SB0172 EngrossedLRB097 04014 JDS 44053 b

1    AN ACT concerning government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Soil and Water Conservation Districts Act is
5amended by changing Section 26a as follows:
 
6    (70 ILCS 405/26a)  (from Ch. 5, par. 131a)
7    Sec. 26a. Any 25 or more owners of lands lying within the
8boundaries of any district organized under the provisions of
9this Act may file, with the Department, a petition proposing
10the consolidation of such district with one or more adjoining
11soil conservation districts. Such petition shall set forth: (1)
12the names of the districts proposed to be consolidated, and (2)
13the proposed name of the consolidated district.
14    Within 30 days after such petition is filed the Department
15shall submit the proposal to the directors of each district
16proposed to be consolidated. The Directors of each such
17district, shall within 30 days thereafter, adopt and forward to
18the Department a resolution approving or disapproving the
19proposed consolidation.
20    If the directors of all of the said districts approve the
21proposals to consolidate such districts, it shall be the duty
22of the Department to give 10 days notice of the holding of a
23referendum by causing such notice to be published at least once

 

 

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1in one or more newspapers having general circulation within the
2district and to hold a referendum within each such district
3upon the proposition or the proposed consolidation. Except as
4otherwise provided in this Act, the proposition shall be
5submitted in accordance with Section 28-3 of the Election Code.
6    The question at such referendum shall be submitted upon
7ballots in substantially the following form:
8-------------------------------------------------------------
9Place an X in the square opposite the proposition for which you
10desire to vote.
11-------------------------------------------------------------
12    For approval of the proposed
13consolidation of (here insert names
14of districts to be consolidated)
15into one soil and water
16conservation district.
17-------------------------------------------------------------
18    Against approval of the
19proposed consolidation of (here
20insert names of districts to be
21consolidated) into one soil and
22water conservation district.
23-------------------------------------------------------------
24    Only owners or occupiers of land, or both, lying within the
25districts are eligible to vote in such referendum and each
26shall have one vote. Eligible voters may vote in person or by

 

 

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1absentee ballot.
2    If a majority of the votes cast in the referendum in each
3of such districts are cast in favor of the proposed
4consolidation and if the Department determines that such
5consolidation is administratively practicable and feasible,
6the Chairmen of the directors of the said districts shall
7present to the Secretary of State through the Department an
8application for a certificate of organization of the
9consolidated district. The application shall be signed and
10sworn to by all of the said chairmen, and shall set forth the
11names of the constituent districts, the proposed name of the
12consolidated district, and the location of the office of the
13consolidated district. The said application shall be
14accompanied by the statement from the Department which shall
15set forth (and such statement need contain no details other
16than the mere recitals) that a petition for the consolidation
17of the said district was filed, that the proposed consolidation
18was, by resolution, approved by the governing bodies of all of
19such districts, that a referendum was held in each of the said
20districts on the question of the proposed consolidation, and
21that the result of such referendum showed a majority of the
22votes cast in each district to be in favor of the proposed
23consolidation.
24    The Secretary of State shall receive and file such
25application and statement and shall record them in an
26appropriate book of record in his office. When the application

 

 

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1and statements have been made, filed, and recorded as herein
2provided, the consolidation of such districts shall be deemed
3affected and the consolidated district shall constitute a
4public body, corporate and politic, vested with all the power
5of soil and water conservation districts. The Secretary of
6State shall make and issue to the signers of the application a
7certificate, under the seal of the State, of the due
8organization of the said consolidated district, and shall
9record such certificate with the application and statement. A
10copy of the statement and certificate of organization, duly
11certified by the Secretary of State, shall be recorded with the
12recorder of the county in which the office of the consolidated
13district is located.
14    Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Act, if
15petitions and resolutions to consolidate districts under this
16Section are filed with the Department before January 1, 2012
17and if the Director determines that the consolidation is
18administratively practicable and feasible, then the Director
19may approve the consolidation without the necessity of holding
20a referendum under this Section, which shall be deemed to have
21the same effect as if the referendum had been held and
22approved.
23    Upon a consolidation of districts, the directors of all
24such districts shall continue to hold office and serve as a
25temporary governing body of the consolidated district until the
26members of a permanent governing body have been elected and

 

 

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1have qualified. The provisions of Sections 19, 20 and 21 of
2this Act that relate to the number, and to the nomination,
3election and organization of members of the governing bodies of
4soil and water conservation districts shall govern the
5selection of the members of the permanent governing body of a
6consolidated district.
7    Upon the issuance, by the Secretary of State, of a
8certificate of organization to a consolidated district,
9property belonging to the constituent district shall become the
10property of the consolidated district. All contracts
11theretofore entered into, to which the constituent districts
12are parties, shall remain in force and effect for the period
13provided in such contracts. The consolidated districts shall be
14substituted for each constituent district as party to such
15contracts, and shall be entitled to all benefits and subject to
16all liabilities under such contracts and shall have the same
17right and liability to perform, to require performance, to sue
18and to be sued thereon, and to modify or terminate such
19contracts by mutual consent or otherwise, as the constituent
20district would have had. Any indebtedness, claim, demand or
21right owing or belonging to any of the constituent districts
22shall vest in and become due to the consolidated district,
23which shall have the right to demand, sue for, recover and
24enforce the same in its own name. Upon a consolidation of
25districts, all land-use regulations theretofore adopted and in
26force and effect within any of the constituent districts shall

 

 

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1remain in force and effect throughout the territory for which
2they were originally adopted, until repealed, amended,
3supplemented, or superseded by action of the consolidated
4district.
5(Source: P.A. 83-358.)
 
6    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
7becoming law.