miller administration’s now all-too-familiar routine — another costly Fehr Graham Engineering contract quietly pushed through, this time under the label of “construction oversight.”
The council voted 5–3 to approve Resolution #R-2025-123, authorizing $146,750 for Fehr Graham to provide “construction engineering services” for the Laurel Street and Galena Avenue Lift Station Improvements and Electrical Upgrades. On paper, it’s a project to replace outdated pumps, update electrical systems, and install diesel generators. In reality, it’s yet another example of the City outsourcing what should be routine public works oversight — to the same politically connected firm that’s already billing Freeport taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
Breaking It Down in Plain English
Fehr Graham won’t be installing equipment or pouring concrete. Instead, they’ll be paid nearly $150,000 to observe contractors and verify their work, review shop drawings, invoices, and progress reports, attend project meetings, and file documentation. They’ll provide “part-time” on-site supervision during critical phases, and the contract ensures they get paid regardless of how much or how little time they actually spend on-site.
To make matters worse, the agreement allows for additional “time and materials” charges if the project runs longer or needs restaking or extra coordination — leaving the taxpayers with an open tab.
The Pattern: Outsourcing Leadership, Not Solving Problems
This latest deal once again exposes how deeply the Miller administration has outsourced Freeport’s core infrastructure leadership. The city no longer employs its own Public Works Director or City Engineer. Those responsibilities (even those of the Mayor’s and City Manager’s) have been effectively handed to Fehr Graham and Senior Project Manager Darin Stykel, who now acts as the de facto city engineer — representing his private firm’s financial interests, not the taxpayers of Freeport.
And the cost? It’s staggering. Fehr Graham’s base contracts with the City already total roughly $550,000, and on top of that, the firm continues to nickel-and-dime taxpayers through add-on projects like this one — work that should already fall under those existing agreements. By the end of the year, Freeport taxpayers will have paid Fehr Graham close to $2 million, all while the city’s roads crumble, downtown sidewalks remain pretty but unsafe, and basic services fall behind.
That’s $2 million spent so Darin Stykel can pal around with City Manager Rob Boyer and Mayor Jodi Miller, overseeing the interests of Fehr Graham’s bottom line instead of serving the people who foot the bill. Compare that to hiring a full-time City Engineer and Public Works Director — both accountable to the community — for less than $250,000 combined. The numbers speak for themselves.
Political Ties and Conflicts of Interest
This isn’t just bad budgeting — it’s politics in action. Fehr Graham’s Freeport office pays rent for and operates out of property owned by former State Senator Brian Stewart, a close ally of Mayor Jodi Miller and City Manager Rob Boyer. Add to that Fehr Graham’s and Stewart’s political connections with State Senator Andrew Chesney and State Representative John Cabello and the pattern becomes undeniable: power, contracts, and campaign circles all overlapping.
While residents pay higher taxes and navigate deteriorating infrastructure, the same circle of insiders continues to profit — all under the friendly banner of “engineering services.” It is becoming increasingly clear that Mayor Miller didn’t raise our taxes 1% to finally start getting our roads fixed. She raised them to fill the accounts of Fehr Graham and the pockets of the political elite.
The Bigger Picture
Freeport’s infrastructure doesn’t need more consultants — it needs leadership. Yet under the Miller administration, Fehr Graham has quietly become the department of public works, cashing in on the city’s growing dependence on outside contracts. Every time City Hall signs another check, accountability slips a little further away.
This isn’t about one contract. It’s about a broken system — one that prioritizes political friendships over fiscal responsibility. Fehr Graham is not the City of Freeport. Darin Stykel does not work for the taxpayers. And yet, under Mayor Miller and City Manager Boyer, that’s exactly who’s running the show — backed by their political allies in Springfield, Andrew Chesney and John Cabello. It’s time to bring Freeport’s engineering and public works leadership back home, where accountability belongs.
Fighting4Freeport’s Take: Accountability Starts Here
Fighting4Freeport calls on the City Council to freeze all new Fehr Graham contracts pending an independent financial audit. The City must restore in-house leadership positions for City Engineer and Public Works Director and adopt a transparent bidding policy for all engineering services.
Taxpayers deserve a city government that answers to them — not to Fehr Graham’s invoice schedule.
Fighting4Freeport will continue exposing the contracts, connections, and costly patterns driving Freeport’s decline — because when City Hall forgets who it serves, the people deserve to know who’s really getting paid.
