(70 ILCS 1842/5) Sec. 5. Definitions. As used in this Act: "Administrative decision" has the meaning given to that term in Section 3-101 of the Code of Civil Procedure. "City council" means the city council or board of trustees of a municipality. "General obligation bond" means a bond that has any part of its principal or interest paid by taxation. "Governing and administrative body" means all of the city councils of the participating municipalities. "Governmental agency" means the federal government, a state or local government, or any subdivision of the federal, state, or local government. "Navigable waters" means any public waters that are or can be made usable for water commerce. "Participating municipality" means the City of Rock Island or a municipality that has all or any part of the municipality annexed into the Port District. "Person" means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, or joint stock association. "Person" includes, without limitation, a trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof. "Port District" means the Rock Island Regional Port District created by this Act. "Port facilities" means any public and other buildings, structures, works, improvements, and equipment that are upon, in, over, under, adjacent, or near navigable waters, harbors, slips, and basins and that are necessary or useful for or incident to the furtherance of water and land commerce and the operation of small boats and pleasure craft. "Port facilities" includes, without limitation, (i) improvements to the widening and deepening of basins, slips, harbors, and navigable waters and (ii) any lands, buildings, structures, improvements, equipment, and appliances located on Port District property that are used for industrial, manufacturing, commercial, or recreational purposes. "Port facilities" does not include terminal facilities "Revenue bond" means a bond that has its principal and interest paid solely from revenues or income derived from ports, harbors, or any other buildings or facilities of the Port District. "Terminal" means a public place, such as a station or depot, for receiving and delivering of baggage, mail, or freight in connection with the transportation of persons and property on water or land. "Terminal facility" means any land, building, structure, improvement, equipment, or appliance useful in the operation of a public warehouse, a storage, transportation, or railway facility, or industrial, manufacturing, or commercial activities for the accommodation of or in connection with commerce by water or land for the handling, docking, and serving small boats and pleasure craft. (Source: P.A. 103-242, eff. 1-1-24 .) |
(70 ILCS 1842/20) Sec. 20. Rights and powers. The Port District has the following rights and powers: (1) To investigate conditions within the Port |
| District and to prepare and adopt priorities for the development of port facilities for the Port District. In preparing and recommending changes and modifications in existing port facilities, or priorities for the development of those facilities, the Port District may set aside and allocate an area or areas within the lands owned by it to be leased to private parties for industrial, manufacturing, commercial, recreational, or harbor purposes where the area or areas, in the opinion of the governing and administrative body, are not required for primary purposes in the development of harbor and port facilities for the use of public water and land transportation or will not be needed immediately for these purposes, and where the leasing, in the opinion of the governing and administrative body, will aid and promote the development of terminal and port facilities.
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(2) To issue permits for the construction of all
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| wharves, piers, dolphins, booms, weirs, breakwaters, bulkheads, jetties, bridges, basins, slips, harbors, or other structures of any kind, over, under, in, or near navigable waters within the Port District and permits for the deposit of rock, earth, sand, or other material, or any matter of any kind or description in the navigable waters; except nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed so that it will be deemed necessary to obtain a permit from a city council of a participating municipality for the erection, operation, or maintenance of a bridge crossing a waterway that serves as a boundary between the State of Illinois and Iowa when the erection, operation, or maintenance of the bridge is performed by the participating municipality.
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(3) To locate and establish dock lines and shore or
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(4) To regulate the anchorage, moorage, and speed of
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| waterborne vessels and to establish and enforce ordinances for the operation of bridges, except nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed to give the Port District authority to regulate the operation of a bridge crossing a waterway that serves as a boundary between the State of Illinois and Iowa when operation of the bridge is performed by a participating municipality.
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(5) To acquire, own, construct, lease, operate, and
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| maintain terminals, terminal facilities, and port facilities, including, but not limited to, the widening and deepening of slips, harbors, and navigable waters, and to fix and collect reasonable and nondiscriminatory charges for the use of the terminals and facilities. The charges collected shall be used to defray the reasonable expenses of the Port District and to pay the principal of and interest on any revenue bonds issued by the Port District.
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(6) To police its physical property and all waterways
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| and to exercise police powers regarding the property and waterways or regarding the enforcement of an ordinance of a participating municipality within that municipality's boundaries, and to employ and commission police officers and other qualified persons to enforce the same. An ordinance of the participating municipality adopted under this paragraph may provide for a suspension or revocation, within the participating municipality, of any rights or privileges within the control of the participating municipality for a violation of the ordinance.
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(7) To establish, organize, own, acquire, participate
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| in, operate, sell, and transfer export trading companies, whether as shareholder, partner, or co-venturer, alone or in cooperation with federal, state, or local governmental authorities, federal, state, or national banking associations, or any other public or private corporation or person or persons. An export trading company organized or operated under this paragraph and all the property of the export trading company shall have the same privileges and immunities as accorded to the participating municipality and may borrow money or obtain financial assistance from private lenders or federal and state governmental authorities or issue general obligation and revenue bonds with the same kinds of security in accordance with the same procedures, restrictions, and privileges applicable when a participating municipality obtains financial assistance or issues bonds for any of its other authorized purposes. An export trading company organized or operated under this paragraph may apply for certification under Title II or Title III of the federal Export Trading Company Act of 1982.
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As used in this paragraph (7), "export trading
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| company" means a person, partnership, association, public or private corporation, or similar organization, whether operated for profit or not-for-profit, which is organized and operated principally for purposes of exporting goods or services produced in the United States, importing goods or services produced in foreign countries, conducting third-country trading, or facilitating trade by providing one or more services in support of trade.
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(8) To enter into agreements with the corporate
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| authorities or governing body of any other unit of local government or any political subdivision of the State to pay the reasonable expense of services furnished by the unit of local government or political subdivision for or on account of income-producing properties of the Port District.
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(9) To enter into contracts dealing in any manner
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| with the objects and purposes of this Act.
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(10) To acquire, own, lease, sell, or otherwise
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| dispose of interests in real property and improvements to the real property and in personal property necessary to fulfill the purposes of the Port District for a participating municipality.
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(11) To designate the fiscal year for the Port
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| District, which shall be the same fiscal year of a municipality that is annexed into the Port District either at the time of annexation or within 6 months after the annexation.
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(12) To engage in any activity or operation within a
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| participating municipality which is incidental to and in furtherance of efficient operation of the Port District.
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(13) To apply to the proper authorities of the United
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| States of America under the appropriate law for the right to establish, operate, maintain, and lease foreign trade zones and sub-zones within the jurisdiction of the United States Customs and Border Protection and to establish, operate, maintain, and lease the foreign trade zones and sub-zones.
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(Source: P.A. 103-242, eff. 1-1-24 .)
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(70 ILCS 1842/30) Sec. 30. Buildings, property, and acquisition of rights. (a) A participating municipality may acquire, erect, construct, reconstruct, improve, maintain, and operate one or more, or a combination or combinations of, industrial buildings, office buildings, buildings to be used as a factory, mill shops, processing plants, packaging plants, assembly plants, fabricating plants, and buildings to be used as warehouses and other storage facilities. (b) A participating municipality may acquire and accept by purchase, lease, gift, grant, or otherwise any property and rights useful for its purposes and to provide for the development of channels, ports, harbors, port facilities, terminal facilities, and any other building or facility that the Port District has the power to acquire, construct, reconstruct, extend, or improve to serve the needs of commerce within the municipality's portion of the Port District. A participating municipality may acquire real or personal property or any rights in real or personal property in the manner, as near as may be, as is provided for the exercise of the right of eminent domain under the Eminent Domain Act, except that: (i) no rights or property of any kind or character owned, leased, controlled, or operated and used by, or necessary for the actual operations of, any common carrier engaged in interstate commerce, or of any other public utility subject to the jurisdiction of the Illinois Commerce Commission, shall be taken or appropriated by a participating municipality without first obtaining the approval of the Illinois Commerce Commission; and (ii) no property owned by a participating municipality shall be taken or appropriated for facilities within a participating municipality's corporate limits without the approval of the city council of the participating municipality. (Source: P.A. 103-242, eff. 1-1-24 .) |
(70 ILCS 1842/45) Sec. 45. Lease of property; easements and permits; rent, charges, and fees. (a) The city council of a participating municipality may lease to others for any period of time, not to exceed 99 years, upon terms the city council determines, any of its real property, rights-of-way, or privileges, or any interest in or part of its real property, rights-of-way, or privileges, for industrial, manufacturing, commercial, recreational, or harbor purposes that, in the opinion of the city council, is no longer required for its primary purposes in the development of port facilities for the use of public transportation, or that may not be immediately needed for those purposes, but where the leases will, in the opinion of the city council, aid and promote those purposes. In conjunction with those leases, the participating municipality may grant rights-of-way and privileges across the property of the Port District within the participating municipality and those rights-of-way and privileges may be assignable and irrevocable during the term of the lease and may include the right to enter upon the property of the Port District within the participating municipality to do things necessary for the enjoyment of the leases, rights-of-way, and privileges. Those leases may contain conditions and retain interest in the leases as determined to be in the best interest of the Port District by the participating municipality's city council. (b) The city council of a participating municipality may grant easements and permits for the use of real property, rights-of-way, or privileges within the participating municipality, that, in the opinion of the participating municipality's city council, will not interfere with the use of the real property, rights-of-way, or privileges of the Port District within the participating municipality for its purposes, and those easements and permits may contain conditions and retain interest deemed in the best interest of the Port District within the participating municipality. (c) The city council of a participating municipality may agree upon and collect the rentals, charges, and fees on all leases, easements, rights-of-way, privileges, and permits made or granted by the city council that are in the best interest of the Port District within the participating municipality. The rentals, charges, and fees charged shall be used to defray the reasonable expenses of the Port District within the participating municipality and to pay the principal of and interest on any revenue bonds issued by the participating municipality for Port District purposes. (Source: P.A. 103-242, eff. 1-1-24 .) |
(70 ILCS 1842/50) Sec. 50. Powers of participating municipalities. (a) A city council of a participating municipality may apply for and accept grants, loans, or appropriations from the federal government or a state government, or any agency or instrumentality of the federal government or a state government, to be used for any of the purposes of the Port District within the participating municipality and to enter into any agreements with the federal government or a state government in relation to the grants, loans, or appropriations by the participating municipality in which the funds will be used. (b) A city council of a participating municipality may petition any federal, state, or local authority, or any administrative, judicial, or legislative authority, having jurisdiction for the adoption and execution of any physical improvement, change in method or system of handling freight, warehousing, docking, lightering, and transfer of freight that, in the opinion of the city council, is likely to improve or better the handling of commerce in and through the Port District in the participating municipality or improve terminal or transportation facilities in the participating municipality. (c) A city council of a participating municipality may borrow money and issue either general obligation bonds or revenue bonds for the purpose of (i) acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, extending, improving, or operating the terminals, terminal facilities, and other buildings or facilities that the participating municipality has the power to acquire, construct, reconstruct, extend, or improve, (ii) acquiring any property and equipment useful for construction, reconstruction, extension, improvement, or operation, and (iii) acquiring necessary cash working funds. (Source: P.A. 103-242, eff. 1-1-24 .) |
(70 ILCS 1842/60) Sec. 60. Bonds. (a) The city council of a participating municipality may, pursuant to ordinance and within that municipality's corporate limits, issue and dispose of its interest-bearing revenue bonds and may also in the same manner issue and dispose of its interest-bearing revenue bonds to refund any revenue bonds at maturity or pursuant to redemption provisions or at any time before maturity with the consent of the holders. Issuance and disposition of revenue bonds under this subsection may be done without submitting the question to referendum, notwithstanding any other provision of law. (b) A city council of a participating municipality may issue general obligation bonds to be used for Port District purposes within that municipality's corporate limits inside the Port District by adopting an ordinance specifying the amount of bonds to be issued, the purpose for which the bonds will be issued, the maximum rate of interest the bonds will bear, which shall not be more than the maximum rate authorized by the Bond Authorization Act in effect at the time of the making of the contract, and the date of maturity, which shall not be more than 20 years after the date of issuance. The city council of a participating municipality may issue and, in accordance with subsection (e), sell the bonds specified in the ordinance and adopt an ordinance levying an annual tax against all the taxable property within the municipality's corporate limits inside the Port District sufficient to pay the maturing principal and interest of the bonds and to file a certified copy of the ordinances in the office of the county clerk of Rock Island County. Thereafter, the county clerk shall annually extend taxes against all the taxable property within the corporate limits of the participating municipality inside the Port District at the rate specified in the ordinance levying the taxes. The aggregate amount of principal of general obligation bonds issued under this subsection shall not exceed 2.5% of the assessed valuation of all taxable property within the corporate limits of the participating municipality within the Port District. With respect to instruments for the payment of money issued under this subsection: (i) the Omnibus Bond Acts are supplementary grants of power to issue instruments in accordance with the Omnibus Bond Acts, regardless of any provision of this Act that may appear to be or to have been more restrictive than those Acts, (ii) the provisions of this subsection are not a limitation on the supplementary authority granted by the Omnibus Bond Acts, and (iii) instruments issued under this subsection within the supplementary authority granted by the Omnibus Bond Acts are not invalid because of any provision of this Act that may appear to be or to have been more restrictive than those Acts. (c) All revenue bonds shall be payable solely from the revenues or income to be derived from the terminals, terminal facilities, port facilities, and any other building or facility, or part of a building or facility, that the participating municipality has the power to acquire, construct, reconstruct, extend, or improve. The revenue bonds may bear a single date or multiple dates and may mature at any time not exceeding 40 years from the bonds' respective dates, as shall be provided in the ordinance authorizing issuance. Both revenue bonds and general obligation bonds may bear interest at the rate or rates as permitted in the Bond Authorization Act payable semi-annually, as provided in the ordinance authorizing issuance. All bonds, whether revenue or general obligations, may be in the form, may carry the registration privileges, may be executed in the manner, may be payable at the place or places, may be made subject to redemption in the manner and upon the terms, with or without premium as is stated on the face of the bond, may be authenticated in the manner, and may contain terms and covenants as provided in the ordinance authorizing issuance. The holder or holders of any bonds or interest coupons attached to the bonds issued by a participating municipality may bring suit to compel the performance and observance by the participating municipality or any of its officers, agents, or employees of any contract or covenant made by the participating municipality with the holders of the bonds or interest coupons and to compel the participating municipality and any of its officers, agents, or employees to perform any duties required to be performed for the benefit of the holders of any of the bonds or interest coupons by the provision in the ordinance authorizing the bonds' or interest coupons' issuance, and to enjoin the participating municipality and any of its officers, agents, or employees from taking any action in conflict with any contract or covenant, including the establishment of charges, fees, and rates for the use of facilities. Notwithstanding the form and tenor of any bond, whether revenue or general obligation, and in the absence of any express recital on the face of the bond that it is nonnegotiable, all the bonds shall be negotiable instruments. Pending the preparation and execution of the bonds, temporary bonds may be issued with or without interest coupons as provided by ordinance. (d) All revenue bonds shall be issued and sold by the participating municipality in the manner as the participating municipality shall determine. However, if any bonds are issued to bear interest at the maximum rate of interest allowed by subsection (c), the bonds shall be sold for not less than par and accrued interest. The selling price of bonds bearing interest at a rate less than the maximum allowable interest rate per annum shall be set so that the interest cost to the participating municipality of the money received from the bond sale shall not exceed the maximum annual interest rate allowed by subsection (c), computed to absolute maturity of the bonds according to standard tables of bond values. (e) All general obligation bonds issued by a participating municipality shall be sold by the participating municipality upon sealed bids to the highest and best responsible bidder who specifies the lowest net interest cost for the bonds. The participating municipality shall publish at least once, in a newspaper published in and having general circulation in the participating municipality, a notice of the time, date, and place when and where sealed bids for the purchase of the bonds will be received and publicly opened, read, and tabulated, which shall not be less than 10 days after the date of the publication. The bonds shall be sold for not less than par plus accrued interest to the date of delivery. (f) Upon the issue of any revenue bonds as provided in this Act, the participating municipality shall fix and establish rates, charges, and fees for the use of facilities acquired, constructed, reconstructed, extended, or improved with the proceeds derived from the sale of the revenue bonds sufficient at all times with other revenues of the participating municipality, if any, to pay: (i) the cost of maintaining, repairing, regulating, and operating the facilities; and (ii) the bonds and interest on the bonds as they become due and all sinking fund requirements and other requirements provided by the ordinance authorizing the issuance of the bonds or as provided by any trust agreement executed to secure payment of the bonds. The participating municipality may execute and deliver a trust agreement or agreements to secure the payment of any or all revenue bonds and for the purpose of setting forth the covenants and undertaking by the participating municipality in connection with the issuance of revenue bonds and the issuance of any additional revenue bonds payable from revenue income derived from the terminals, terminal facilities, port facilities, and other buildings or facilities that the participating municipality has the power to acquire, construct, reconstruct, extend, or improve. However, a lien upon any physical property of the participating municipality shall not be created in the trust agreement or agreements. A remedy for any breach or default of the terms of the trust agreement by the participating municipality may be by mandamus in the circuit court to compel performance and compliance with the trust agreement, but the trust agreement may prescribe by whom or on whose behalf the action may be instituted. (g) Bonds issued by a participating municipality and other obligations of the participating municipality shall not be an indebtedness or obligation of the State of Illinois, of a political subdivision of the State, or of a unit of local government, including the Port District or any other participating municipality. A revenue bond shall not be an indebtedness of a participating municipality within the purview of any constitutional limitation or provision, and it shall be stated on the face of each revenue bond that it does not constitute an indebtedness but is payable solely from the revenues or income derived from terminals, terminal facilities, and port facilities within the corporate limits of that participating municipality. (Source: P.A. 103-242, eff. 1-1-24 .) |
(70 ILCS 1842/70) Sec. 70. Permits. It is unlawful to make any fill or deposit of rock, earth, sand, or other material, or any refuse matter of any kind or description, or build or commence the building of any wharf, pier, dolphin, boom, weir, breakwater, bulkhead, jetty, bridge, or other structure over, under, or near any navigable waters within the Port District without first submitting the plans, profiles, and specifications, and any other data and information as may be required, to the participating municipality in which the project is located and receiving a permit. A person, corporation, company, municipality, or other agency that does any of the things prohibited in this Section without securing a permit as required in this Section shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. However, a permit is not required (i) for any project for which a permit has already been secured from a proper governmental agency prior to the creation of the Port District or (ii) for a project to be undertaken by a participating municipality for which a permit is required from a governmental agency other than the participating municipality before the municipality can proceed with the project. Any structure, fill, or deposit erected or made in any of the public bodies of water within the Port District in violation of the provisions of this Section is a purpresture and may be abated at the expense of the person, corporation, company, municipality, or other agency responsible for the violation, or, if, in the discretion of the participating municipality where the project is located, it is decided that the structure, fill, or deposit may remain, the participating municipality where the project is located may fix a requirement, restriction, or rental or require and compel necessary changes, modifications, and repairs to protect the municipality's interest. (Source: P.A. 103-242, eff. 1-1-24 .) |
(70 ILCS 1842/75) Sec. 75. Conflicts of interest. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, it is unlawful for any member, officer, employee, or other appointee of the governing and administrative body or participating municipality or for the husband, wife, or minor child of a city council of a participating municipality to have, acquire, obtain, or hold any contract, work, or business of the Port District, whether for stationery, printing, paper, services, material, or supplies or any private financial interest in the sale or lease of property to or from the Port District. It is unlawful for any firm, partnership, association, or corporation from which these persons shall be entitled, by contract, stock ownership, or otherwise, to receive more than 7.5% of the total distributable net income from having, acquiring, obtaining, or holding the contract, work, or business or any private financial interest. It is unlawful for any firm, partnership, association, or corporation from which a listed person, together with his or her wife, husband, or minor child or children, or any combination, who shall by contract, stock ownership, or otherwise be entitled to receive, in the aggregate, more than 15% of the total distributable income from having, acquiring, obtaining, or holding the contract, work, or business or any private financial interest. Any person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation that violates the provisions of this Section shall forfeit any and all sums paid or to be paid by the Port District under the contract, sale, or lease and, if found guilty of a violation, shall be guilty of a business offense and shall be fined not to exceed $2,500. (Source: P.A. 103-242, eff. 1-1-24 .) |