(70 ILCS 3705/4) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 191)

Sec. 4. A board of trustees consisting of 7 members for the government, control and management of the affairs of the business of each such water district organized under this Act shall be created in the following manner:

(1) If the district lies wholly within a single township but does not also lie wholly within a municipality, the board of trustees of that township shall appoint the trustees for the district but no voting member of the township board is eligible for such appointment;

(2) If the district is wholly contained within a municipality, the governing body of the municipality shall appoint the trustees for the district;

(3) If the district is wholly contained within a single county, the trustees for the district shall be appointed by the presiding officer of the county board with the advice and consent of the county board;

(4) If 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. Trustees shall be appointed by the county board of their respective counties, or in the case of a home rule county as defined by Article VII, Section 6 of the Constitution of 1970, by the chief executive officer of that county with the advice and consent of the county board.

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 appointing authority of that county.

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.

Within 60 days after the adoption of this Act as provided in Section 2 hereof, the appropriate appointing authority shall appoint 7 trustees who shall hold that office respectively one for one, one for 2, one for 3, 2 for 4 and 2 for 5 years from the first Monday of May next after their appointment as designated by the appointing authority at the time of appointment and until their successors are appointed and have qualified. Thereafter on or after the first Monday in May of each year the appointing authority shall appoint successors whose term shall be for 5 years commencing the first Monday in May of the year they are respectively appointed. If the circuit court finds that the size, number of members, and scale of operations of the water district justifies a Board of Trustees of less than 7 members he shall rule that such board shall have 3 or 5 members. Initial appointments to a 3 member board shall be as follows: one for one, one for 2, and one for 3 years. Initial appointments to a 5 member board shall be as follows: one for one, one for 2, one for 3, one for 4 and one for 5 years. In each such case the term of office and method of appointing successors shall be as provided in this Section for 7 member boards. The appointing authority shall require each of such trustees to enter a bond with security to be approved by the appointing authority in such sum as such appointing authority may determine. A majority of the Board of Trustees shall constitute a quorum, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day. No trustee or employee of such district shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract, work or business of the district or the sale of any article, the expense, price or consideration of which is paid by such district, nor in the purchase of any real estate or property for or belonging to the district.

An appointing authority may remove a public water district trustee it appointed for misconduct, official misconduct, or neglect of office.

Whenever a vacancy in such board of trustees shall occur either from death, resignation, removal, refusal to qualify, or for any other reason, the appointing authority shall have power to fill such vacancy by appointment. Such persons so appointed or qualified for office in the manner hereinbefore stated shall thereupon assume the duties of the office for the unexpired term for which such person was appointed.

For terms commencing before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, the trustees appointed under this Act shall be paid a sum of not to exceed $600 per annum for their respective duties as trustees, except that trustees of a district with an annual operating budget of $1,000,000 or more may be paid a sum not to exceed $1,000 per annum. For terms commencing on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, the trustees shall be paid a sum of not to exceed $1,200 per annum. However, trustees appointed under this Act for any public water district which acquires by purchase or condemnation, or constructs, and maintains and operates sewerage properties in combination with its waterworks properties, under the provisions of Section 23a of this Act, shall be paid a sum of not to exceed $2,000 per annum for their respective duties as trustees. Compensation in either case shall be determined by resolution of the respective boards of trustees, to be adopted annually at their first meeting in May.

Any public water district organized under this Act with a board of trustees consisting of 7 members may have the size of its board reduced as provided in Section 4.1.

(Source: P.A. 100-737, eff. 8-7-18.)