(70 ILCS 705/6) (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 26)

Sec. 6. Board of trustees; powers.

(a) 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.

(b) 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 firemen that may be necessary for the district, who shall hold office during the pleasure of the board and who shall give any bond that 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.

(c) 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. In addition, any trustee of a fire protection district who completes a training program on fire protection district administration approved by the Office of the State Fire Marshal may receive additional compensation above the compensation otherwise provided in this Section. The additional compensation shall be equal to 50% of such other compensation. In order to continue to receive the additional compensation, the trustee must attend annual training approved by the Office of the State Fire Marshal on a continuing basis thereafter.

(d) 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.

(e) 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.

(f) To encourage continued service with the district, the board of trustees has the express power to award monetary incentives, not to exceed $240 per year, to volunteer firefighters of the district based on the length of service. To be eligible for the incentives, the volunteer firefighters must have at least 5 years of service with the district. The amount of the incentives may not be greater than 2% of the annual levy amount when all incentive awards are combined.

(g) 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.

(h) The board of trustees may impose reasonable civil penalties on individuals who repeatedly cause false fire alarms.

(i) 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. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 95-799, eff. 1-1-09; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)