Attorney General Opinions

Protecting school district Property: Who's in charge?

Primary responsibility for protection of school district property located within one mile of a municipality's corporate limits rests with the municipal police force if one is maintained. Under section 16-8 of the School Code, both the county sheriff and a municipality situated within the school district have jurisdiction over school district property located within one mile of a municipality's corporate limits.

A municipality must exercise police control over school property located one mile outside its boundaries "in the same matter and to the same extent as if property were located within its corporate limits." School district property — for the purposes of providing police protection — is to be treated under section 16-8 as if it were located within the corporate limits of a municipality.

A municipality, in providing police protection for school district property located within one mile of its corporate limits is liable for acts or omissions of its police force "only to the extent it would be liable if the property were located within the municipality."

If school district property lies outside of, but within one mile of the corporate limits of two municipalities situated within the school district, both municipalities are responsible for providing police protection. And the school district that owns the property is not authorized to designate one of the municipalities to exercise sole control over the property in question. (File 85-21)

County powers and limits

A county board may create by resolution or ordinance a central services department to help it perform its duties. A county board may also transfer from the county auditor — without a countywide referendum — the duties of budget preparation.

But the county board may not, through a resolution creating the central services department, require county officers with internal control of their respective offices to buy through a county purchasing department, nor may it impose competitive bidding on purchases. Because the duties were given by law to the county auditor, a county board must have voter approval in a countywide referendum to transfer the duties of authorizing supply purchases and recommendation for payment or rejection of bills from the county auditor to a position created by resolution of the county board. (File 85-22)

Defects in state-owned buildings

The Capital Development Board (CDB) may determine whether building defects in a community college building were caused by design error or defective construction, even if a lawsuit related to the building defects has been settled and that settlement precludes a judicial determination of who is at fault.

Under section 5-12 of the Public Community College Act, the General Assembly expressly allows the CDB to determine whether a community college facility was defectively designed or constructed. The release in settling the claim emanating from building defects does not preclude the CDB from using state funds to correct the defects.

The CDB is the successor agency to the Illinois Building Authority (IBA) and all IBA powers, functions and duties were transferred to the CDB. CDB replaced IBA in 1982. Its purpose is to build and provide hospital, housing, penitentiary, administrative, classroom, library, recreational, laboratory, office and other facilities for state use and to conduct studies into the needs for the facilities. (File 85-20)

March 1986/Illinois Issues/35