Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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70 ILCS 3610/3.1

(70 ILCS 3610/3.1) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 353.1)

Sec. 3.1.

Also in the manner provided in this Act as amended, a
"Local Mass Transit District" may be created with boundary to enclose a
unit area of contiguous land, to be known as the "participating area".
Such a "participating area" may be organized as a district under this
Act without regard to boundaries of counties or other political
subdivisions or municipal corporations.

(a) Any 500 or more legal voters who are residents within such
"participating area" may file a petition in the circuit court of the
county where the proposed district or a major part thereof is located,
asking that the question of creating such district be submitted under
this Act by referendum to the voters residing within the proposed
district.  By their power of attorney signed by them and filed in the
cause the petitioners may authorize a committee of their number named by
the petitioners, to conduct and pursue the cause for them to a
conclusion.  Such petition shall define the boundaries of the proposed
district, shall indicate distances to nearest mass transportation lines
in each direction, naming them, shall have attached a fair map of the
proposed district, and shall suggest a name for the proposed district.

(b) The circuit clerk shall present to the circuit judge any
petition so filed in the court.  The judge shall enter an order of
record to set a date, hour and place for judicial hearing on the
petition.  That order shall include instructions to the circuit clerk to
give notice by newspaper publication to be made and completed at least
20 days before the hearing is to be held, in 2 or more newspapers
published or circulating generally among the people residing within the
proposed district.  The circuit clerk shall prepare that notice and
cause such publication notice to be given as directed.

(c) After proof of such newspaper publication of notice has been
made and filed in the cause and shown to the court in full accord with
the prior order, the circuit judge shall hear all persons who attend and
so request, as to location and boundary and name for the proposed
district.  After the hearing on such petition is completed, the circuit
court by an order of record, shall determine and establish the location,
name and boundary for such proposed district, and shall order the proposition
submitted at an election in accordance with the general election law
to the voters resident within such proposed district. The circuit clerk
shall certify the proposition to the proper election officials who shall
submit the proposition in accordance with the general election law.

(d) The county clerk shall canvass the ballots and other returns from
such referendum, and prepare a full certification of the result and shall
file same in the cause pending in the circuit court.  When the vote is in
favor of the creation of such district as determined by the court order, a
true map of such district shall be filed with such report in the circuit court.

(e) When the vote is in favor of creation of such district, the
circuit court by an order of record shall confirm the result of election.
If the district is wholly contained within a
single county the presiding officer of the county board with the advice
and consent of the county board shall appoint 5 trustees, not more than
3 of whom shall be affiliated with the same political party, to govern
the district and serve one each for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years respectively;
upon the expiration of the term of a trustee who is in office on the
effective date of this amendatory Act of 1989, the successor shall, at the
time of the appointment, and thereafter at all times while serving as
trustee, be a resident of the Mass Transit District for which such person
is appointed as trustee.  If a trustee removes his residence to a place
outside of the District, a trustee shall be appointed in the same manner as
herein provided to take the place of the trustee who so removed his residence.
If however the district is located in more than one county, the number
of trustees who are residents of a county shall be in proportion, as
nearly as practicable, to the number of residents of the district who
reside in that county in relation to the total population of the
district.

Upon the expiration of the term of a trustee who is in office on the
effective date of this amendatory Act of 1975, the successor shall be a
resident of whichever county is entitled to such representation in order
to bring about the proportional representation required herein, and he
shall be appointed by the county board of that county, or in the case of
a home rule county as defined by Article VII, Section 6 of the
Constitution of 1970, the chief executive officer of that county, with
the advice and consent of the county board in accordance with the
provisions previously enumerated.  Successors shall serve 5 year
overlapping terms.

Thereafter, each trustee shall be succeeded by a resident of the same
county who shall be appointed by the same appointing authority; however,
the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply to the appointment
of the successor to each trustee who is in office at the time of the
publication of each decennial Federal census of population.

(f) Upon the creation of such district, the circuit clerk shall
prepare and certify a copy of the final court order confirming the
referendum creating the district, and a duplicate of the map of such
district, from the record of the circuit court, and shall file the same
with the county clerk for recording in his office as "Certificate of
Incorporation" for the district.  The county clerk shall cause a
duplicate of such "Certificate of Incorporation" to be filed in the
office of the Secretary of State of Illinois.

(g) The Board of Trustees of such "Local Mass Transit District"
shall have and exercise all the powers and shall perform all the duties
of any Board of Trustees of any district created under this Act, as now
or hereafter amended.

(h) The circuit court shall require the petitioners to post a surety
bond for the payment of all costs and expenses of such proceeding and
such referendum.  When a district is created, the circuit court shall
order the district to pay or reimburse others for all such costs and
expenses.  The surety bond shall not be released until complete receipts
for all such costs and expenses have been filed in the cause and fully
audited by the circuit and county clerks.

(i) If the District is wholly contained within a single county, the
County Board of such county may, by resolution, provide that, effective
upon the next appointment of a Trustee, after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of 1989, that the Board of Trustees of such Mass Transit
District shall be comprised of 7 Trustees, with no more than 4 members of
the same political party.  This Subsection shall not apply to any Mass
Transit District in the State which receives funding in whole or in part
from the Regional Transportation Authority or any of its service boards.

(Source: P.A. 86-472.)