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Municipal Q&A - March 2004
When do elected officials take office after the April 2005 elections?
ANSWER:A new State law affects all Illinois units of local government. For all municipalities, townships, park districts, school districts, library districts and fire protection districts, it changes the requirements regarding the canvass of election results, as well as the dates when newly-elected officers will take office following the April, 2005 elections. For those public entities with compensated elected officials, the result of this law will permit you to slightly change the last dates for adopting ordinances fixing the compensation of your elected officials.
Background
After the 2000 Gore/Bush recount, the federal government adopted the Help America Vote Act, 42 USC 15301 to 15545, which established new procedures for Aprovisional voting. Under the new procedures, if the election judges do not have records on election day for people who claim they are legally registered to vote, the voter can cast a provisional ballot, which will be set aside for handling later. After the election, the provisional ballot is compared to records at the office of the election authority and a determination is made regarding whether the ballot should be counted or not. As a result of this new process, the vote results are no longer immediately known in some jurisdictions. In jurisdictions, such as in Cook County, where there are thousands of provisional votes cast, it is likely that the election results may not be tallied with the provisional votes until several weeks after the election.
The new federal law posed a conflict with the Illinois Election Code's requirement that public entities convene a canvassing board meeting within seven days following the election. Obviously, there would be no point to convene a canvassing board to canvass vote results they had not yet even received.
Further, because certain newly-elected officers were scheduled by statute to take office fairly soon after the election (for example, at the first regular or special meeting in April), it was possible that the date for the installation of new officers would pass before the newly-elected officers were even officially certified by the canvassing board. In addition, any change in the start date for a term of office for a newly-elected officer also impacts the requirement that certain public entities must establish any increase or decrease in compensation for their newly-elected officials at least 180 days prior to the commencement of the new term. The Illinois General Assembly responded to these concerns by adopting certain statutory changes, as discussed below.
What the New Illinois Law Provides
A. It Changes the Time Period in which Canvassing Boards must meet.
To eliminate the possibility that the canvassing boards would be required to meet prior to receiving voting results from the election authority, the Illinois General Assembly recently enacted House Bill 629, also known as Public Act 93-847. This new law provides that a public entity must conduct a canvass of vote results within 21 days, instead of seven days. It is likely that most election authorities will not have election results to local public entities until very close to the end of the 21-day period, so for the April 5, 2005 elections, we recommend that clients schedule their canvasses as close as possible to April 26, 2005.
B. It Changes the Term of Office for Public Officials
Because officials from different types of public entities have different terms of office, please refer to the paragraph below which addresses your particular public entity for the specific changes that pertain to your entity.
- Municipalities: This new law also amends the Illinois Municipal Code with respect to the time period within with newly-elected officers will take office. Previously, Section 3.1-10-15 of the Municipal Code provided that:
The terms of elected municipal officers shall commence at the first regular or special meeting of the corporate authorities during the month of April following the proclamation of the results of the regular municipal election at which the officers were elected, except as otherwise provided by ordinance fixing the date for inauguration of newly elected officers of a municipality. The ordinance shall not, however, fix the time for inauguration of newly elected officers later than the first regular or special meeting of the corporate authorities in the month of May following the election. Because the amendment to the Election Code now provides for a later canvass of vote results, the canvass will likely occur after the first meeting in April. Accordingly, the new amendment to Section 3.1-10-15 of the Municipal Code specifies that the terms of the newly-elected officers begin at the first regular or special meeting in May following the canvass. If your municipality has an ordinance governing fixing the time for inauguration, it cannot set a date any earlier than the first meeting in May or later than the first regular or special board/council meeting in June. There is no need to amend your ordinance unless it provides that the installation will occur before the first regular or special meeting in May or unless you prefer to have a longer time period elapse before your newly-elected officers are seated. Please also review the information in Paragraph C below regarding the changes regarding the time within which compensation must be increased or decreased.
- Townships: This new law amends the Illinois Township Code with respect to the time period within with newly-elected township supervisors, clerks and trustees will take office. Previously, Section 50-15 of the Township Code, 60 ILCS 1/50-15, provided that township supervisors and clerks entered upon their duties of office on the first Monday of May following their election. Under the new law, their terms of office begin on the third Monday of May. The statute regarding terms of office of highway commissioners, Section 6-116 of the Illinois Highway Code, 605 ILCS 5/6-116, was not amended, most likely by legislative oversight, so the terms of highway commissioners still commence on the first Monday in May after the election. Further, there is no change to the terms of assessors, which start on January 1st. Please also review the information in Paragraph C below regarding the changes regarding the time within which compensation must be increased or decreased.
- Park Districts: Section 2-12 of the Park District Code specifies that commissioners serve Auntil their successors are elected and qualified. However, some park district boards have adopted an ordinance fixing the term of park commissioners to start on the first meeting following the election. It is likely that the election results will not be finalized by then. Accordingly, if you have such an ordinance, we recommend that you adopt an ordinance changing the term to commence on the first meeting following the canvass of election results.
- School Districts: This new law amends Sections 10-5 and 10-16 of the Illinois School Code to extend the time within in which school boards must hold their organizational meetings. Under the new law, the board must organize by electing its officers and fixing a time and place for regular meetings within 28 days after the consolidated election, instead of within seven days.
Because the amendment to the Election Code now provides for a later canvass of vote results, the canvass will likely occur late in April. Accordingly, we recommend that you schedule your organizational meeting in 2005 between April 26th and May 3rd so you will have your election results and still meet the obligation to organize within 28 days after the election.
- Fire Protection Districts: The new law amends the Illinois Fire Protection District Act with respect to the time period within with newly-elected trustees will take office. Previously, Section 4a(2) of the Act, 70 ILCS 705/4a(2), provided that trustees entered upon their duties of office on the first Monday of the month following their election. Under the new law, their terms of office begin on the third Monday of the month following their election.
- Libraries: The new law amends the Public Library District Act of 1991 by specifying that newly-elected trustees shall take their oaths of office and meet to organize the board within 74 days after their election or appointment. 75 ILCS 16/30-40. The Act previously required the oaths to be taken and the meeting to occur within 60 days. The Act was also amended to specify that the first officers shall serve for terms set by ordinance but not to exceed two years, ending on the third Monday of the month following each regular election or until their successors are duly elected by the Board. 75 ILCS 16/30-40(e). Such terms previously ended on the first Monday of the month following the election.
C. The new law changes the Time Period Within Which Certain Public Entities must Adopt Ordinances Establishing Compensation for Elected Officials
The other impact that this new law has on certain public entities is that the Local Government Officer Compensation Act, 50 ILCS 140/3, provides that the compensation of elected officers must be fixed at least 180 days before the beginning of the terms of the officers whose compensation is to be fixed. Accordingly, because the terms of office are starting later, the time for adopting an ordinance establishing compensation later is extended, provided it is adopted at least 180 days before the commencement of the new terms of office.
If you have any questions regarding this new law or how it affects your entity, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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