On the final day in the Village Hall that was the Monee administration’s home for 40 years, village employees packed up offices into yellow tubs in between assisting residents dropping off water bill payments, preparing for a move.
The Village Hall at 5130 W. Court St., closed Dec. 31, and offices will remain closed until Jan. 6, when the administration moves into the new Village Hall at 25711 S. Egyptian Trail, said village administrator Ruben Bautista.
Bautista said the Village Hall, built in 1984, originally housed the Police Department, administration and Building Department when the village’s population was about 900. However, with the population now exceeding 5,000, according to the 2020 census, he said Monee has long outgrown the existing facility.
Bautista estimates the town serves roughly 15,000 people daily given the nearby Amazon fulfillment center and its location off several major interstates.
“We’re on top of each other, and it’s a safety risk. We’ve over populated this building,” he said Tuesday. “We are a growing village. So this has served us well for 40 years.”
The village purchased the building on Egyptian Trail, formerly home to Riverside Medical Center, a health clinic that closed in 2023, for about $1 million.
“We had been talking about the Village Hall for several years, and the opportunity presented itself. So it really was a no brainer,” he said. “We got an incredible deal. It would have cost four times the amount to build.”
Bautista said all village staff will move to the new location, including those in the front office, the Finance Department, Human Resource Department, administrative personnel, building services and economic development.
However, he said Village Board meetings will continue at the former building for a few years until work to add a board room to the new municipal building is completed.
After the move, the Parks and Recreation Department will relocate to the Court Street building, which will also be converted into a community center, Bautista said. This will provide a significant upgrade from the department’s existing facility, which is primarily meant for storage, he said.
Bautista said the village is also working on redoing the football field, putting in baseball fields, a concession stand, dog park and splash pad around what will become the new community center.
“All that is underway right now,” he said.
But while the village staff got a deal on the new municipal building, Bautista said the loss of Riverside Medical Center left Monee without a health clinic.
“It really is a big loss,” he said. “And actually it’s a gaping hole we’re trying to fill, we’re talking to other facilities to see if we can get them to come in.”
The Monee Police Department is also in line to receive a new facility, he said, with the village setting aside funds to build it without adding to the cost for residents.
As the village expanded in size, population, businesses, industry and construction, so too have the services it provides, Bautista said. Now, the village is preparing for the possible development of a south suburban airport, which would partially be located in Monee and would drive more growth.
While plans for the airport have been in progress for nearly 30 years, the Illinois Department of Transportation issued a request for qualifications in August for interested developers, with proposals due in July.
“This area is going to grow, and so we’ve got to get infrastructure in place,” he said.
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