50 ILCS 741/25 — Illinois Code / Chapter 50 / Act 741 / Section 25
Section 25
Status: in_force

(50 ILCS 741/25) Sec. 25. Creation of an Agency by petition and referendum. (a) Petition. A Regional Fire Protection Agency may exclusively be formed upon petition signed by the lesser of: (i) at least 8% of the total votes cast for candidates for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election in each of the units of local government included in the Regional Fire Protection Agency; or (ii) at least 500 legal voters in each of the units of local government to be included in the Regional Fire Protection Agency. The petition shall be filed in the circuit court of the county in which the greater part of the land of the proposed Regional Fire Protection Agency shall be situated. The petition shall set forth the names of the units of local government proposed to be included, the name of the proposed Regional Fire Protection Agency, the benefits of consolidating the units of local government within a Regional Fire Protection Agency, the names of the representatives of the petitioners from each unit of local government who shall be authorized to serve on the Joint Committee, and up to 3 alternate representatives from each unit of local government in the event a designated representative ceases to be an elector of their jurisdiction or resigns from the Joint Committee. Upon its filing, the petition shall be presented to the court, and the court shall fix the date and hour for a hearing. (b) Notice of hearing. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall set a hearing date that is at least 4 weeks, but not more than 8 weeks, after the date the petition is filed. The court, clerk, petitioner's counsel, or sheriff shall, upon order of the court, give notice 21 days before the hearing in one or more daily or weekly newspapers of general circulation in each county where an affected unit of local government is organized. The notice must describe the units of local government to be included and shall state that if the conditions required by this Section are met, then the proposition for the creation of the Agency shall be submitted to the voters of the units of local government in the proposed Agency by order of the court. (c) Hearing and referendum. At the hearing, the court shall first determine whether the petition is supported by the required number of valid signatures of legal voters within the contiguous units of local government. If the petition is proper, then the court shall remand the matter to a Special Mediator who shall mediate the negotiations regarding the terms of an intergovernmental agreement by the members of the Joint Committee as provided in subsection (d) of this Section. The Special Mediator shall be a member of the bar of the State of Illinois or a member of the faculty of an accredited law school. The Special Mediator shall have practiced law for at least 7 years and be knowledgeable about municipal, labor, employment, and election law. The Special Mediator shall be free of any conflicts of interest. The Special Mediator shall have strong mediation skills and the temperament and training to listen well, facilitate communication, and assist with negotiations. Special Mediators shall have sufficient experience and familiarity with municipal, labor, employment, and election law to provide a credible evaluation and assessment of relative positions. The Special Mediator assigned to mediate the Joint Committee's negotiations shall be selected by the members of the Joint Committee from a panel of 7 individuals provided by the Joint Labor Management Committee, as it is defined in Section 50 of the Fire Department Promotion Act. The panel shall be randomly selected by the Joint Labor Management Committee from a master list maintained by the Joint Labor Management Committee consisting of at least 14 qualified Special Mediators. If the members fail to agree, the court shall appoint the Special Mediator. The Joint Committee may elect to conduct negotiations without the assistance of the Special Mediator upon a majority vote of the Joint Committee. To certify a question for referendum, the court must find that: (i) based upon a preponderance of the evidence, at least 2 of the 3 Joint Committee representatives appointed by the court for each unit of local government included in the proposed Agency have executed an intergovernmental agreement that includes terms that are in compliance with the requirements under subsection (d) of this Section; (ii) the terms of an agreed-upon intergovernmental agreement have been approved by the requisite governing bodies of each of the units of local government; and (iii) should the terms of an agreed-upon intergovernmental agreement change the terms of the collective bargaining agreement for a bargaining unit of employees of any local unit of government of the proposed Regional Fire Protection Agency, any affected collective bargaining units must also approve all such changes in the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. (d) Joint Committee. The court shall allow appointments to the Joint Committee as follows: (1) A representative of each unit of local government included within the proposed