Sec[Section] 1 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois Represented in the General Assembly that Richard B Servant[,] Joseph B Holmes[,] William M^cGinnis[,] Amos Emerson and Leonard Stevens be and they are hereby constituted and appointed a body politic and corporate to be known by the name and style of the President and Trustees of the town of Chester and by that name they and their successors shall be known, shall have perpetual succession[,] Shall sue and be suid, plead and be impleaded[,] defend and prosecute, in all courts both of law and equity and in all actions and things whatsoever shall grant[,] purchase, receive, hold, lease[,] sell and dispose of all real and personal property, for the benefit of the town[,] shall have a common seal, and may break or alter the same at pleasure, and may do all other acts as natural persons Provided however that the said corporation shall hold no real property without the limits of the said town of Chester burial grounds only excepted

Sec 2 All the land now embraced within the boundaries of the town of Chester, as laid out by the County Surveyor of Randolph County, is hereby declared to be within the limits, and under the jurisdiction of the present incorporation

Sec 3. The Corporate powers and duties of said town shall be vested in five trustees, who shall form a board for the transaction of business

Sec 4 The said trustees shall be elected annually on the first Monday in April to serve one year No person shall be eligible as trustee, unless he shall be twenty one years of age and a citizen of the United States, shall possess a freehold within the limits of said town and himself reside within said limits. Such persons only shall be qualified to vote for trustees, or at town meetings to be held under the further provisions of this act as shall be

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citizens of the United States and twenty one years of age, qualified according to law to vote for state officers and possessed of a freehold within the limits of said town or resident therein for three months next preceding such election or meeting

Sec 5 The board of Trustees shall elect their President out of their own body, shall be the Judges of the qualifications[,] elections and returns of its own members and shall have power to fill all vacancies in said b^o^ard occasioned by the death[,] resignation or six months continued absence of any member thereof a majority shall constitute a quorum to do business but a less number may adjourn from time to time and may compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as the board may provide They shall establish the rules of their own proceedings and may make such other regulations for their own government as to them shall seem fit & proper

Sec 6 The bard[board] of trustees shall have power to levy and collect taxes upon all real estate within the corporation, at a rate not exceeding two per cent on the assessed value thereof, but in no case shall they levy a tax of more than one half of one per cent without first obtaining the consent of three fourths of all persons qualified to vote under the fourth section of this act Such consent shall be obtained from a town meeting to be called for that purpose and of which the President of the Board shall give notice at least six days previously by publishing an advertisement in a newspaper printed in said town, or by posting written notices in three of the most public places in said town

Sec 7 The said board of trustees shall have power to make regulations to secure the general health of the inhabitants[,] to prevent and remove nuisances[,] to suppress all riotious and disorderly conduct[,] to establish a

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house of correction and to punish with confinement therein all persons guilty or violating the town regulations or disturbing the public peace[,] to impose and collect fines for all such offences, to establish night watches[,] to put up lamps in the streets and provide for lighting the same[,] to open and keep in repair streets[,] avenues and alleys[,] drains and sewers and to keep the same clean and free from incumbrances[,] to erect pumps and sink wells in the streets[,] to build and repair bridges[,] to licence and regulate ferries[,] to establish & regulate markets, to establish and enforce quarantine laws[,] to establish and regulate a fire department and to provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires[,] to regulate the storage of gun power and other combustible materials, to prevent the shooting of fire arms within the limits of the corporation[,] to restrain swine and dogs from running at large[,] to prohibit and punish the keeping of gaming houses[,] bawdy houses and other disorderly houses[,] to provide for licensing[,] taxing and regulating merchants[,] auctioneers[,] pedlars[,] taverns[,] groceries[,] theatres and other public amusements[,] to regulate the election of town officers and fix their compensation[,] to pass from time to time all by laws & ordinances necessary and proper to carry into effect the foregoing powers and to impose and collect and appropriate fines and forfeitures for the breach thereof any Justice of the peace within the limits of said town shall have jurisdiction of all cases arising under such by laws & ordinances and appeals may be taken and writs of certiorari allowed from his decisions in the Same manner as is now or may be hereafter provided by law in cases of Judgements of other Justices of the peace

Sec 8 The officers of the said town in addition to the board of Trustees shall consist of two Justices of the Peace[,] one Clerk[,] one street Commissioner[,] one treasurer[,] one assessor[,] one town Constable[,] one Collector and such other officers

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as the trustees may deem necessary all of whom shall reside within the limits of the said town The qualifications for these officers shall be the same with these required of members of the board of trustees they shall be elected at the same time in the same manner and by the same voters as the said trustees of the Town, Provided however that the said two Justices of the peace shall be elected in such manner as now is or hereafter may be provided by law for the election of such officers generally and in addition to the special jurisdiction confered by this act shall have such general jurisdiction as is now or may be hereafter confered upon other Justices of the peace of Randolph County

Sec 9 The members of the board of Trustees and all the other officers of said town shall before entering on the duties of their offices respectively take an oath or affirmation before some Judge or Justice of the peace to support the Constitutions of the U.[United] States & of the State of Illinois and to discharge faithfully the duties of their respective officers[offices]

Sec 10 It shall be the duty of the board of Trustees to give notice of all town meetings to be held either for the election of trustees or for any other purpose under this act by publishing an advertisement thereof in some newspaper printed in said town or by posting written notices in three of the most public places in said town stating in such advertisement or notice the object for which such meeting is held Provided that in cases of elections such notice shall be given ten days previous to the day of such election or meeting and in no case shall a notice of less than three days be deemed legal

Sec 11 All ordinances[,] by laws and other regulations of a general nature shall be made public within ten days after their passage by publication in a newspaper printed in said town or by posting written copies of the same in three of the most public

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places therein nor shall any such general by law[,] ordinance or regulation be in force or take effect until it has been so published

Sec 12 The board of trustees shall have power at any time to divide said town into as many wards as to them may seem proper and expedient

Sec 13 The said board shall have power to levy a tax for the erection of school houses and the support of common schools within said corporation and to raise money by loan on the credit of the town for commencing and prosecuting works of public improvement Provided however that the same shall be submitted to a vote of the freeholders living within the town and approved by two thirds of them

Sec 14 Upon the application of two thirds of the owners of real estate upon any street it shall be lawful for the board of trustees to levy and collect a special tax upon the lots on such street proportioned to the number of feet which every such lot shall have fronting upon such street for the purpose of grading and paving the side walks of such street

Sec 15 Whenever the owner or owners of any lot or piece of ground included within the limits of said town shall neglect or refuse to pay the tax or taxes levied thereon when the same shall become due it shall be the duty of the trustees to cause the same to be advertised for non-payment either in a newspaper printed in said town or by posting written notices in three of the most public places in said town for the space of sixty days and if at the end of that time the said tax or taxes be still unpaid the said trustees shall cause the said lot or piece of ground or so much thereof as may be necessary to be sold and out of the proceeds the said tax or taxes shall be paid and the expenses of collection defrayed

Sec 16 When any such lot or piece of ground shall hav[e]

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been so sold for non-payment of taxes the same shall be subject to redemption by the owner or owners thereof[,] his[,] her or their agent or agents at any time within two years after the same shall have been sold upon paying to the treasurer of said town double the amount of the tax o[r] taxes for which the same was sold together with the expenses of collection And if such lot or piece of ground sha[ll] not be redeemed in the manner herein provided for within two years from the date of such sale then it shall be the duty of the President of the board of trustees to execute to the purchaser of such lot or piece of ground a deed of special warranty signed by the said President and sealed with the corporate seal of said town

Sec 17 All lots of lands or parcels of ground in said town which have been or may hereafter be conveyed or granted by the original Proprieters of the said town or by any other person or persons to the inhabitants of said town in their corporate capacity or to any other person or persons for them or for their use or benefit and all funds raised or to be raised by the sale of such lots or otherwise for the erection of school houses[,] academies[,] places of public worship or for any other purpose are hereby declared to belong to and be vested in the corporation of said town[,] shall be under the direction and control of said trustees and their successors in office and shall be applied in furtherance of the objects intended by the donors or grantors thereof And the said trustees shall have power to sue for and receive any or all such lot or lots[,] parcel or parcels of ground and to perfect in themselves and their successors the title thereof or to make such other adjustment thereof as to them shall appear necessary and proper