Provides grant funds of up to $350,000 for the rehabilitation and construction of fire stations operated by units of local government.

N/A

20 ILCS 2905/2.8

41 Ill. Adm. Code 296

The primary objective of the program is to provide funding to fire departments who lack the resources to repair, upgrade, or purchase a fire station.

Yes

An applicant that has been approved to receive a grant under this program must enter into a grant agreement with the Office. a) Grant recipients may receive advance payment for part or all of the cost of rehabilitation or construction of a fire station as approved as part of the grant application. b) Grant funds shall be used exclusively for the purposes listed in 41 Ill. Adm. Code 296.20 and shall be expended in accordance with the applicable provisions of this Part, the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act [30 ILCS 708], the GATA administrative rules (44 Ill. Adm. Code 7000), and the Grant Agreement. c) In the event that all or a portion of the grant funds are not expended in the manner approved, the grant recipient, upon written notification from the Office, shall refund the amount of the grant award, or portion thereof, as listed in the written notification. Recovery of grant funds shall be accomplished in accordance with the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act [30 ILCS 705]. d) Use of grant proceeds shall be accounted for in accordance with standard accounting practice and the applicable provisions the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act [30 ILCS 708] and the GATA administrative rules (44 Ill. Adm. Code 7000). The grant recipient shall provide documentation concerning the rehabilitation or construction of a fire station as specified in the grant application, the cost of the rehabilitation or construction of a fire station, and the completion of the rehabilitation or construction project by the grant recipient's contractor or contractors. e) The grant recipient shall keep adequate records relating to its administration of the grant project, particularly relating to all incurred costs. These records shall be available for audit by appropriate personnel within or on behalf of the Office and the State Auditor General. All records shall be retained in accordance with the applicable provisions the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act [30 ILCS 708], the GATA administrative rules (44 Ill. Adm. Code 7000), and the State Records Act [5 ILCS 160]. At the conclusion of the grant period, grant recipients shall submit to the Office a report detailing how the grant proceeds were used. This final expenditure report, to be submitted on a form supplied by the Office, shall be due not later than 90 days following completion of the grant project. f) The grant recipient is responsible for monitoring possession, use, condition and final disposition of the fire station constructed or rehabilitated with grant funds. g) Grant funds shall be included in the grant recipient's budget. h) The availability of grant funds is subject to availability of appropriated State funds. i) The grant recipient shall comply with any provisions that the grant recipient is required to include in any publicly bid contract for project work (e.g., scale of wages, liability insurance requirements, adherence to the Employment of Illinois Workers on Public Works Act [30 ILCS 570], etc.); j) In connection with and prior to the rehabilitation or construction and the subsequent operation and maintenance of fire station rehabilitation and construction grant program assisted fire stations, it shall be understood that the grant recipient is responsible for obtaining any and all necessary construction permits, licenses or forms of consent, as required by law. Failure to obtain any required permits may jeopardize approved grant funding. k) The grant recipient and its selected contractors must observe and comply with the provisions of the Prevailing Wage Act [820 ILCS 130/4], which apply to the wages of laborers, mechanics and other workers employed in any public works, and with the prevailing wage requirements of the Illinois Procurement Code [30 ILCS 500/25-60]. l) Pursuant to Section 2-105(A)(4) of the Human Rights Act [775 ILCS 5], the grant recipient and any contractors engaged for the project shall maintain a written sexual harassment policy that includes, at a minimum, the following information: 1) the illegality of sexual harassment; 2) the definition of sexual harassment under State law; 3) a description of sexual harassment, utilizing examples; 4) the contractor's internal complaint process, including penalties; 5) the legal recourse, investigative, and complaint process available through the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Human Rights Commission and directions on how to contact both; and 6) Protection against retaliation as provided by Sections 6-101 and 6-101.5 of the Illinois Human Rights Act [775 ILCS 5]. A copy of the policy shall be provided to the Department of Human Rights upon request. m) It shall be understood by the grant recipient that a representative or agent of the Office may make periodic inspections of the project as rehabilitation or construction progresses and that a final inspection may be required and if required will be made by a representative or agent of the Office prior to final payment of grant reimbursement to the grant recipient. n) Projects assisted with fire station rehabilitation and construction grant program funds shall be implemented in accordance with all applicable federal, State and local laws, ordinances and regulations relating to public agency expenditure of funds for public works projects and all other applicable laws. o) All financial records on approved projects must be maintained and retained, in accordance with the Grant Funds Recovery Act [30 ILCS 705] and the State Records Act [5 ILCS 160], by the grant recipient for possible State audit after final reimbursement payment is made by the Office. p) The grant recipient shall indemnify, protect, defend and hold harmless the Office from any and all liability, costs, damages, expenses, or claims thereof arising under, through or by virtue of the rehabilitation or construction of grant-assisted fire stations. q) The grant recipient shall certify that it will comply with the Illinois Works Jobs Program Act Apprenticeship Initiative [30 ILCS 559/20-20] and the Illinois Accessibility Code ([ 71 Ill. Adm. Code 400)] as part of the application. r) Grant funds paid in advance must be kept in a separate interest-bearing account with a federally or Illinois regulated financial institution that is insured with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and maintained therein until used in the execution of the approved project. All interest earned on grant funds held by a grant recipient shall become part of the grant principal when earned, and be used for and in the same manner as the principal to fulfill the purposes and objectives of the grant. s) Pursuant to Section 45 of the State Finance Act [30 ILCS 105/45], for grants of $250,000 or more awarded to a grant recipient for capital construction costs or professional services, the grant recipient must provide written certification that the grant recipient is in compliance with the business enterprise program (BEP) practices for minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, and businesses owned by persons with disabilities of the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act [30 ILCS 575] and the equal employment practices of Section 2-105 of the Illinois Human Rights Act [775 ILCS 5/2-105]). t) Any other terms or requirements specified in the Notice of Funding Opportunity issued by the Office

Government Organizations;

Applicants must have participated in the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) for a minimum of two years prior to the application for the fire station rehabilitation and construction grant, except that fire departments that were issued a Fire Department Identification Number by the Office less than two years prior to the application are eligible to apply for a fire station rehabilitation and construction grant if they participated in NFIRS since the date their FDID was issued by the Office. The applicant must have an active registration under the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) [30 ILCS 708] and a status of "qualified" on the GATA Grantee Portal (https://grants.illinois.gov/portal) at the time the application is submitted. The applicant must also have its own FEIN issued by the Internal Revenue Service for federal income tax purposes.

Beneficiaries include units of local government who operate a fire department with a fire station.

Project Grants

Public Safety

Applicants that seek to purchase a site with a portion of grant monies will be required to obtain an appraisal and submit it to the Office to establish the site's fair market value. Applicants that seek to rehabilitate or expand a currently owned fire station must demonstrate an ownership interest in the property to be improved, either fee simple title or other means of legal control and tenure (easement, long-term lease, etc.).

The grant recipient is responsible for obtaining any and all necessary construction permits, licenses or forms of consent, as required by law.

Applications will be made available on the agency's website (sfm.illinois.gov). Applications may be submitted electronically via e-mail or by mail.

Applications will be reviewed via a blind review process by a committee consisting of 5 members. Committee members will consist of the State Fire Marshal (or their designee), three current or former fire chiefs (each representing a volunteer fire department, combination fire department and a career/municipal fire department, one representative from the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, one member who is a current or former volunteer firefighter, and one member representing the Illinois Association of Fire Protection Districts. The committee will assign points to an application based on space needs (up to 50 points) and financial need (up to 50 points). The Office will conduct a prescreening of all grant applications received by the deadline to identify applicants with the greatest need as determined under this Section. This prescreening process will determine what applications will be submitted to the committee for review. The steps of this prescreening are provided in this Section. a) The Office will evaluate whether each application was received by the deadline, whether the applicant has met the eligibility requirements of Section 296.30 as of the application deadline date, and whether the applicant has fully completed all sections of the application. Only those applicants that meet these eligibility requirements will receive further consideration. b) To assist the Committee in making final determinations of grant awards, the Office will then rank complete applications of eligible applicants using the following criteria: 1) The Office will use information provided by the applicant on its operating budget, square miles served and population served in developing a ranking of financial need. 2) The Office will divide each applicant's budget by the square miles served to determine the applicant's budget per square mile and will rank the applicants lowest to highest. 3) The Office will divide each applicant's budget by the population served to determine the applicant's budget per person and will rank the applicants lowest to highest. 4) The Office will then average the two rankings of each applicant to reach an overall ranking. c) Applicants that have previously received a grant from the Office under this program will be ranked against each other according to the criteria in subsection (b), but this group of applicants will be ranked below all applicants that have not previously received a grant under this program. d) Using the ranking criteria identified in subsections (b) and (c), the Office will rank the applications. Based upon the grant amount requested by each applicant, the Office will provide the Committee with complete application information for the top ranked applications totaling at least 1½ times the amount of available appropriations for the Committee's determination for that grant cycle.

Grantees will be selected utilizing a merit based review process. A maximum of 50% of the funds awarded may be distributed to the grantee after the grant agreement is finalized, with remaining funds distributed through a request for reimbursement process whereby the grantee must certify eligible costs incurred through the submission of invoices or other documentation proving expenditures are eligible for reimbursement under the grant agreement. A representative or agent of the Office may make periodic inspections of the project as rehabilitation or construction progresses and that a final inspection may be required and if required will be made by a representative or agent of the Office prior to final payment of grant reimbursement to the grant recipient

Applications for the program are anticipated to be made available in late summer or early fall of calendar year 2024.

The anticipated time between application submission and award decision is two to three months.

Applicants may submit a request for reconsideration within 30 days of the postmark date of the agency's application denial letter. Applicants may submit any supporting documentation for their request and may include information not previously considered by the application review committee. Requests for reconsideration should be mailed to: Office of the State Fire Marshal Attention: Fire Station Rehabilitation and Construction Grant Program 1035 Stevenson Drive Springfield, Illinois 62703-4259

Grants provided under this program cannot be renewed.

There are no matching requirements for this grant; however, the grant project may be funded by other grants so long as the same expenses sought for payment are not being reimbursed or covered a second time.

A recipient of a fire station rehabilitation and construction grant under this Part may use the grant monies to do one or more of the following: 1) Construct an addition to or otherwise expanding or the rehabilitation of an existing fire station; 2) Construct a new fire station or renovations to an existing fire station in order to create a new fire station; 3) Acquire a fire station; 4) Purchase or replace real property fixtures; and 5) Maintenance or structural improvements. b) Applicants that seek to purchase a site with a portion of grant monies will be required to obtain an appraisal and submit it to the Office to establish the site's fair market value. Applicants that seek to rehabilitate or expand a currently owned fire station must demonstrate an ownership interest in the property to be improved, either fee simple title or other means of legal control and tenure (easement, long-term lease, etc.).

The grantee must certify eligible costs incurred through the submission of invoices or other documentation on a timeline established in the grant agreement proving expenditures are eligible for reimbursement under the grant agreement.

All records shall be available for audit by appropriate personnel within or on behalf of the Office and the State Auditor General.

The grant recipient shall keep adequate records relating to its administration of the grant project, particularly relating to all incurred costs. These records shall be available for audit by appropriate personnel within or on behalf of the Office and the State Auditor General. All records shall be retained in accordance with the applicable provisions the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act [30 ILCS 708], the GATA administrative rules (44 Ill. Adm. Code 7000), and the State Records Act [5 ILCS 160]. At the conclusion of the grant period, grant recipients shall submit to the Office a report detailing how the grant proceeds were used. This final expenditure report, to be submitted on a form supplied by the Office, shall be due not later than 90 days following completion of the grant project.

047-59201-19001900

$5,000,000 will be obligated for this program in fiscal year 2025.

Awards of up to $350,000 are available for each grant.

The program is anticipated to provide fire departments who have a financial need adequate resources to repair, upgrade, or purchase a fire station resulting in fire trucks and other equipment being stored in a safe facility.

N/A

N/A

1035 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, Illinois 62703

sfm.illinois.gov

N/A

N/A - this is a new program in fiscal year 2025

FY 2024 : $5,000,000
FY 2025 : $5,000,000