50 ILCS 741/45

(50 ILCS 741/45)

Sec. 45. Initial startup.

(a) An Agency shall commence operations no later than 90 days after the date of the election unless an alternative date is agreed to by the terms of the intergovernmental agreement and shall operate for the purposes set forth in the intergovernmental agreement. An Agency's governing body shall consist of representatives designated by the governing bodies of the participating units of local government as set forth in this Act, and shall be considered to be formed upon approval of the governing body of each member unit of local government unless otherwise agreed to by the terms of the intergovernmental agreement.

(b) The Regional Fire Protection Agency shall be governed by a 5-member Board of Trustees. Each trustee shall be a resident of a unit of local government within the Agency. The Board shall elect a Chairperson from among its members.

The number of trustees from each unit of local government shall be in proportion, as nearly as practicable, to the number of residents of the Agency who reside in that unit of local government in relation to the total population of the Agency. Thereafter, each trustee shall be succeeded by a resident of the same unit of local government and shall be appointed by the same appointing authority. The appropriate appointing authorities shall appoint 5 trustees of the Agency within 60 days after the entry of the order establishing the Agency. The trustees shall be electors in one of the units of local government of the Agency, provided that the Board shall consist of at least one trustee from each unit of local government, subject to the intergovernmental agreement, within the Regional Fire Protection Agency. The trustees shall hold the terms of office and shall have the powers and qualifications that are provided for trustees under Section 4 of the Fire Protection District Act.

In the event of a conflict between the terms of the intergovernmental agreement and the powers of the trustees otherwise provided by law, the terms of the intergovernmental agreement shall prevail and supersede.

(c) The Agency shall have the power, duties, and obligations of a fire protection district as otherwise provided by the Fire Protection District Act, except as modified or limited by the provisions of this Act or terms of the intergovernmental agreement. The Agency shall develop a budget funded at a level sufficient to ensure that the quality of services provided to the residents of the service area within the boundary of the included units of local government continues at a level equal to or greater than those provided prior to the modification.

(d) The establishment of an Agency as a separately named unit of local government shall not prevent the units of local government within it from identifying their historical fire departments with the names of their localities. In that event, local fire departments shall be described as [local name] Branch of the [name of the Agency].

(e) Upon the formation of an Agency under this Act, the fire departments of the participating units of local government shall be operated under a single chain of command under the leadership of one fire chief appointed by the Board of the Agency. The manner in which chiefs and subordinate chief officers who are redundant under the single chain of command and who are eliminated or integrated into the new unified chain of command shall be defined within the terms of the intergovernmental agreement entered into by the parties. The chiefs and other chief officers shall retain any rights they may have as established by other applicable law, provided that positions shall not be available to any person who is already retired and receiving benefits under Article 4 of the Illinois Pension Code. Any proposed reduction to a bargaining unit position resulting from the abolishment of a non-bargaining unit position shall be subject to compliance with the bargaining rights of any affected collective bargaining representative.

Upon taking office, the fire chief of the Agency shall command all operations of the unified service area of the Agency. The District shall become a body politic and corporate with all the powers, rights, duties, and obligations vested in it under the terms of the intergovernmental agreement and as otherwise provided under the provisions of this Act.

(f) Upon the organization of the Agency, the duties of each included unit of local government relating to the operation of a fire department and emergency medical services within the boundaries of the Agency shall be transferred to the Board of the Agency to be exercised according to the terms of the intergovernmental agreement and as otherwise provided under the provisions of this Act.

(g) Unless otherwise agreed upon, all firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, and other personnel lawfully in the employment of any unit of local government included in the Agency shall maintain identity with the fire departments that they were serving on prior to the creation of the Regional Fire Protection Agency, but shall be subject to the unified chain of command established by the Board.

An Agency consisting of any fire department that employs full-time officers or members shall be subject to Sections 16.01 through 16.18 of the Fire Protection District Act unless the terms of the intergovernmental agreement agreed to by the included units of local government and included collective bargaining unit agents representing employees engaged in providing fire protection or emergency medical services, or both, within the Agency's service area provide otherwise.

(h) Contracts in effect between an exclusive bargaining agent representing employees engaged in providing fire protection or emergency medical services, or both, within the Agency's service area and a participating unit of local government shall continue according to their terms. Successor contracts shall be negotiated in accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act. Upon agreement of any 2 or more units of local government and corresponding exclusive bargaining representatives, and approval of that agreement by a majority of the members of each respective bargaining unit who vote on the issue, any 2 or more bargaining units may be consolidated into a single bargaining unit.

(i) Any unit of local government that is included in an Agency shall be exempt from any reduction in the formula for distribution of income tax revenues under Section 901 of the Illinois Income Tax Act and personal property replacement tax revenues under subsection (c) of Section 201 of the Illinois Income Tax Act collected from local taxpayers by State agencies and redistributed to the units of local government based on the formula and laws in effect as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly.

(Source: P.A. 98-1095, eff. 8-26-14.)