Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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70 ILCS 705/6

(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.)