5 ILCS 220/3.2

(5 ILCS 220/3.2) (from Ch. 127, par. 743.2)

Sec. 3.2. (a) Any two or more municipalities, counties or combination thereof may, by intergovernmental agreement, establish a Municipal Joint Action Agency to provide for efficient and environmentally sound collection, transportation, processing, storage and disposal of municipal waste. Any such Agency shall itself be a municipal corporation, public body politic and corporate. A Municipal Joint Action Agency formed for such purpose shall be established by an intergovernmental agreement among the various members upon approval by an ordinance adopted by the corporate authorities of each member. Such agreement may be amended at any time as may be provided in the intergovernmental agreement. The agreement may provide for additional members to join the Agency upon adoption of an ordinance by the corporate authorities of the joining member and upon such consents, conditions and approvals of the governing body of the Municipal Joint Action Agency and of existing members as shall be provided in the agreement. The intergovernmental agreement shall provide the manner and terms on which any member may withdraw from membership in the Municipal Joint Action Agency and on which the Agency may terminate and dissolve in whole or in part. The agreement shall set forth the corporate name of the Municipal Joint Action Agency and its duration. Promptly upon any agreement establishing a Municipal Joint Action Agency being entered into, or upon the amending of any such agreement, a copy of such agreement or amendment shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State of Illinois. Promptly upon the addition or withdrawal of any member, or upon the dissolution of a Municipal Joint Action Agency, that fact shall be certified by an officer of the Agency to the Secretary of State of Illinois.

(b) The governing body of any Municipal Joint Action Agency established pursuant to this Section 3.2 shall be a Board of Directors. The number, terms of office and qualifications of the Board of Directors shall be provided for in the intergovernmental agreement. Directors shall be selected by vote of the members which are eligible to vote under the terms of the intergovernmental agreement. The method of voting by members for directors shall be provided for in the intergovernmental agreement which may authorize the corporate authorities of a member to designate an individual to cast its vote or votes at any such election. The Board of Directors shall determine the general policy of the Agency, shall approve the annual budget, shall make all appropriations, shall adopt all resolutions providing for the issuance of bonds or notes by the Agency, shall adopt its bylaws, rules and regulations, and shall have such other powers and duties as may be prescribed in the agreement.

The Board of Directors shall act by a vote of a majority of its members or by such greater majority as may be provided in the intergovernmental agreement. If the intergovernmental agreement so provides, the Board of Directors may create one or more committees, define their duties and designate the members of the committees, who need not be members of the Board. The Municipal Joint Action Agency shall have such officers who shall be elected in such manner and for such terms as shall be prescribed by the intergovernmental agreement or as may be determined by the Board of Directors. The officers shall have such duties as may be provided in the intergovernmental agreement or as may be determined by the Board of Directors.

(c) A Municipal Joint Action Agency may plan, construct, reconstruct, acquire, own, lease (as lessor or lessee), equip, extend, improve, manage, operate, maintain, repair, close and finance waste projects. In determining the size of the waste project, adequate provision shall be given to the present and reasonably anticipated future needs of the recycling and resource recovery interest within the area.

A Municipal Joint Action Agency shall have such powers as shall be provided in the agreement establishing it, which may include, but need not be limited to, the following powers:

(i) To sue or be sued;

(ii) To apply for and accept gifts, grants or loans of funds or property or financial or other aid from any public agency or private entity;

(iii) To acquire, hold, sell, lease as lessor or lessee, lend, transfer or dispose of such real or personal property including intangible property, or interests therein, as it deems appropriate in the exercise of its powers, to provide for the use thereof by any member upon such terms and conditions and with such fees or charges as it shall determine, and to mortgage, pledge or otherwise grant security interests in any such property;

(iv) To make and execute all contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its power;

(v) To adopt, amend and repeal ordinances, resolutions, rules and regulations with respect to its powers and functions and not inconsistent with this Section 3.2;

(vi) To provide for the insurance, including self insurance, of any property or operations of the Municipal Joint Action Agency or its members, directors, officers and employees, against any risk or hazard, and to indemnify its members, directors, officers and employees therefrom;

(vii) To appoint, retain and employ officers, agents, independent contractors and employees to carry out its powers and functions hereunder;

(viii) To make and execute any contract with the federal, state, or a unit of local government or any person relating to a waste project, including contracts which require:

(1) the contracting party pay the Agency a fixed amount for the collection, processing and disposal of a stated amount of municipal waste (whether or not the stated amount of waste is collected or disposed of), or pay all or a portion of the capital and operating expenses of a waste project;

(2) the contracting party make exclusive use of a waste project for collecting, processing or disposing of all or any portion of municipal waste over which the party has control;

(3) the abandonment, restriction, or prohibition on completion or construction of competing waste projects by the contracting party;

(4) specific provisions with respect to the collection, processing, transportation, storage and disposal of municipal waste;

(5) payment of fees and charges with respect to a waste project;

(ix) To enter into contracts which provide for compensation to areas affected by an Agency waste project;

(x) To enter into contracts with the host community controlling location, use, operation, maintenance and closing of the waste project;

(xi) To create reserves for the purpose of planning, constructing, reconstructing, acquiring, owning, managing, insuring, leasing, equipping, extending, improving, operating, maintaining, repairing, and closing waste projects;

(xii) To create, develop and implement plans for closing and re-use of sites on which waste projects are located, which plans may provide for various uses, including but not limited to, residential, recreational, commercial, office and industrial uses;

(xiii) To prepare, submit and administer plans, and to participate in intergovernmental agreements, pursuant to the Local Solid Waste Disposal Act.

(d) 1. A Municipal Joint Action Agency may, from time to time, borrow money, and, in evidence of its obligation to repay the borrowing, issue its negotiable revenue bonds or notes for any of its corporate purposes, including, but not limited to, the following: for paying costs of planning, constructing, reconstructing, acquiring, owning, leasing, equipping, improving, closing or extending a waste project and implementing a re-use of the waste project; for paying other expenses incident to or incurred in connection with such project; for repaying advances made to or by the Agency for such purposes; for paying interest on the bonds or notes until the estimated date of completion of any such project and for such period after the estimated completion date as the Board of Directors of the Agency shall determine; for paying financial, legal, administrative and other expenses of the authorization, issuance, sale or delivery of bonds or notes; for paying costs of insuring payment of or other credit enhancement of the bonds or notes; for providing or increasing a debt service reserve fund with respect to any or all of the Agency's bonds or notes; for creation of reserves for the planning, constructing, reconstructing, acquiring, leasing, managing, equipping, extending, insuring, improving or closing of waste projects; and for paying, refunding or redeeming any of the Agency's bonds or notes before, after or at their maturity, including paying redemption premiums or interest accruing or to accrue on such bonds or notes being paid or redeemed or for paying any other costs in connection with any such payment or redemption.

2. Any bonds or notes issued pursuant to this paragraph (d) by a Municipal Joint Action Agency shall be authorized by a resolution of the Board of Directors of the Agency adopted by the affirmative vote of a majority of the Directors and in compliance with any additional requirements as may be set forth in the agreement establishing the Agency. The authorizing resolution may be effective immediately upon its adoption. The authorizing resolution shall describe in a general way any waste project contemplated to be financed by the bonds or notes, shall set forth the estimated cost of the waste project and shall determine its period of usefulness. The authorizing resolution shall determine the maturity or maturities of the bonds or notes, the denominations, the rate or rates at which the bonds or notes are to bear interest and all the other terms and details of the bonds or notes. The bonds or notes may be issued as serial bonds payable in installments or as term bonds with or without sinking fund installments or a combination thereof. All such bonds or notes shall mature within the period of estimated usefulness of the project with respect to which such bonds or notes are issued, as determined by the Board of Directors, but in any event not more than 50 years from their date of issue. The bonds and notes may bear interest at such rate or rates as the resolution shall provide, notwithstanding any other provision of law, and shall be payable at such times as determined by the authorizing resolution. Bonds or notes of a Municipal Joint Action Agency shall be sold in such manner as the Board of Directors of the Agency shall determine, either at par or at a premium or discount.

3. In connection with the issuance of its bonds or notes, the Municipal Joint Action Agency may enter into arrangements to provide additional security and liquidity for its obligations. These may include, without limitation, municipal bond insurance, letters of credit, lines of credit by which the Municipal Joint Action Agency may borrow funds to pay or redeem its obligations and purchase or remarketing arrangements for assuring the ability of owners of the obligations to sell or to have redeemed the obligations. The Municipal Joint Action Agency may enter into contracts and may agree to pay fees to persons providing such arrangements, including from bond or note proceeds.

The resolution of the Municipal Joint Action Agency authorizing the issuance of its bonds or notes may provide that interest rates may vary from time to time depending upon criteria set forth in the resolution, which may include, without limitation, a variation of interest rates as may be necessary to cause bonds or notes to be remarketable from time to time at a price equal to their principal amount, and may provide for appointment of a national banking association, bank, trust company, investment banker or other financial institution to serve as a remarketing agent in that connection. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the resolution of the Municipal Joint Action Agency authorizing the issuance of its bonds or notes may provide that alternative interest rates or provisions will apply during such times as the bonds or notes are held by a person providing a letter of credit or other credit enhancement arrangement for those bonds or notes.

4. The resolution authorizing the issuance of any bonds or notes pursuant to this paragraph (d) shall constitute a contract with the holders of the bonds and notes. The resolution may contain such covenants and restrictions with respect to the waste project and the contracts with respect to such waste project, the issuance of additional bonds or notes by the Agency, the security for the bonds and notes, and any other matters as may be deemed necessary or advisable by the Board of Directors to assure the payment of the bonds or notes of the Agency.

5. The resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds or notes by a Municipal Joint Action Agency established pursuant to this Section 3.2 shall pledge and provide for the application of revenues derived from the operation of the Agency's waste projects, revenues received from its members (including from contracts for the use of the Agency's waste projects) and revenues from its investment earnings to the payment of the operating expenses of the waste projects, to provision of adequate depreciation, reserve or replacement funds with respect to the waste project, planned waste projects, or the bonds or notes, and to the payment of principal, premium, if any, and interest on the bonds or notes of the Agency (including amounts for the purchase of such bonds or notes). The resolution may provide that revenues of the Municipal Joint Action Agency so derived and other receipts of the Agency which may be applied to such purposes shall be set aside as collected in a separate fund or funds and used for such purposes. The resolution may provide that revenues not required for such purposes may be used for any proper purpose of the Agency or may be returned to members.

Any notes of a Municipal Joint Action Agency may, in addition, be secured by a pledge of proceeds of bonds to be issued by the Agency, as specified in the resolution authorizing the issuance of such notes.

6. All bonds and notes of the Municipal Joint Action Agency issued pursuant to this paragraph (d) shall be revenue bonds or notes. Such bonds or notes shall have no claim for payment other than from revenues of the Agency derived from the operation of its waste projects, from revenues received from its members (including from contracts for the use of the Agency's waste projects), from bond or note proceeds, from such other receipts of the Agency as the agreement establishing the Agency may authorize to be pledged to the payment of bonds or notes, and from investment earnings on the foregoing, all as and to the extent as provided in the resolution of the Board of Directors authorizing the issuance of the bonds or notes. Bonds or notes issued by a Municipal Joint Action Agency pursuant to this paragraph (d) shall not constitute an indebtedness of the Agency or of any member within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory limitation. It shall be plainly stated on each bond and note that it does not constitute an indebtedness of the Municipal Joint Action Agency or of any member within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory limitation.

7. As long as any bonds or notes of a Municipal Joint Action Agency created pursuant to this Section 3.2 are outstanding and unpaid, the Agency shall not terminate or dissolve and, except as permitted by the resolution or resolutions authorizing outstanding bonds or notes, no member may withdraw from the Agency. The Agency shall establish fees and charges for its operations sufficient to provide adequate revenues to meet all of the requirements under its various resolutions authorizing bonds or notes.

8. A holder of any bond or note issued pursuant to this paragraph (d) may, in any civil action, mandamus or other proceeding, enforce and compel performance of all duties required to be performed by the Agency, as provided in the authorizing resolution, or by any of the members or other persons contracting with the Agency to use the Agency's waste projects, including the imposition of fees and charges, the collection of sufficient revenues and the proper application of revenues as provided in this paragraph (d).

9. In addition, the resolution authorizing any bonds or notes issued pursuant to this paragraph (d) may provide for a pledge, assignment, lien or security interest, for the benefit of the holders of any or all bonds or notes of the Agency, (i) on any and all revenues derived from the operation of the Agency's waste projects (including from contracts for the use of the Agency's waste projects) and investment earnings thereon, (ii) on any and all revenues received from its members, or (iii) on funds or accounts securing the payment of the bonds or notes as provided in the authorizing resolution. In addition, such a pledge, assignment, lien or security interest may be made with respect to any receipts of the Agency which the agreement establishing the Agency authorizes it to apply to payment of bonds or notes. Any such pledge, assignment, lien or security interest for the benefit of holders of bonds or notes shall be valid and binding from the time the bonds or notes are issued, without any physical delivery or further act, and shall be valid and binding against or prior to any claims of any other party having any claims of any kind against the Agency irrespective of whether such other parties have notice of such pledge, assignment, lien or security interest.

A resolution of a Municipal Joint Action Agency authorizing the issuance of bonds or notes pursuant to this paragraph (d) may provide for the appointment of a corporate trustee with respect to any or all of such bonds or notes (which trustee may be any trust company or state or national bank having the power of a trust company within Illinois). In that event, the resolution shall prescribe the rights, duties and powers of the trustee to be exercised for the benefit of the Agency and the protection of the holders of such bonds or notes. The resolution may provide for the trustee to hold in trust, invest and use amounts in funds and accounts created as provided in the resolution. The resolution authorizing the bonds or notes may provide for the assignment and direct payment to the trustee of amounts owed by members and other persons to the Municipal Joint Action Agency under contracts for the use of or access to the Agency's waste projects for application by the trustee to the purposes for which such revenues are to be used as provided in this paragraph (d) and as provided in the authorizing resolution. Upon receipt of notice of such assignment, the member or other person shall thereafter make the assigned payments directly to such trustee.

(e) A Municipal Joint Action Agency established pursuant to this Section 3.2 and any of its members shall each have the power to enter into contracts with any person, corporation or public agency, including any other member and the Municipal Joint Action Agency, with respect to a waste project. Any such contract may permit the contracting party to make use of the waste project and pay such fees and charges as may be established. Any member so contracting to use a waste project shall establish such fees and charges for the collection, transportation, processing, storage and disposal of municipal waste as are necessary to produce revenues sufficient to pay its obligations to the Agency under the contract to use the waste project; provided, however, that the member may satisfy its obligation to make payments under the contract from any funds of the member otherwise available for such purpose. Any contract between the Agency and its members with respect to a waste project shall not constitute an indebtedness of such members within any statutory or constitutional limitation. Any such contract shall be a continuing, valid and binding obligation of such member payable from the fees and charges it imposes for collection, transportation, processing, storage and disposal of municipal waste. Any such contract between the Agency and its members may contain provisions whereby the contracting parties are obligated to pay for all or a portion of the waste project without setoff or counterclaim and irrespective of whether the waste project is ever completed, made available or provided to the contracting party and notwithstanding any suspension, interruption, interference, reduction or curtailment of such waste project. Any such contract may provide that if one or more of the other parties to the contract defaults in the payments of its obligations under such contract or a similar contract made with respect to the waste project, one or more of the remaining parties to such contract or similar contract shall be required to pay for all or a portion of the obligation of the defaulting purchasers. No contract entered into under this subparagraph (e) shall have a term in excess of 50 years. No prior appropriation shall be required by either the Municipal Joint Action Agency or any member before entering into any contract under this subparagraph (e).

(f) A Municipal Joint Action Agency established pursuant to this Section 3.2 and its members shall have the power to enter into contracts for a term not exceeding 50 years relating to the collection, transportation, processing, storage and disposal of municipal waste. Parties to the contract shall have the power to agree to provide by ordinance, license, franchise, contract or other means that the method of collection, transportation, processing, storage and disposal of municipal waste shall be the exclusive methods to be allowed within their respective jurisdiction, notwithstanding the fact that competition may be displaced or that such ordinance, license, franchise, contract or other means may have an anticompetitive effect. Such contract may require the parties by ordinance, license, contract or other means to require that all or any portion of the municipal waste generated within the jurisdiction of the contracting party be delivered to a waste project designated by the parties. Such ordinance, license, franchise, contract or other means may be utilized by the contracting party to insure a constant flow of municipal waste to the facility notwithstanding the fact that competition may be displaced or that such measures have an anticompetitive effect.

(g) Members may, for the purposes of, and upon request by the Municipal Joint Action Agency, exercise the power of eminent domain available to them and convey the property so acquired to the Agency for the cost of acquisition and all expenses related thereto.

(h) A member may enter into an agreement with the Municipal Joint Action Agency obligating the member to make payments to the Municipal Joint Action Agency in order to finance the costs of planning, acquisition and construction of a waste project. A Municipal Joint Action Agency established pursuant to this Section 3.2 may agree to reimburse its members from proceeds of any borrowing for costs of the member with respect to planning, acquisition and construction of an Agency waste project.

(i) Property, income and receipts of or transactions by a Municipal Joint Action Agency created pursuant to this Section 3.2 shall be exempt from all taxation, the same as if it were the property, income of or transaction by a municipality or county member.

(j) The following terms whenever used or referred to in this Section 3.2 shall have the following meanings, except where the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) "Municipal waste" means garbage, general household, institutional and commercial waste, industrial lunchroom or office waste, landscape waste, and construction or demolition debris.

(2) "Waste project" means land, any rights therein and improvements thereto, one or more buildings, structures or other improvements, machinery, equipment, vehicles and other facilities incidental to the foregoing, used in the collection, transportation, transfer, storage, disposal, processing, treatment, recovery and re-use of municipal waste. A waste project shall include land held for a planned waste project or used to buffer a waste project from adjacent land uses.

(3) "Bonds or notes" includes other evidences of indebtedness.

(Source: P.A. 87-650.)