HB5777eng 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB5777 Engrossed LRB100 19717 AWJ 34991 b

AN ACT concerning local government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by changing the heading of Division 2 of Article 7 and Section 7-2-1 as follows:

(65 ILCS 5/Art. 7 Div. 2 heading)

DIVISION 2. UNION AND CONSOLIDATION OF CONTIGUOUS

MUNICIPALITIES

(65 ILCS 5/7-2-1) (from Ch. 24, par. 7-2-1)

Sec. 7-2-1. Any 2 or more incorporated contiguous municipalities wholly or substantially situated in a single county may be united into one incorporated city or village as follows: by a compliance with Sections 7-1-16 and 7-1-17, with the following exceptions:

(1) If the municipalities are situated in the same county, a petition asking that the question of union of contiguous municipalities be submitted to the electors of each municipality shall be presented to the election authority for the county in which the municipalities are situated.

If the municipalities are situated in 2 or more counties, a petition asking that the question of union of contiguous municipalities be submitted to the electors of each municipality shall be presented to the election authority in the county in which the largest municipality (by population) is situated and, if the largest municipality is situated in 2 or more counties, in the county in which the largest municipality's municipal hall is located, and a copy of the petition shall be presented to all other election authorities in all other counties referencing where the petition has been filed.

The petition (a) shall be signed by not less than 10% of the total number of electors of each of the municipalities sought to be united who voted at the last preceding election or 250 such electors, whichever number is smaller, seeking a union, (b) shall state the name by which the united municipality is to be known, and (c) shall state the form of municipal government under which the united municipality is to be governed.

(2) The question shall be in substantially the following form:

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Shall the city, village, or incorporated town (as the case may be) of............ and the city, village, or incorporated town (as the case YES may be) of..........., (and in this manner as far as necessary, filling blanks with the names of the municipalities to be united), be united --------------------------

into a single municipality under the name of.......... with the........... form of municipal government (filling the blank with the word NO "City", "Aldermanic" or "Commission", "Strong Mayor", "Village", or the words "Managerial With Aldermen Chosen From Wards Or Districts" as the case may be)?

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No other proposition shall appear thereon.

Subsection (a) of Section 28-2 of the Election Code applies to petitions for the union of contiguous municipalities. A union is not considered the creation or formation of a new political subdivision for purposes of Section 28 of the Election Code, and a petition for the union of contiguous municipalities is not subject to subsection (b) or (g) of Section 28-2 of the Election Code. The county election authority shall certify the question of the union to be submitted to the electors of each municipality at an election to be held in each municipality in accordance with general election law. Any objection to a petition to unite contiguous municipalities shall be made pursuant to Sections 10-8, 10-9, 10-10, and 10-10.1 of the Election Code.

Any elected official, member, employee, or contractor of a city or village subject to a petition to unite shall be expressly prohibited from using any governmental or public resources in opposing or supporting the petition.

If the majority of the votes cast in each of the contiguous municipalities each municipality specified in the petition is in favor of the proposition, then those contiguous the municipalities are united. Any combination of cities and villages may unite into a city, and if multiple villages unite, they may unite into a single village or city as specified in the petition.

(3) If a majority of persons voting on the question vote against the proposition, no further propositions shall be had on the question for at least 22 months from the date of the election in which a majority of persons voted against the proposition. However, if a majority of persons voting on the question in 2 or more, but less than all, municipalities in the election vote in favor of the proposition, the 22-month prohibition does not apply to those municipalities in which a majority of persons voted in favor of the proposition.

(Source: P.A. 87-278.)