City PDF
Park shelter reservations
Rates, rules, refund terms, Fish Hatchery Shelter details, and day-of-rental contacts in one clear path.
Carlyle, Illinois
City services for a small town on a big lake.
Pay a utility bill, apply for a permit, find a City Council agenda, or book a park shelter in a few clear steps. Carlyle is the county seat of Clinton County and the hometown gateway to the largest lake in Illinois.
Note for reviewers
This is a working redesign concept for the City of Carlyle, built by Stoa as part of our response to the City's Website Design and Hosting Services RFP. The palette is drawn from the City seal: Carlyle teal, bridge charcoal, and sunset gold. The imagery leans on the City's own photography and the General Dean Bridge identity. Every page runs in your browser, including a live plain-language search over real Carlyle sources, a faceted forms finder, a PWA that can install on a phone, and an accessibility audit measured against the current City site. Buttons that would connect to City systems on a live site point at the City's real current endpoints, including PSN, BoardDocs, Municode, and City PDFs.
Start here
What do you need to do today?
- Pay a utility billPay water, sewer, and electric online or set up autopay.
- Building and zoningApply before a build, fence, deck, sign, or demolition.
- Council agendasBoardDocs meetings, packets, minutes, and public notices.
- Book park spaceFind the City shelter and pavilion reservation form.
- Report an outageReach City electric and public works after hours.
- Lake recreationBeaches, camping, boating, and winter eagle viewing.
Your government
Find your department or office
Carlyle is run by a Mayor and an eight-member City Council, with the offices and departments that handle the services residents and businesses use most.
Utilities and Billing
Water, sewer, and the City's own electric utility. Start or stop service, pay a bill, set up autopay, or report an outage.
Utilities and billing →Building and Zoning
Building permits, zoning and variances, the zoning map, and property-maintenance and nuisance concerns.
Permits and zoning →City Clerk and Licenses
Public records (FOIA), liquor and raffle licenses, golf-cart permits, and the City's licensing and clerk services.
Clerk and licenses →Police and Public Safety
The Carlyle Police Department, CodeRED emergency alerts, open-burning rules, and how to reach help. Dial 911 in an emergency.
Police and safety →Parks and Recreation
City parks, the municipal pool, youth sports, shelter and cabin reservations, and the gateway to Carlyle Lake.
Parks and recreation →Mayor and City Council
The Mayor, City Clerk and Treasurer, the eight Aldermen across four wards, meeting agendas, the budget, and the City code.
Government and meetings →By the numbers
A small city on a big lake
3,253Residents (2020 Census)
26,000 acCarlyle Lake, the largest lake in Illinois
1825County seat of Clinton County since
1859General Dean Suspension Bridge, the City's landmark
Built for every resident
Clear to read. Easy on a phone. Accessible by design.
Residents reach City services from a phone, a lake house, or a slower connection. This concept is mobile-first, plain-language, and built to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
We measured that promise. An automated axe-core audit compares the current City home page with this concept, and the result is published here.
Search the City
Find a form, permit, record, or service
Search real Carlyle sources: BoardDocs, City PDFs, PSN, Municode, CodeRED, utility forms, zoning forms, parks reservations, and lake notices. Plain words work, so “pay my bill” finds the utility portal and “build a deck” finds zoning compliance.
Open government
The Mayor and City Council
Carlyle's public meeting materials live in BoardDocs, while the code of ordinances lives in Municode. This concept brings those official systems into one plain-language path so residents do not need to know which vendor name to click.
From real sources
The pieces residents actually need
City event
Dam Jam and fireworks
Music, parking, viewing areas, rain date, and lake partner information without digging through old posts.
Official links
Bills, permits, and records
PSN payments, zoning forms, FOIA, BoardDocs, and Municode collected into one resident-facing system.
Cards above point to real City or vendor sources in the search index. This concept shows how those scattered materials become one coherent public service experience.
Visit and Explore
From the dam to the downtown
Carlyle Lake is the largest lake in Illinois and one of the Midwest's premier sailing destinations, with beaches, campgrounds, and bald eagles below the spillway each winter. The lake is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the City is its hometown gateway. A City website should feel like the place it serves.