Public Act 93-0589

SB524 Enrolled                       LRB093 06445 BDD 10976 b

    AN ACT concerning fire protection.

    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 Sections 6 and 16.06 as follows:

    (70 ILCS 705/6) (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 26)
    Sec.  6.   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.   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.  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.   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.   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. 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.  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.  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. 91-948, eff. 1-1-02.)

    (70 ILCS 705/16.06) (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 37.06)
    Sec.   16.06.  Eligibility   for   positions   in    fire
department; disqualifications.
    (a)  All applicants for a position in the fire department
of  the  fire  protection district shall be under 35 years of
age and shall be subjected to  examination,  which  shall  be
public,  competitive,  and free to all applicants, subject to
reasonable  limitations  as  to  health,  habits,  and  moral
character; provided that the foregoing age  limitation  shall
not   apply  in  the  case  of  any  person  having  previous
employment status as a fireman  in  a  regularly  constituted
fire  department of any fire protection district, and further
provided that  each fireman or fire chief who is a member  in
good  standing  in a regularly constituted fire department of
any municipality which shall be or  shall  have  subsequently
been  included  within  the boundaries of any fire protection
district  now  or  hereafter  organized  shall  be  given   a
preference  for original appointment in the same class, grade
or employment over all other  applicants.   The  examinations
shall  be  practical  in  their character and shall relate to
those matters which will fairly test the persons examined  as
to  their  relative  capacity  to discharge the duties of the
positions to which they seek appointment.   The  examinations
shall  include  tests  of physical qualifications and health.
No applicant,  however,  shall  be  examined  concerning  his
political   or   religious  opinions  or  affiliations.   The
examinations  shall  be  conducted  by  the  board  of   fire
commissioners.
    (b)  No  person shall be appointed to the fire department
unless he or she is a person of  good  character  and  not  a
person  who  has  been  convicted  of a felony in Illinois or
convicted in another jurisdiction for conduct that would be a
felony under Illinois law, or convicted of a crime  involving
moral  turpitude.   No person, however, shall be disqualified
from appointment to the fire department because of his or her
record  of  misdemeanor  convictions,  except   those   under
Sections 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 11-14, 11-15, 11-17, 11-18, 11-19,
12-2,  12-6,  12-15,  14-4, 16-1, 21.1-3, 24-3.1, 24-5, 25-1,
28-3, 31-1, 31-4, 31-6, 31-7, 32-1, 32-2, 32-3,  32-4,  32-8,
and  subsections  (1),  (6),  and  (8) of Section 24-1 of the
Criminal Code of 1961.
(Source: P.A. 89-52, eff. 6-30-95; 90-481, eff. 8-17-97.)