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91st General Assembly

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Public Act 91-0948

SB168 Enrolled                                 LRB9102278MWpc

    AN ACT in relation to fire protection districts.

    Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

    Section  5.  The  Fire Protection District Act is amended
by changing Sections 6 and 16.04 as follows:

    (70 ILCS 705/6) (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 26)
    Sec.  6.   The  trustees  shall  constitute  a  board  of
trustees for the district for which they are appointed, which
board of trustees is declared to be the  corporate  authority
of  the  fire  protection district, and shall exercise all of
the powers and control all the affairs and property  of  such
district.  The board of trustees at their initial meeting and
at their first meeting following the commencement of the term
of any trustee shall elect one of their number  as  president
and  one  of  their  number  as  secretary  and shall elect a
treasurer for the district, who may be one of the trustees or
may be any other citizen of the district and who  shall  hold
office  during  the  pleasure of the board and who shall give
such bond as  may  be  required  by  the  board.   Except  as
otherwise provided in Sections 16.01 through 16.18, the board
may   appoint  and  enter  into  a  multi-year  contract  not
exceeding 3 years with a fire chief and may appoint any  such
firemen  that  as may be necessary for the district who shall
hold office during the pleasure of the board  and  who  shall
give  any such bond that as the board may require.  The board
may prescribe the duties and fix the compensation of all  the
officers  and  employees  of the fire protection district.  A
member of the board of trustees of a fire protection district
may be compensated as follows: in  a  district  having  fewer
than 4 full time paid firemen, a sum not to exceed $1,000 per
annum; in a district having more than 3 but less than 10 full
time paid firemen, a sum not to exceed $1,500 per annum; in a
district  having  either 10 or more full time paid firemen, a
sum not  to  exceed  $2,000  per  annum.  In  addition,  fire
districts  that  operate  an  ambulance  service  pursuant to
authorization by referendum, as provided in Section  22,  may
pay  trustees an additional annual compensation not to exceed
50%  of  the  amount  otherwise   authorized   herein.    The
additional compensation shall be an administrative expense of
the  ambulance service and shall be paid from revenues raised
by the ambulance  tax  levy.   The  trustees  also  have  the
express  power  to  execute  a note or notes and to execute a
mortgage or trust deed to secure the payment of such note  or
notes;  such  trust deed or mortgage shall cover real estate,
or some part thereof,  or  personal  property  owned  by  the
district and the lien of the mortgage shall apply to the real
estate or personal property so mortgaged by the district, and
the  proceeds  of  the  note  or  notes  may  be  used in the
acquisition of personal property or of real estate or in  the
erection  of  improvements on such real estate.  The trustees
have express power to purchase either real estate or personal
property to be used for the purposes of the  fire  protection
district    through   contracts   which   provide   for   the
consideration  for  such  purchase   to   be   paid   through
installments  to be made at stated intervals during a certain
period of time, but, in no case, shall such contracts provide
for the consideration to be paid during a period of  time  in
excess  of  25  years.   The  trustees  have express power to
provide for the benefit of its employees,  volunteer  firemen
and  paid firemen, group life, health, accident, hospital and
medical insurance, or any combination thereof; and to pay for
all or any portion of the premiums on such  insurance.   Such
insurance  may  include  provisions for employees who rely on
treatment by spiritual means alone through prayer for healing
in accord with the tenets and practice of a  well  recognized
religious  denomination.  The  board  of trustees has express
power to change the corporate name  of  the  fire  protection
district  by  ordinance  provided  that  notification  of any
change is given to the circuit clerk and the  Office  of  the
State  Fire  Marshal. The board of trustees has full power to
pass all necessary ordinances, and rules and regulations  for
the  proper  management  and  conduct  of the business of the
board  of  trustees  of  the  fire  protection  district  for
carrying into effect the objects for which the  district  was
formed.
(Source: P.A. 85-1434; 86-1194.)

    (70 ILCS 705/16.04a) (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 37.04a)
    Sec.  16.04a.   The  board  of  fire  commissioners shall
appoint all officers and members of the fire  departments  of
the  district,  except the Chief of the fire department.  The
board of  trustees  shall  appoint  the  Chief  of  the  fire
department, who shall serve at the pleasure of the board, and
may  enter  into  a multi-year contract not exceeding 3 years
with the Chief.  The Chief of the fire  department  shall  be
appointed by the trustees.
    If  a  member of the department is appointed Chief of the
fire department prior to being eligible to retire on  pension
he  shall  be considered as on furlough from the rank he held
immediately prior to his appointment as Chief.  If he resigns
as Chief  or  is  discharged  as  Chief  prior  to  attaining
eligibility  to  retire on pension, he shall revert to and be
established in such prior rank, and thereafter be entitled to
all the benefits and emoluments of such prior  rank,  without
regard  as  to whether a vacancy then exists in such rank. In
such instances, the Chief shall be deemed to  have  continued
to  accrue  seniority  in the department during his period of
service as Chief, or time in grade  in  his  former  rank  to
which  he shall revert during his period of service as Chief,
except solely for purposes  of  any  layoff  as  provided  in
Section 16.13b hereafter.
    All  appointments  to  each department other than that of
the lowest rank, however, shall be from the rank  next  below
that  to which the appointment is made, except that the Chief
of the fire department may be appointed from among members of
the fire department, regardless of rank.
    The sole authority to issue certificates  of  appointment
shall  be  vested  in the board of fire commissioners and all
certificates of appointments issued to any officer or  member
of  the  fire  department shall be signed by the chairman and
secretary respectively of the  board  of  fire  commissioners
upon  appointment  of  such  officer  or  member  of the fire
department by action of the board of fire commissioners.
(Source: P.A. 86-562.)

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