BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to water district commissioner elections; and amending RCW 57.12.015 and 57.12.039.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 57.12.015 and 1991 c 190 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

((In the event a three-member board of commissioners of any water district with any number of customers determines by resolution that it would be in the best interest of the district to increase the number of commissioners from three to five, or)) In the event the board of a district with any number of customers is presented with a petition signed by ten percent of the registered voters resident within the district who voted in the last general municipal election calling for an increase in the number of commissioners of the district, the board shall submit a resolution to the county auditor requesting that an election be held. Upon receipt of the resolution, the county auditor shall call a special election to be held within the water district in accordance with RCW 29.13.010 and 29.13.020, at which election a proposition in substantially the following language shall be submitted to the voters:

Shall the Board of Commissioners of (Name and/or No. of water district) be increased from three to five members?

Yes . . . . .

No . . . . .

If the proposition receives a majority approval at the election the board of commissioners of the water district shall be increased to five members. ((In any water district with more than ten thousand customers, if a three-member board of commissioners determines by resolution and approves by unanimous vote of the board that it would be in the best interest of the district to increase the number of commissioners from three to five,))

When the customers of any water district exceed ten thousand in number, the three-member board of commissioners of that water district shall by resolution increase the number of commissioners from three to five. The number of commissioners shall be so increased((,)) without an election, unless within ninety days of adoption of that resolution a petition requesting an election and signed by at least ten percent of the registered voters who voted in the last general municipal election is filed with the board. If such a petition is received, the board shall submit the resolution and the petition to the county auditor, who shall call a special election in the manner described in this section and in accordance with the provisions of RCW 29.13.010 and 29.13.020.

The two positions created on boards of water commissioners by this section shall be filled initially either as for a vacancy or by nomination under RCW 57.12.039, except that the appointees or newly elected commissioners shall draw lots, one appointee to serve until the next general water district election after the appointment, at which two commissioners shall be elected for six-year terms, and the other appointee to serve until the second general water district election after the appointment, at which two commissioners shall be elected for six-year terms.

Sec. 2. RCW 57.12.039 and 1986 c 41 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

Notwithstanding RCW 57.12.020 and 57.12.030, the board of commissioners may provide by majority vote that subsequent commissioners be elected from commissioner districts within the district. If the board exercises this option, it shall divide the district into three, or five if the number of commissioners has been increased pursuant to RCW 57.12.015, commissioner districts of approximately equal population following current precinct and district boundaries. Thereafter, candidates shall be nominated and one candidate shall be elected from each commissioner district by the electors of the commissioner district.

At the inception of a five-member board of commissioners, the new commissioner districts shall be numbered one through five and the three incumbent commissioners shall represent commissioner districts one through three. If, as a result of redrawing the district boundaries two or three of the incumbent commissioners reside in one of the new commissioner districts, the commissioners who reside in the same commissioner district shall determine by lot which of the first three numbered commissioner districts they shall represent for the remainder of their respective terms. A primary shall be held to nominate candidates from districts four and five where necessary and commissioners shall be elected from commissioner districts four and five at the general election. The persons elected as commissioners from commissioner districts four and five shall take office immediately after qualification as defined under RCW 29.01.135.