(70 ILCS 750/20)

Sec. 20. Powers of the district. A district formed under this Act shall have the following powers:

(1) To sue or be sued.

(2) To apply for and accept gifts, grants, and loans from any public agency or private entity.

(3) To enter into intergovernmental agreements to further ensure levee repair, levee construction or reconstruction, and flood prevention, within or outside of the district's corporate limits, including agreements with the United States Army Corps of Engineers or any other agency or department of the federal government.

(4) To undertake evaluation, planning, design, construction, and related activities that are determined to be urgently needed to stabilize, repair, restore, improve, or replace existing levees and other flood control systems located within or outside of the district's corporate limits.

(5) To address underseepage problems and old and deteriorating pumps, gates, pipes, electrical controls, and other infrastructure within or outside of the district's corporate limits.

(6) To conduct evaluations of levees and other flood control facilities that protect urban areas, including the performance of floodplain mapping studies.

(7) To provide capital moneys for levee or river-related scientific studies, within or outside of the district's corporate limits, including the construction of facilities for such purposes.

(8) To borrow money or receive money from the United States Government or any agency thereof, or from any other public or private source, for the purposes of the District and to issue indebtedness, including bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness to evidence such borrowing, and to pledge and use some or all of the taxes imposed pursuant to Section 25 of this Act for the repayment of the indebtedness of the District or any other flood prevention districts. The District shall direct the county to use moneys in the County Flood Prevention Occupation Tax Fund to pay such indebtedness.

(9) To enter into agreements with private property owners.

(10) To issue revenue bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness payable from revenue received from a tax imposed under Section 25 of this Act, and from any other revenue sources available to the flood prevention district. These bonds may be issued with maturities not exceeding 25 years from the date of the bonds, and in such amounts as may be necessary to provide sufficient funds, together with interest, for the purposes of the District. These bonds shall bear interest at a rate of not more than the maximum rate authorized by the Bond Authorization Act, as amended at the time of the making of the contract of sale, payable semi-annually, may be made registerable as to principal, and may be made payable and callable as provided on any date at a price of par and accrued interest under such terms and conditions as may be fixed by the ordinance authorizing the issuance of the bonds. Bonds issued under this Section are negotiable instruments. In case any officer whose signature appears on the bonds or coupons ceases to hold that office before the bonds are delivered, such officer's signature shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the same as though such officer had remained in office until the bonds were delivered. The bonds shall be sold in such manner and upon such terms as the board of commissioners shall determine, except that the selling price shall be such that the interest cost to the District on the proceeds of the bonds shall not exceed the maximum rate authorized by the Bond Authorization Act, as amended at the time of the making of the contract of sale, payable semi-annually, computed to maturity according to the standard table of bond values. Bonds issued by the District shall not be considered indebtedness for purposes of any statutory limitation and may be issued in an amount or amounts, including existing indebtedness, in excess of any heretofore or hereafter imposed statutory limitation as to indebtedness. A request to issue revenue bonds by the District must be submitted for approval to the county board of the county in which the district is situated. The county board has 30 calendar days to approve the issuance of such bonds. If the county board does not approve or disapprove the issuance of the bonds within 30 calendar days after the receipt of such request, the request shall be deemed approved. The District shall direct the county to use moneys in the County Flood Prevention Occupation Tax Fund to pay for bonds issued.

(11) To acquire property by gift, grant, or eminent domain, in accordance with the Eminent Domain Act. Any action by the District to acquire property by eminent domain requires the express approval of the county board.

(12) To retain professional staff to carry out the functions of the District. Any flood prevention district shall employ a Chief Supervisor of Construction and the Works with appropriate professional qualifications, including a degree in engineering, construction, hydrology, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. The Chief Supervisor of Construction and the Works shall be vested with the authority to carry out the duties and mission of the Flood Prevention District, pursuant to the direction and supervision of the Board of Commissioners. The Chief Supervisor of Construction and the Works may hire additional staff as necessary to carry out the duties and mission of the district, including administrative support personnel. Two or more districts may, through an intergovernmental agreement, share the services of a Chief Supervisor of Construction and the Works, support staff, or both. If 2 districts are adjoining and share a common federal levee, they must retain the services of the same person as Chief Supervisor of Construction and the Works.

(13) To conduct an audit of any drainage, levee, or sanitary district within the territory of the flood prevention district.

(14) To reimburse any county for costs advanced by the county for expenses that would have otherwise been paid out of the County Flood Prevention Occupation Tax Fund, had such fund been established at the time of the expenditure. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to permit a county to seek reimbursement from a flood prevention district for any expense related to levee maintenance, repair, improvement, construction, staff, operating expenses, levee or river-related scientific studies, the construction of facilities for any such purpose, or any other non-emergency levee related expense that occurred prior to an emergency situation involving the levees within such county.

(Source: P.A. 95-719, eff. 5-21-08; 95-723, eff. 6-23-08.)