Mayor Ashley Harris frames 'Commitment to Community' with task force, housing accountability and a community policing pilot

Mayor Ashley Harris delivered the 2026 State of the City address at Ballast Casino on an agenda he called “Commitment to Community,” announcing a citizen task force, new housing‑accountability measures and a community‑focused policing pilot while acknowledging tight municipal finances.

Harris said the city will form the “Magnificent 10,” a volunteer task force to advise on economic development and act as community ambassadors; the group, he said, will be backed by resources from the mayor’s office and focus on neighborhood‑level growth and business support. “They will come up with creative ideas, reach out to potential business partners, act as living billboards for Rock Island, and keep me tied into the fabrics of our issues,” Harris said.

The mayor proposed a suite of housing measures aimed at discouraging speculative property holding: a register for vacant buildings, escalating fees for every six months a property remains empty and stronger enforcement to hold landlords accountable for safe, habitable units. Harris emphasized that “being homeless is not a crime” and framed the measures as efforts to make poverty temporary rather than to push people out.

On public safety, Harris described plans for a small unit of officers — the “purple unit” — wearing purple uniforms and focused on service and building trust, not traditional policing duties. He said the pilot will require hiring to address a current shortfall in officers and asked residents to help recruit candidates. “When you see that purple unit officer coming up, you’ll know why he’s there,” Harris said, explaining the unit’s community‑service mission.

Harris also highlighted investments in human capital and neighborhood amenities. He pointed to Augustana College’s recent purchase of the Trinity School of Nursing to expand local health‑care training and described a partnership between Skip Along and Friendship Manor to create a 32,000‑square‑foot learning center in Rock Island. He pledged to use Community Development Block Grant funds and other public dollars strategically to create jobs for residents and activate unused spaces.

The mayor framed economic development as a people‑first effort: strengthening local employers, building talent pipelines with schools and unions, and offering clear, consistent entry points for businesses. He said recent school data include a 3% rise in graduation rates over two years, an 8% drop in chronic absenteeism and a 19% reduction in out‑of‑school suspensions, citing the 2025 Illinois state report card.

Harris praised public‑safety and emergency personnel: he noted the city hired five new firefighters in 2025, credited the department with more than 20,000 hours of training and said the city logged more than 9,200 calls for service that year. He also recognized nonprofits, cultural institutions and small businesses as anchors of community life.

Acknowledging limits on revenue, Harris warned of fiscal pressure from rising property taxes, underfunded pensions and bond obligations and declining population since 1960. He called for “fiscal discipline” that preserves services while aligning the size of government to available revenue and said the mayor’s office will prioritize transparency and better customer service from city staff.

Harris closed by asking for broad civic engagement and inviting residents to join the new task force. He said the administration will pursue the initiatives he described while working with the city council; he did not propose specific ordinances or budget votes in the address.