Public Act 095-0799
 
HB4674 Enrolled LRB095 16674 HLH 42705 b

    AN ACT concerning local government.
 
    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 Section 6 as follows:
 
    (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 Marshall 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.)