(70 ILCS 405/26a) (from Ch. 5, par. 131a)
Sec. 26a.
Any 25 or more owners of lands lying within the boundaries
of any district organized under the provisions of this Act may file,
with the Department, a petition proposing the consolidation of such
district with one or more adjoining soil conservation districts. Such
petition shall set forth: (1) the names of the districts proposed to be
consolidated, and (2) the proposed name of the consolidated district.
Within 30 days after such petition is filed the Department shall
submit the proposal to the directors of each district proposed to be
consolidated. The Directors of each such district, shall within 30 days
thereafter, adopt and forward to the Department a resolution approving
or disapproving the proposed consolidation.
If the directors of all of the said districts approve the proposals
to consolidate such districts, it shall be the duty of the Department to
give 10 days notice of the holding of a referendum by causing such
notice to be published at least once in one or more newspapers having
general circulation within the district and to hold a referendum within
each such district upon the proposition or the proposed consolidation.
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the proposition shall be
submitted in accordance with Section 28-3 of the Election Code.
The question at such referendum shall be submitted upon ballots in
substantially the following form:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Place an X in the square opposite the
proposition for which you desire to vote.
-------------------------------------------------------------- For approval of the proposedconsolidation of (here insert namesof districts to be consolidated)into one soil and waterconservation district.-------------------------------------------------------------- Against approval of theproposed consolidation of (hereinsert names of districts to beconsolidated) into one soil andwater conservation district.--------------------------------------------------------------
Only owners or occupiers of land, or both, lying within the districts
are eligible to vote in such referendum and each shall have one vote.
Eligible voters may vote in person or by absentee ballot.
If a majority of the votes cast in the referendum in each of such
districts are cast in favor of the proposed consolidation and if the
Department determines that such consolidation is administratively
practicable and feasible, the Chairmen of the directors of the said
districts shall present to the Secretary of State through the Department
an application for a certificate of organization of the consolidated
district. The application shall be signed and sworn to by all of the
said chairmen, and shall set forth the names of the constituent
districts, the proposed name of the consolidated district, and the
location of the office of the consolidated district. The said
application shall be accompanied by the statement from the Department
which shall set forth (and such statement need contain no details other
than the mere recitals) that a petition for the consolidation of the
said district was filed, that the proposed consolidation was, by
resolution, approved by the governing bodies of all of such districts,
that a referendum was held in each of the said districts on the question
of the proposed consolidation, and that the result of such referendum
showed a majority of the votes cast in each district to be in favor of
the proposed consolidation.
The Secretary of State shall receive and file such application and
statement and shall record them in an appropriate book of record in his
office. When the application and statements have been made, filed, and
recorded as herein provided, the consolidation of such districts shall
be deemed affected and the consolidated district shall constitute a
public body, corporate and politic, vested with all the power of soil
and water conservation districts. The Secretary of State shall make and
issue to the signers of the application a certificate, under the seal of
the State, of the due organization of the said consolidated district,
and shall record such certificate with the application and statement. A
copy of the statement and certificate of organization, duly certified by
the Secretary of State, shall be recorded with the recorder of
the county in which the office of the consolidated district is located.
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Act, if petitions and resolutions to consolidate districts under this Section are filed with the Department before January 1, 2012 and if the Director determines that the consolidation is administratively practicable and feasible, then the Director may approve the consolidation without the necessity of holding a referendum under this Section, which shall be deemed to have the same effect as if the referendum had been held and approved. Upon a consolidation of districts, the directors of all such
districts shall continue to hold office and serve as a temporary
governing body of the consolidated district until the members of a
permanent governing body have been elected and have qualified. The
provisions of Sections 19, 20 and 21 of this Act that relate to the
number, and to the nomination, election and organization of members of
the governing bodies of soil and water conservation districts shall
govern the selection of the members of the permanent governing body of a
consolidated district.
Upon the issuance, by the Secretary of State, of a certificate of
organization to a consolidated district, property belonging to the
constituent district shall become the property of the consolidated
district. All contracts theretofore entered into, to which the
constituent districts are parties, shall remain in force and effect for
the period provided in such contracts. The consolidated districts shall
be substituted for each constituent district as party to such contracts,
and shall be entitled to all benefits and subject to all liabilities
under such contracts and shall have the same right and liability to
perform, to require performance, to sue and to be sued thereon, and to
modify or terminate such contracts by mutual consent or otherwise, as
the constituent district would have had. Any indebtedness, claim, demand
or right owing or belonging to any of the constituent districts shall
vest in and become due to the consolidated district, which shall have
the right to demand, sue for, recover and enforce the same in its own
name. Upon a consolidation of districts, all land-use regulations
theretofore adopted and in force and effect within any of the
constituent districts shall remain in force and effect throughout the
territory for which they were originally adopted, until repealed,
amended, supplemented, or superseded by action of the consolidated
district.
(Source: P.A. 97-418, eff. 8-16-11.)
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