If a vacancy occurs in the office of president of the board of trustees, the remaining trustees shall select one of their number to serve as president for the balance of the unexpired term of the president in whose office the vacancy occurred.
When any trustee during his or her term of office shall cease to be a bona fide resident of the district, or shall move from one township or congressional township in the district to another so that the township residency requirements of this Section are no longer met, then he is disqualified as a trustee and his office becomes vacant. If the district has decided to elect or appoint trustees from single member subdistricts under subsection (i), then when any trustee during his or her term of office shall cease to be a bona fide resident of the subdistrict he or she is disqualified as a trustee and the office becomes vacant.
The secretary of the board of trustees shall certify the proposition to the appropriate election authorities who shall submit the proposition at a consolidated or general election according to the Election Code. The Election Code shall apply to and govern the election. The proposition shall be in substantially the following form:
Shall the (insert name) Conservation District have an
(insert "elected" or "appointed") board of trustees with
(insert "5" or "7") trustees chosen (insert "at large" or
"from single member subdistricts")? The votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No".
If a majority of the votes cast on the proposition are in the affirmative, the trustees of the district shall thereafter be chosen as provided in this paragraph. At the next consolidated election, a district that has decided by referendum to have its trustees elected rather than appointed shall elect 5 or 7 trustees as provided in the ordinance or petition and in the proposition. The trustees shall be elected on a nonpartisan basis. The provisions of the general election law shall apply to and govern the nomination and election of the trustees.
With respect to a 7-member board, no more than 3 members may be residents of any township in a county under township organization or of any congressional township in a county not under township organization. In the case of a 7-member board representing a district that embraces 2 counties, 4 trustees shall be residents of the county with the larger population and 3 trustees shall be residents of the other county. If the district embraces 3 counties, 2 trustees shall be residents of each of the 2 counties with the smaller populations and the county with the largest population shall have 3 resident trustees. If the district embraces 4 counties, one trustee shall be a resident of the county with the smallest population and each of the other counties shall have 2 resident trustees. If the district embraces 5 counties, the 2 counties with the largest populations shall each have 2 resident trustees and each of the other counties shall have one resident trustee.
With respect to a 7-member board of a district embracing a single county, the county board shall apportion the district into 7 subdistricts. One trustee shall be a resident of and elected or appointed from each of the 7 subdistricts. In the case of a 7-member board of a district embracing more than one county, the members of each county board shall, jointly, apportion the district into 7 subdistricts. One trustee shall be a resident of and elected or appointed from each of the 7 subdistricts. The initial subdistricts shall be apportioned within 90 days after the referendum is approved, and the subdistricts shall be reapportioned after each decennial census.
70 ILCS 410/5