Installation of New Municipal Elected Officials
Every two years, we receive a lot of questions about when newly elected municipal officials (city council and village board) take office. There is a statute that governs this, and it provides as follows:
(65 ILCS 5/3.1-10-15)Sec. 3.1-10-15.Commencement of terms.The terms of elected municipal officers shall commence at the first regular or special meeting of the corporate authorities after receipt of the official election results from the county clerk 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 June following the election.
Under this statute, the general rule is that new elected municipal officers will be sworn in at the first board or council meeting after the county sends the certified election results to the municipality. While timing for each county's certification process will be different, historically, most municipalities receive results in mid to late April, and install their new members at their first meeting in May.
Don't forget, however, to check your own local ordinance or code to see if your municipality has adopted a local rule on when new members should be installed. That ordinance will control unless it establishes an installation date later than the first meeting in June. So, for example, if you receive certified election results on April 20th, and your ordinance sets the installation of new members at the 2nd meeting in May, then that ordinance controls and new members should be sworn in at the second meeting in May and not the first meeting.
Because this varies from municipality to municipality, if you have any questions, you should run them by your village or city attorney.
Post Authored by Julie Tappendorf
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