Section 294.100  Definitions

 

The following definitions are used in this Part:

 

"Applicant" means a unit of local government, including any municipality, township, township fire department, or special district such as a fire protection district that operates a fire department or provides fire suppression services itself without contracting those services from another entity.

 

"Authority" means the Illinois Finance Authority created by the Illinois Finance Authority Act [20 ILCS 3501] or its successor agency.

 

"Board" means the governing body of the entity receiving the loan.

 

"Committee" means the Loan Application Review Committee established in Section 294.140.

 

"Fire department" means a fire department, fire protection district or township fire department that is a unit of local government in Illinois that provides fire suppression within a geographical area.  For purposes of this Part, fire department is defined to include volunteer fire departments and volunteer fire protection districts.

 

"Fire station" means a building or structure set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus (including fire trucks, pumpers, ladder trucks, elevating platforms, rescue trucks, tankers, brush trucks, squad trucks, ambulances and related vehicles), personal protective equipment, fire hose and other fire extinguishing equipment.  It may also include dormitory living facilities and work areas such as offices, meeting rooms, workshops or laundry facilities.  The term includes additions to existing buildings as well as new construction.

 

"Funding date" means the date on which a zero-interest or low-interest loan is closed and funded.

 

"Low-interest loan" means a loan with a rate of interest lower than commercially available.

 

"Office" means the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

 

"Program" means the Illinois Fire Station Revolving Loan Program.

 

"Recipient" means an applicant that has successfully applied for and received all required approvals from the Office and the Authority, agreed to and executed loan documentation prepared by the Authority, and closed and funded its fire station loan.

 

Section 294.110  Severability

 

If any Section, subsection, sentence or clause of this Part shall be held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, that holding shall not affect the remaining portions of this Part.

 

Section 294.120  Purpose and Eligibility

 

a)         The Office and the Authority will jointly administer this Program to provide zero-interest loans or low-interest loans to fire departments, the proceeds of which shall be used to finance all or any portion of the costs associated with the construction, rehabilitation, remodeling or expansion of a fire station.

 

b)         The Office will recommend loan awards to the Authority based on building need, financial need, how recently the applicant has received a previous loan under this Program, and the applicant's participation in the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). Loan awards will be made by the Authority under its guidelines of creditworthiness (see 74 Ill. Adm. Code 1100.1117).

 

c)         Applicants that are required by Section 6 of the Fire Investigation Act [425 ILCS 25/6] to report fires to the Office must also have participated in NFIRS for a minimum of two years immediately prior to the date of the loan application in order to be eligible for a loan under the Program.

 

d)         Fire departments that are not governmental bodies, including for-profit entities, non-profit entities, associations or not-for-profit corporations, are not eligible to apply for a loan under this Program. Units of local government that do not operate fire departments or contract for fire suppression from another municipality or fire protection district are similarly not eligible.

 

Section 294.130  Eligible Expenditures

 

Subject to the availability of monies in the Fire Station Revolving Loan Fund, zero-interest loans or low-interest loans will be available for the purpose of paying all or a portion of the costs associated with the construction, rehabilitation, remodeling or expansion of a fire station or acquisition of land for the construction or expansion of a fire station up to a maximum loan amount of $2,000,000 per fire department per fiscal year [20 ILCS 3501/825-81].

 

Section 294.140  Loan Application Review Committee

 

The State Fire Marshal shall appoint a Loan Application Review Committee to determine, as described in Section 294.160, which eligible applicants will be recommended to the Authority to receive a loan under this Program.

 

a)         The Committee shall consist of the following nine members, who shall also serve as the Loan Application Review Committee for the Fire Truck Revolving Loan Program and the Ambulance Revolving Loan Program:

 

1)         The State Fire Marshal, or his or her designee, as Chair;

 

2)         Three Fire Chiefs (one each from a volunteer department, a combination department and a career/municipal fire department);

 

3)         One representative from the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois;

 

4)         Two representatives from the Illinois banking community (one from the Community Bankers Association of Illinois and one from the Illinois Bankers Association);

 

5)         One member who is a volunteer firefighter; and

 

6)         One member from the Illinois Association of Fire Protection Districts.

 

b)         The Authority's Chief Financial Officer, or his or her designee, will serve as an ex officio member of the Committee for the purpose of reviewing loan documentation to ensure that all documents necessary for the Authority to conduct its loan review are present.

 

c)         Members shall serve without salary, but may receive reimbursement for reasonable expenses from the Office from appropriations for those purposes.

 

d)         All members shall have one vote except for the Chair and the Authority's Chief Financial Officer or his or her designee.  The Chair shall only vote to break a tie.

 

e)         Members shall serve a term of four years, with two members' terms expiring each year.  Members shall be appointed for initial terms as follows:  two members shall serve terms of one year; two members shall serve terms of two years; two members shall serve terms of three years; and two members shall serve terms of four years.  The allocation of initial terms shall be determined by a random drawing.

 

f)         At the expiration of their initial terms of office, the members (or their successors) shall be appointed for terms of four years each.  Upon the expiration of a member's term of office, the State Fire Marshal shall reappoint that member, or appoint a successor who is a representative of the same interests with which his or her predecessor was identified.

 

g)         The State Fire Marshal may, at any time, remove any of the respective appointees for inefficiency or neglect of duty in office.  In these instances, the State Fire Marshal shall fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term by appointing a member who is a representative of the same interests with which his or her predecessor was identified.  Upon the death or incapacity of a member, the State Fire Marshal shall fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term by appointing a member who is a representative of the same interests with which his or her predecessor was identified.

 

h)         Regular meetings of the Committee shall occur as often as deemed necessary by the Chair, at a date, time and place to be fixed by the Committee (or by the Chair, should he or she call for the meeting) and at such additional times as the Committee deems necessary, for the consideration of loan applications, reviews, and Requests for Reconsideration, and the transaction of any other business as properly may come before it.

 

i)          A quorum shall be a majority of the appointed positions that have been filled by appointment. Unfilled positions shall not be counted.

 

j)          No Committee member affiliated with a fire department that has a pending application for a loan under this Program shall participate in the review of that fire department's application.

 

k)         Members of the Committee are required to participate in annual ethics training. Upon completion of the ethics training program, members of the Committee must certify that they have completed the training program.

 

l)          Members of the Committee are required to execute a confidentiality statement agreeing not to disclose any information gained during the course of their service on the Committee.

 

Section 294.150  Loan Application Procedure and Content

 

a)         Subject to the availability of funds, the Office will send a notification to all fire departments of fund availability and post application forms for zero-interest loans and low-interest loans under this Program on the Office's website at www.sfm.illinois.gov.  The application form shall identify the information applicants must include in their loan requests and shall require that the loan application be returned to the Office no later than the date specified in the application form. Applications shall be returned to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, Attention:  Fire Station Revolving Loan Program, 1035 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, Illinois 62703-4259.

 

b)         Each loan application shall include the following components:

 

1)         A completed application form supplied by the Office and signed by the duly authorized officers of the Board.

 

2)         A description of the applicant's need for the proposed fire station construction, rehabilitation, remodeling or expansion as identified in the application in light of the resources available to the fire department.

 

3)         Identification of the personnel to serve as contacts for information.

 

4)         Budget information, including detailed information on income, expenditures and the source of loan repayment funds.  If repayment plans are based on charitable contributions or fundraisers, the applicant must provide a history of amounts raised in prior years. (See 74 Ill. Adm. Code 1100.1125.)

 

5)         Certifications and assurances as the Office or Authority may require.

 

6)         Any other information requested by the Office or the Authority to aid that agency in making its determination under this Part.

 

c)         Applications received at the Office shall be logged in as received and assigned an application identification number.

 

d)         Applications shall be assessed by blind review, meaning the Committee shall not see the name, address or any specific information that identifies the applicant.

 

e)         The Office will forward those loan applications recommended for approval to the Authority for review under its guidelines of creditworthiness (see 74 Ill. Adm. Code 1100.1117). The Authority, after completion of its review, will notify the Office of the loan applications it will approve.  The Office will then notify the applicants.

 

f)         Applicants that are delinquent on a previous loan funded through this Program will be automatically disqualified from further funding under this Program, or other loan programs administered by the Office, until any loan repayment delinquency has been cured.

 

Section 294.160  Criteria for Review of Loan Applications

 

a)         Applicants receiving a loan in previous loan application cycles will not be considered until one of the following conditions has been met:

 

1)         all applicants that have never received a loan have been considered; or

 

2)         the previous loan received by the applicant has been repaid.

 

b)         Applicants that have not achieved compliance with Section 294.120(c) or that have submitted incomplete loan applications will not be considered.

 

c)         If the applicant does not demonstrate sufficient annual revenue to allow the applicant to repay the loan under the terms required, the Office will not recommend, nor will the Authority approve, the application based on the lack of ability to repay.

 

Section 294.170  Request for Reconsideration

 

a)         The Office will notify by First Class U.S. Mail those applicants whose loans are denied by the Authority.

 

b)         The applicant has 30 calendar days from the date of the postmark on the notice to forward to the Committee a request for reconsideration.

 

c)         The request for reconsideration shall be sent to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, Attention:  Fire Station Revolving Loan Program, 1035 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, Illinois 62703-4259.

 

d)         The request for reconsideration may be accompanied by supporting documents and information not previously considered by the Committee or Authority.  The Committee or, if appropriate, the Authority shall review the request for reconsideration.  A denial of the request for reconsideration shall be final.  While a request for reconsideration is pending, the application that is the subject of the request for reconsideration shall be deemed denied.

 

Section 294.180  Repayment Procedures

 

Loan repayment shall be made in accordance with 74 Ill. Adm. Code 1100.1125.

 

Section 294.190  Recordkeeping and Recovery of Funds

 

A loan approved by the Office and the Authority is subject to the following terms:

 

a)         The loan recipient shall provide to the Authority and the Office proof of use of loan proceeds.

 

b)         In the event of default that is not cured within 90 calendar days, the Office will notify the Office of the Comptroller to deduct the amount owed from any payments from other State agencies in accordance with the State Comptroller Act [15 ILCS 405/10.05].  In addition, the Office and/or the Authority may avail itself of all remedies, rights and provisions of law applicable in the circumstances, and the failure to exercise or exert any rights or remedies provided by law may not be raised as a defense by the recipient in default.