70 ILCS 705/4.01

(70 ILCS 705/4.01) (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 24.01)

Sec. 4.01. Five-member boards.

(a) Any appointed board of trustees of a fire protection district may
provide for the establishment of a 5-member board of trustees by adopting
an ordinance to that effect.  An appointed board of trustees shall also be
increased to a 5-member board upon the adoption of a proposition to
increase the board as provided in subsection (b) of this Section. When such
an ordinance or proposition has been adopted, the appropriate appointing
authority shall, within 60 days of the date of the adoption of the
ordinance or proposition, appoint 2 additional trustees to the board of
trustees, one to hold office for 2 years and one to hold office for 3 years
from the first Monday of May next after their appointment and until their
successors are appointed and have qualified.  The lengths of the terms of
these 2 additional members shall be determined by lot at the first meeting
of the board of trustees held after the 2 additional members take office.
The 3 trustees already holding office in the district shall continue to
hold office for the remainder of their respective terms.  Thereafter, on or
before the second Monday in April of each year the appropriate appointing
authority shall appoint one trustee or 2 trustees, as shall be necessary to
maintain a 5-member board of trustees, whose terms shall be for 3 years
commencing the first Monday in May of the year in which they are
respectively appointed.

(b) Upon presentation to an elected or appointed 3-member board
of trustees of a petition, signed by not less than 5% of the electors of
the district governed by the board, requesting that a proposition to
increase the board of trustees to a 5-member board be submitted to the
electors of the district, the secretary of the board of trustees shall
certify the proposition to the appropriate election authorities who shall
submit the proposition at a regular election in accordance with the general
election law.  The general election law shall apply to and govern the
election. The proposition shall be in substantially the following form:

--------------------------------------------------------------
    "Shall the number of trustees         YES
of the Fire Protection District be   -------------------------
increased from 3 to 5?"                   NO
--------------------------------------------------------------

If a majority of the votes cast on the proposition are in the
affirmative, the board of trustees of the district shall thereafter be
increased to a 5-member board and the 2 additional trustees shall be
elected or appointed as provided by this Section.

(c) Any appointed board of trustees of a fire protection district
that has established a 5-member board of trustees by ordinance under
subsection (a) may provide for a return to a 3-member board of trustees by
adopting an ordinance to that effect.  The terms of the 5 persons serving
on the board at the time of the adoption of the ordinance shall be
terminated upon the adoption of the ordinance, except that they shall
continue to serve until the 3-member board under this subsection (c) has
been selected and qualified.  The appropriate appointing authority shall
appoint the 3-member board within 60 days after the adoption of the
ordinance.  The appointments shall be made under Section 4.  Persons
serving on the 5-member board shall be eligible for appointment to the
3-member board under this subsection (c).

(d) Beginning on August 17, 1990, and ending 3 years after that date, in
the case of a fire protection district board of trustees in a county with a
population of more than 400,000 but less than 450,000, according to the 1980
general census, created under Section 4, subsection (a), paragraph (3) of
this Act that has established a 5-member board of trustees under this
Section a petition for the redress of a trustee, charging the trustee with
palpable omission of duty or nonfeasance in office, signed by not less than
5% of the electors of the district may be presented to the township
supervisor or the presiding officer of the county board, as appropriate.
Upon receipt of the petition, the township supervisor or presiding officer
of the county board, as appropriate, shall preside over a hearing on the
matter of the requested redress.  The hearing shall be held not less than
14 nor more than 30 days after receipt of the petition.  In the case of a
fire protection district trustee appointed by the presiding officer of the
county board, the presiding officer shall appoint at least 4 but not more
than 8 members of the county board, a majority of whom shall reside in a county
board district in which the fire protection district is wholly or partially
located, to serve as the hearing panel.  In the case of a fire protection
district trustee appointed by the board of town trustees, the township
supervisor and 2 other town trustees appointed by the supervisor shall
serve as the hearing panel.  Within 30 days after the hearing,
the panel shall issue a statement of its findings concerning the charges
against the trustee, based upon the evidence presented at the hearing, and
may make to the fire protection district any recommendations deemed
appropriate.

(e) In a district governed by an elected or appointed 5-member board, upon presentation of a petition, signed by not less than 5% of the electors of the district governed by the board, requesting that a proposition to decrease the board of trustees to a 3-member board be submitted to the electors of the district, the secretary of the board of trustees shall certify the proposition to the appropriate election authorities who shall submit the proposition at a regular election in accordance with the general election law. The general election law shall apply to and govern the election.

The election authority must submit the question in substantially the following form:
Shall the number of trustees of the fire protection