Zion — Ch. 10 Art. VII Property Maintenance Code § 10-178

(a) Definitions.
Board-up means the covering of windows, doors and/or penetrations into a building or structure for the purpose of eliminating entrance into such building or structure.
Dangerous building means any building whose condition is such that any entry or occupancy would pose a danger to public safety or any person possibly including police/fire and building department personnel.
Fire damaged building means any building whose integrity has been compromised as a result of a fire or operations to extinguish the fire.
Vacant building or structure means any building or structure that is not inhabited, in use, or does not have all normal utilities in service.
(b) Indications for board-up. Any building or structure that is vacant and has broken windows/doors, has a history of any unauthorized or illegal entry, points of entry are not secured, damaged by fire or operations to extinguish the fire or is in a state of disrepair and considered dangerous in that it may pose a safety hazard or risk to the public or city employees must be boarded up. It shall be the responsibility of the owner of record or lien holder (as determined by tax records) to board-up the building or structure at his or her expense. Structure must be boarded and/or secured within 24 hours of the event. The city will make an effort to contact the owner but will not take extraordinary measures to do so. In the event the owner has refused to comply or cannot be found, or if public safety is in question, the City of Zion may order, without any notification, an immediate board-up of a vacant building or structure through a third party vendor registered to provide board-up services for the city. The board-up services will be responsible if necessary to place a lien on the property or use any other method to seek reimbursement. In addition, all owners must comply with the vacant building and property regulations contained in section 10-179 of this Code.
(c) Board-up program. The city shall utilize the same board-up process in place by the Village of Gurnee including the registered board-up vendors. The Village of Gurnee will be responsible for managing the list of registered vendors on [an] annual basis as well as contacting such vendors when needed for services through the Village of Gurnee dispatch center.
(d) Board-up company requirements. . In order to be placed on a rotation program with the jurisdictional limits of the City of Zion, a board-up company must comply with the following policies/procedures:
• Companies MUST have general liability and workman's compensation policies, as well as vehicle insurance current and in force. Documentation must be available at every call-out.
• All board-up company staff must submit to a criminal background check annually. Background check fees are to be paid by companies. All background information/reports must be available to all police and fire personnel only upon request. All new hires must be processed.
• Any employee/employer found providing board-up services without a current background check, will be terminated from the board-up program rotation.
• All vehicles must be marked with company logo or name.
• All board-up companies must supply photo ID and some type of uniform to employees.
• Absolutely NO CHASING fires.
• If the insurance company, lien holder or any other agency denies the claim, the homeowner will not be billed for the board-up services performed, and the Village of Gurnee, Gurnee Fire Department, City of Zion or any of its departments will not be billed.
• Companies performing board-ups MUST inform the Gurnee Fire Department and the Zion Fire and Rescue Department if they also do fire restoration.
• Companies may not be owned or affiliated with any public adjustors.
• Board-up prices are set by insurance company standards and price lists.
(e) Call out. When applicable, the homeowner, owner of record, or lien holder will be given an option to utilize their own board-up services or, if necessary, the services of a board-up vendor registered with the Village of Gurnee and contacted on a rotation schedule established by the Village of Gurnee.
(f) Failure to comply. In addition to any other statutory remedy, any person, firm, corporation or entity found guilty of violating the terms of this article shall be fined not more than $750.00 nor less than $100.00 per each day the violation continues. Each day the violation continues shall be a separate offense. In addition to the fine, the owner, or his or her agent shall be ordered to bring the structure or building into compliance with the requirements of this article within 30 days.