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Public Act 91-0918
SB1425 Enrolled LRB9111447MWpc
AN ACT in relation to special districts.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
(70 ILCS 1105/2 rep.)
Section 2. The Museum District Act is amended by
repealing Section 2.
Section 3. The Park District Aquarium and Museum Act is
amended by changing Section 1 as follows:
(70 ILCS 1290/1) (from Ch. 105, par. 326)
Sec. 1. The corporate authorities of cities and park
districts having the control or supervision of any public
park or parks, are hereby authorized to purchase, erect and
maintain within any public park or parks under the control or
supervision of such corporate authorities, edifices to be
used as aquariums or as museums of art, industry, science or
natural or other history, or to permit the directors or
trustees of any corporation or society organized for the
construction or maintenance and operation of an aquarium or
museum as hereinabove described to erect, enlarge, ornament,
build, rebuild, rehabilitate, improve, maintain and operate
its aquarium or museum or museums within any public park now
or hereafter under the control or supervision of any city or
park district, and to contract with any such directors or
trustees of any such aquarium, museum or museums relative to
the erection, enlargement, ornamentation, building,
rebuilding, rehabilitation, improvement, maintenance and
operation thereof. Any city or park district may charge, or
permit such an aquarium or museum to charge, an admission
fee: Provided, that any such aquarium or museum shall be open
to the public without charge for at least one day each week,
and, when accompanied by a teacher, to the children in actual
attendance upon grades kindergarten through twelve in any of
the schools in this State at all times. During a 2-year
period beginning on the effective date of this amendatory Act
of the 91st General Assembly, any such aquarium or museum
must be open to the public without charge for a period
equivalent to 52 days, at least 6 of which must be during the
period from June through August, each year, instead of at
least one day each week. Notwithstanding said provisions
provision, charges may be made at any time for special
services and for admission to special facilities within any
aquarium or museum for the education, entertainment or
convenience of visitors. The proceeds of such admission fees
and charges for special services and special facilities shall
be devoted exclusively to the purposes for which the tax
authorized by Section 2 hereof may be used. If any owner or
owners of any lands or lots abutting or fronting on any such
public park, or adjacent thereto, have any private right,
easement, interest or property in such public park
appurtenant to their lands or lots or otherwise, which would
be interfered with by the erection and maintenance of any
aquarium or museum as hereinbefore provided, or any right to
have such public park remain open or vacant and free from
buildings, the corporate authorities of the city or park
district having control of such park, may condemn the same in
the manner prescribed for the exercise of the right of
eminent domain under Article VII of the Code of Civil
Procedure, as now or hereafter amended.
(Source: P.A. 82-783.)
Section 5. The Chicago Park District Act is amended by
changing Sections 3, 5, 14, and 16a as follows:
(70 ILCS 1505/3) (from Ch. 105, par. 333.3)
Sec. 3. Commissioners; corporate body. There shall be 7
commissioners of the Chicago Park District. Within 30 days
after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1988 the
Mayor of the City of Chicago, with the approval of the City
Council, shall appoint the 2 additional commissioners of the
Chicago Park District authorized by this amendatory Act of
1988, one to serve a term ending June 30, 1992, and the other
to serve a term ending June 30, 1993, as designated by the
Mayor. The 5 commissioners holding office on the effective
date of this amendatory Act of 1988 shall continue in office
until his or her term otherwise ends.
Annually in the same manner as the original appointments
are made, a commissioner shall be appointed to succeed each
commissioner whose term then expires to serve for a term of 5
years and until his or her successor is appointed and
qualified. Vacancies in the office of commissioner shall be
filled by appointment by the mayor with the approval of the
City Council.
Each commissioner shall be a legal voter of and reside
within the district and before entering upon the duties of
his or her office shall take and subscribe an oath to
faithfully discharge his or her duties as commissioner. Each
commissioner shall be required to post a bond in the sum of
$50,000 for the use and benefit of the district subject to
the approval of the Circuit Court of Cook County with whom
such bond shall be posted.
In performing their functions as commissioners for the
Chicago Park District, the commissioners are subject to the
Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act. It shall be a petty
offense for any commissioner to be directly or indirectly
pecuniarily interested in any contract or work of any kind
whatever connected with said park district, and any contract
in which any commissioners shall be directly or indirectly
interested shall be null and void.
From the time of the beginning of the term of the first
commissioners, the Chicago Park District shall constitute a
body politic and corporate and by such name and style may sue
and be sued, contract and be contracted with, acquire and
hold real property necessary for corporate purposes, and
adopt a common seal and alter the same at pleasure.
(Source: P.A. 85-1411.)
(70 ILCS 1505/5) (from Ch. 105, par. 333.5)
Sec. 5. General superintendent; Director of Human
Resources. The commissioners of the Chicago Park District
shall appoint a general superintendent. Such superintendent
shall be chosen without regard to his or her political
affiliations and upon the sole basis of his or her
administrative and technical qualifications to manage the
affairs of the district. He or she shall be a citizen of the
United States and a resident of the district.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Section 2 of
the Park System Civil Service Act "An Act relating to the
civil service in park systems", approved June 10, 1911, as
now or hereafter amended, or any other law, the commissioners
shall appoint a Director of Human Resources superintendent of
employment. The Director of Human Resources superintendent
of employment shall be a citizen of the United States and a
resident of the district.
(Source: P.A. 85-1411.)
(70 ILCS 1505/14) (from Ch. 105, par. 333.14)
Sec. 14. Civil service. The Park System Civil Service
Act "An Act relating to the civil service in park systems",
approved June 10, 1911, as amended, shall apply to the
Chicago Park District, and upon the coming into effect of
this act there shall be appointed but one Director of Human
Resources superintendent of employment and but one civil
service board for such district.
Every officer and employe in the classified civil service
at the time this Act takes effect shall be assigned to a
position having, so far as possible, duties equivalent to his
former office or employment, and such officers and employes
shall have the same standing, grade, and privilege which they
respectively had in the districts from which they were
transferred, subject, however, to existing and future civil
service laws. This Section shall not be construed to require
the retention of more officers and employes than are
necessary to the proper performance of the functions of the
Chicago Park District and the rules of the civil service
board made in pursuance of the civil service law shall
control in the making of layoffs and reinstatements of such
officers and employes as are not necessary to be retained.
This act shall in no way be construed to affect the operation
of Article 5 or Article 12 of the "Illinois Pension Code" as
the same may from time to time be amended, nor to affect the
rights of employees to pensions or annuities nor any taxes
authorized to be levied therefor. In the case of employes and
policemen of superseded park districts not having annuity
benefit funds retained as employes or policemen of the
Chicago Park District such employes and policemen shall have
the right to enter as new employes and policemen.
(Source: Laws 1963, p. 147.)
(70 ILCS 1505/16a) (from Ch. 105, par. 333.16a)
Sec. 16a. Personnel code.
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of the Park System
Civil Service Act or the provisions of any other law, the
board of commissioners by ordinance may establish a personnel
code for the Chicago Park District creating a system of
personnel administration based on merit principles and
scientific methods.
(b) The passage by the board of commissioners of a
personnel code that complies with the provisions of this
Section shall suspend the applicability to the Chicago Park
District of the Park System Civil Service Act. That Act shall
again become applicable to the Chicago Park District
immediately upon the repeal by the board of commissioners of
the personnel code or of any provision of that Code that is
required by this Section.
(c) Any personnel code passed by the board of
commissioners under the authority of this Section shall
contain provisions necessary to create a personnel system
based on merit principles and scientific methods and shall at
a minimum contain the following provisions:
(1) The code shall create the office of Director of
Human Resources Superintendent of Employment. The
Director of Human Resources Superintendent of Employment
shall be a resident of the district and shall be
appointed by the board of commissioners.
(2) The code shall provide for a personnel board
consisting of 3 members. Two members shall be
commissioners and the third shall be the Director of
Human Resources Superintendent of Employment or the
person lawfully acting in that capacity. Terms for
members shall be prescribed by the personnel code. The
commissioner members of the personnel board shall serve
without compensation but shall be reimbursed for
necessary travel and other expenses. The personnel board
may administer oaths, subpoena witnesses, and compel the
production of books and papers pertinent to any hearing
authorized by this Section. Any circuit court, upon
application by the personnel board or any member of the
board, may, in its discretion, compel the attendance of
witnesses, the production of books and papers, and the
giving of testimony before the board or its hearing
officer in relation to a hearing. Any person who shall
refuse to comply with a lawfully served order to appear
or testify before the personnel board or its hearing
officer, or to produce books and papers relevant to the
hearing as commanded in a lawfully served subpoena, shall
be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. Any person who,
having taken an oath or made affirmation before the board
or its hearing officer, knowingly swears or affirms
falsely is guilty of perjury and upon conviction shall be
punished accordingly.
(3) The code shall subject all positions of
employment in the Park District to the jurisdiction of
the personnel board, with the exception of offices or
high-ranking senior executive positions, confidential
positions, or special program positions that cannot be
subject to career service due to program requirements.
The board of commissioners shall, by resolution,
specifically exempt those offices or positions from the
jurisdiction of the personnel board.
(4) The substantive provisions of the code shall
provide, at a minimum, for the following:
(A) With the exceptions listed below, all
vacancies in positions of employment subject to the
jurisdiction of the personnel board shall be filled
only after providing reasonable public notice of the
vacancy and inviting those who meet the published
minimum requirements for the position as further
provided in this Section to apply for it. The
district shall specify in the announcement of the
vacancy the minimum requirements necessary to be
considered for the position, as contained in the
official position description for the position. The
district shall specify in the announcement of the
vacancy whether competition for the vacancy is open
to non-employees of the district, or to employees of
the district, or to both. The district may dispense
with this requirement of public announcement when a
vacancy, for reasons promoting the efficiency of the
district service, is to be filled by demotion,
recall from layoff or leave of absence, or lateral
transfer of an employee; or as the result of a
lawful order of a court, arbitrator, or
administrative agency; or as the result of a bona
fide settlement of a legal claim; or in accordance
with the provisions of this Section governing
emergency appointments; or as a result of a
reclassification of an employee's job title made in
accordance with rules prescribed by the district for
correcting misclassifications; or as the result of a
need to correct or avoid violations of any ethics
ordinance of the district.
(B) All vacancies that have been publicly
announced in accordance with the provisions of
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (4) shall
thereafter be filled by a competitive evaluation of
the relative qualifications of those who apply for
it. Any method of evaluation shall be reasonably
designed to select candidates on the basis of
job-related criteria. The personnel board shall
prescribe by rule the various methods of evaluation
that may be used. The public announcement of the
vacancy shall specify the method that will be used
for the particular vacancy. The Director of Human
Resources Superintendent of Employment shall
document the process of conducting each competitive
evaluation for each vacancy in sufficient detail
that the personnel board may determine the process
by which, and the basis on which, the person
selected to fill the vacancy was selected.
(C) The district, where it determines that it
is in the interest of the efficiency of the service,
may specify reasonable lines of promotion or "career
ladder" progressions grouping related positions. The
district may, in its discretion, restrict
competition for a particular vacancy (i) to existing
employees who seek promotion to that vacancy from
the position class at the next lower step in the
relevant line of promotion or career ladder
progression or (ii) if there is no such lower step,
to existing employees seeking promotion from a
particular job classification or classifications
whose duties are reasonably related to the duties of
the vacancy being filled. No restriction of
competition for a vacancy to be filled by promotion
shall be applied unless the line of promotion or
similar restriction has first been approved by the
personnel board.
(D) Persons appointed to a position of
permanent employment shall acquire "career service"
status following successful completion of a 6-month
period of probation.
(E) The district may prescribe reasonable
rules that extend appropriate preference in filling
vacancies to qualified persons who have been members
of the armed forces of the United States in time of
hostilities with a foreign country or to qualified
persons who, while citizens of the United States,
were members of the armed forces of allies of the
United States in time of hostilities with a foreign
country. A "time of hostilities with a foreign
country" means the period of time from December 7,
1941, to December 31, 1945, and from June 27, 1950,
to December 31, 1976 and during any other period
prescribed by the Board of Commissioners to take
account of periods in which the armed forces were
subjected to the risks of hostilities with a foreign
country. To qualify for this preference, a person
must have served in the armed forces for at least 6
months, been discharged on the ground of hardship,
or been released from active duty because of a
service-connected disability; the person must not
have received a dishonorable discharge.
(F) The district may make emergency
appointments without public announcement or
competition where immediate appointment is required
for reasons of the security or safety of the public
or of the district's property. Emergency
appointments shall be immediately reported to the
personnel board, which may disapprove them and order
them ended. No emergency appointment may last more
than 30 days, and no emergency appointment shall be
renewed.
(G) The district may make temporary
appointments to positions in which it is determined
by the personnel board that the continuous services
of the employee will be needed for less than 12
months. Appointments shall be made by public
announcement and competitive methods as provided in
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (4), but the
employee thus appointed shall not acquire career
service status during the period of his or her
temporary appointment.
(H) The district may transfer employees
without competitive procedures from a position to a
similar position involving similar qualifications,
duties, responsibilities, and salary ranges.
(I) The district may make layoffs by reason of
lack of funds or work, abolition of a position, or
material change in duties or organization. The
personnel code may provide for reemployment of
employees so laid off, giving consideration in both
layoffs and reemployment to performance record,
seniority in service, and impact on achieving equal
employment opportunity goals.
(J) Any employee with career service status
shall be discharged or suspended without pay for
more than 30 days only for cause and only upon
written charges for the discharge or suspension. The
employee shall have an opportunity to appeal the
action to the personnel board and to receive a
hearing before the personnel board or a hearing
officer appointed by it. The district may suspend,
without pay, the charged employee pending a hearing
and determination of an appeal by the personnel
board. All final administrative decisions by the
personnel board discharging or suspending, for more
than 30 days, an employee with career service status
are subject to judicial review under the
Administrative Review Law.
(K) The district shall extend, to persons who
are working in a position in which they lawfully
acquired civil service status by virtue of being
examined under the Park System Civil Service Act,
career service status in that position without
further examination.
(L) In filling any position subject to the
jurisdiction of the personnel board and not exempted
under paragraph (3) of subsection (c), the district
shall take no account, whether favorably or
unfavorably, of any candidate's political
affiliation, political preferences or views, or
service to any political party or organization. The
district shall maintain procedures through which
employees may complain of violations of this
prohibition and through which any established
violation may be corrected.
(M) The district shall provide, by rule of the
personnel board, by collective bargaining agreements
with the appropriate collective bargaining
representatives, or both, for continued recognition
of any right acquired on or before the effective
date of this amendatory Act of 1991 by an employee
of the district to be employed or reemployed, as the
result of a layoff or a recall, in a position in
which the employee previously held civil service
status. Those previously acquired rights may be
modified by mutual agreement between the district
and the appropriate collective bargaining
representative.
(N) The code shall provide that in filling
vacancies, the district will follow the provisions
of any lawful affirmative action plan approved by
the board of commissioners.
(O) The code shall set forth specific
standards of employee performance that all district
employees shall be required to follow.
(5) The code shall provide for the preparation,
maintenance, and revision by the personnel board of a
position classification plan for all positions of
employment within the district, based on similarity of
duties performed, responsibilities assigned, and
conditions of employment, so that the same schedule of
pay may be equitably applied to all positions in the same
class. Every class of positions shall have a position
description approved by the personnel board, specifying
the duties expected of the occupant of the position, the
minimum requirements of education, training, or
experience required for the position, and any other
information the personnel board by rule may prescribe for
inclusion in the position descriptions. No position
shall be filled, and no salary or other remuneration paid
to an occupant of a position, until the position has been
incorporated by the personnel board into the position
classification plan.
(6) The code shall provide for the preparation,
maintenance, and revision of a pay plan. The pay plan
shall be approved, and all revisions to it shall be
approved, by the board of commissioners. The pay plan
shall assign rates of pay to each position within the
approved position classification plan of the district.
No salary for any position of employment in the district
shall be paid unless and until that position has been
lawfully included in the pay plan. Nothing in this
Section shall relieve the district from the obligation to
bargain over rates of pay under the Illinois Public Labor
Relations Act or any other statute that regulates the
labor relations of the district.
(7) The code shall provide that no disbursing or
auditing officer of the district shall make or approve
any payment for personal service to any person holding a
position in the service of the district unless the
payroll voucher or account of the payment bears the
certification of the Director of Human Resources
Superintendent of Employment that each person named
therein has been appointed and employed in accordance
with the provisions of the personnel code and the
provisions of this Section. The certification shall be
based either upon verification of the individual items in
each payroll period or upon procedures developed for
avoiding unnecessary repetitive verification when other
evidence of compliance with applicable laws and rules is
available. The procedures may be based either upon a
continuation of payroll preparation by individual
departments or upon the use of a central payroll
preparation unit. The Director of Human Resources
Superintendent of Employment shall furnish the personnel
board with a copy of each payroll as certified.
(Source: P.A. 87-354; 87-895.)
Section 10. The Park District Code is amended by
changing Sections 10-7, 10-7a, 10-7b, and 10-7c as follows:
(70 ILCS 1205/10-7) (from Ch. 105, par. 10-7)
Sec. 10-7. Sale, lease, or exchange of realty.
(a) Any park district owning and holding any real estate
is authorized to sell or lease such property to another unit
of Illinois State or local government, or to lease upon the
terms and at the price that the board determines for a period
not to exceed 99 years to any corporation organized under the
laws of this State, in either case for public use, and
provided that the grantee or lessee covenants to hold and
maintain such property for public park or recreational
purposes or such park district obtains other real property of
substantially the same size or larger and of substantially
the same or greater suitability for park purposes without
additional cost to such district.
(b) Any park district owning or holding any real estate
is authorized to convey such property to a nongovernmental
entity in exchange for other real property of substantially
equal or greater value as determined by 2 appraisals of the
property and of substantially the same or greater suitability
for park purposes without additional cost to such district.
Prior to such exchange with a nongovernmental entity the
park board shall hold a public meeting in order to consider
the proposed conveyance. Notice of such meeting shall be
published not less than three times (the first and last
publication being not less than 10 days apart) in a newspaper
of general circulation within the park district. If there is
no such newspaper, then such notice shall be posted in not
less than 3 public places in said park district and such
notice shall not become effective until 10 days after said
publication or posting.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act,
this subsection (c) shall apply only to park districts that
serve territory within a municipality having more than 40,000
inhabitants and within a county having more than 260,000
inhabitants and bordering the Mississippi River. Any park
district owning or holding real estate is authorized to sell
that property to any not-for-profit corporation organized
under the laws of this State upon the condition that the
corporation uses the property for public park or recreational
programs for youth. The park district shall have the right
of re-entry for breach of condition subsequent. If the
corporation stops using the property for these purposes, the
property shall revert back to ownership of the park district.
Any temporary suspension of use caused by the construction of
improvements on the property for public park or recreational
programs for youth is not a breach of condition subsequent.
Prior to the sale of the property to a not-for-profit
corporation, the park board shall hold a public meeting to
consider the proposed sale. Notice of the meeting shall be
published not less than 3 times (the first and last
publication being not less than 10 days apart) in a newspaper
of general circulation within the park district. If there is
no such newspaper, then the notice shall be posted in not
less than 3 public places in the park district. The notice
shall be published or posted at least 10 days before the
meeting. A resolution to approve the sale of the property to
a not-for-profit corporation requires adoption by a majority
of the park board.
(d) Real estate, not subject to such covenant or which
has not been conveyed and replaced as provided in this
Section, may be conveyed in the manner provided by Sections
10-7a to 10-7d hereof, inclusive.
(e) In addition to any other power provided in this
Section, any park district owning or holding real estate that
the board deems is not required for park or recreational
purposes may lease such real estate to any individual or
entity and may collect rents therefrom. Such lease shall not
exceed 2 and one-half times the term of years provided for in
Section 8-15 governing installment purchase contracts.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if (i)
the real estate that a park district with a population of
3,000 or less transfers by lease, license, development
agreement, or other means to any private entity is greater
than 70% of the district's total property and (ii) the
current use of the real estate will be substantially altered
by that private entity, the real estate may be conveyed only
in the manner provided for in Sections 10-7a, 10-7b, and
10-7c.
(Source: P.A. 90-14, eff. 7-1-97; 91-423, eff. 8-6-99.)
(70 ILCS 1205/10-7a) (from Ch. 105, par. 10-7a)
Sec. 10-7a. When any park district owns and holds such
real estate, and desires to sell the same under provisions of
Section 10-7 hereof or to transfer real estate subject to
subsection (f) of Section 10-7, the board shall, by
four-fifths vote, adopt a resolution describing such property
and in and by said resolution find and declare that said
property is no longer needed or useful for park purposes and
that it intends to sell or transfer the same. After said
resolution has been adopted the same shall be published not
less than 3 three times (the first and last publication being
not less than 10 days apart) in a newspaper published and of
general circulation within the park district, if there be
such a paper. If there be no such newspaper, then publication
shall be in some newspaper of general circulation in such
district, if any, or if none, then such resolution shall be
posted in not less than 3 three public places in said park
district and said resolution shall not become effective until
10 ten days after said publication or posting.
(Source: P.A. 77-554.)
(70 ILCS 1205/10-7b) (from Ch. 105, par. 10-7b)
Sec. 10-7b. Such property, subject to the provisions of
Section 10-7a, shall not be sold or transferred unless the
sale or transfer thereof is approved by a majority of the
voters of said park district voting on the question at a
regular election.
(Source: P.A. 81-1489.)
(70 ILCS 1205/10-7c) (from Ch. 105, par. 10-7c)
Sec. 10-7c. Upon the completion of the publication
required by Section 10-7a the board shall either abandon said
sale or transfer or certify the question to the proper
election officials, who shall submit the question of selling
or transferring said property to the voters of said park
district at a regular election in accordance to the general
election law. The proposition shall be in substantially the
following form:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Shall the.... park district
(sell or transfer) sell the YES
following real estate.... (here describe -------------------
land proposed to be sold or transferred)? NO
-------------------------------------------------------------
Notice of such referendum shall be given and said referendum
shall be conducted in the manner provided by the general
election law, but such notice shall describe the property to
be sold.
If a majority of the electors voting on the question vote
in the affirmative, the park district may thereafter sell or
transfer the real estate.
(Source: P.A. 81-1489.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.
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