City of Monmouth

Monmouth City Hall will be closed Thursday and Friday (November 24th & 25th) in honor of the Thanksgiving Holiday.Water bill payments can be made in the drop box on the west side of City Hall or at local banks on Friday. City Hall will reopen on Monday, November 28th at 8 a.m. Have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend.

The City of Monmouth, in partnership with University of Illinois Extension, is conducting an online business survey. This work is part of an ongoing effort to develop a greater understanding of our local small business needs and contributions to our local economy. The City of Monmouth wants to make sure they are doing everything possible to support the health, growth and expansion of existing business.  If you are a local business owner, please click on the following link to share your ideas:

Click here to take the business survey.

The only data which we use in reports are summary statistics and brief anonymous responses. Participation in this survey is entirely voluntary and confidential. For general questions, feel free to contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Director of Community Development. For questions regarding one's rights as a participant in this survey, please contact the University of Illinois Institutional Review Board by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , telephoning 217-333-2670 collect or writing to IRB at 528 E. Green Street, Suite 203, Champaign, IL 61820.

Local business response is critical to strengthening small business development and entrepreneurship as part of our vibrant downtown. We know our business owner's time is valuable and thank them for their willingness to contribute to our community.

This Saturday, October 29th, world-renowned blues artists descend on Monmouth's Rivoli Theatre for the 2011 Deep Blue Innovators Blues Festival. Doors open at 2pm (tickets are available locally, online or at the door). This years acts include Hayes & Fleming, Blue Mother Tupelo, Paul Rishell & Annie Raines, the Michelle Malone Banned and one of the finest blues guitarists in the world: Rory Block. For full festival information, please visit www.monmouthblues.com.

A second draft of a proposed rental inspection form (not official yet, since the ordinances have not yet been adopted), plus other support documents, as part of the City's Property Enhancement Program, are available now on our For Landlords page of the City website.

The City of Monmouth is continuing to move forward with the community-engagement phase of “Re-imagining the Heart of Our Community,” the City’s downtown revitalization strategic plan.

The City will host its second public meeting at the First Street Armoury on Wednesday, September 28th, from 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. A pizza dinner will be provided. Although the event is free, an RSVP would be greatly appreciated to help determine the amount of food that will be needed.  Please send information to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 734-7590.

The event will begin with a short presentation that will outline the vision of downtown revitalization, explore the context of the plan and introduce the economic and social factors that will drive the decision-making process. The presentation will wrap up with an overview of the ten action areas that comprise the core of the plan.

Attendees will then be asked for their input, from prioritizing already identified tasks to helping to brainstorm new ideas within the identified action areas. Working in small groups, community members will have an opportunity to explore possibilities within all action areas and will then report out to the larger group.

“Our first public meeting was a great success,” says Director of Community Development Paul Schuytema. “Our community members were engaged and energized and gave us some wonderful ideas.”

“For our downtown revitalization to succeed, we want to hear from all sectors,” says Schuytema. “In this session, we especially want to hear from our younger professionals, our downtown business owners and our growing international community. It’s our community and it’s up to all of us to make it happen.”

At this session, Community Matters graduate student Kate Ferrer, who is working with Monmouth on her capstone project for the University of Illinois Department of Urban Planning, will be on hand to help facilitate the discussion and brainstorming.

“Having Kate on our team is a real asset,” explains Schuytema. “We think of her as our ‘research ninja,’ out there in the field, helping us craft the best possible battle plan for our downtown.”

Ongoing information on the progress of downtown revitalization will be featured on the “Downtown” page on the City’s website (http://www.cityofmonmouth.com/downtown.html).

“We’re very excited to share our vision of a revitalized downtown with our community,” says Schuytema. “But it’s even more exciting to have an opportunity to hear what great ideas our residents will have to share with us.”

With the assistance of an Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation Grant, new energy efficient lighting has been installed at City Hall.  As a result, the old fluorescent lights, many of which were no longer operational and will be obsolete in 2012, were replaced with new fixtures and bulbs.  We expect a 2 year payback in energy savings.