Whenever a proposition for the formation of a public utility district is to be submitted to voters in any county, the county legislative authority may by resolution call a special election, and at the request of petitioners for the formation of such district contained in the petition shall do so and shall provide for holding the same at the earliest practicable time. If the boundaries of the proposed district embrace an area less than the entire county, such election shall be confined to the area so included. The notice of such election shall state the boundaries of the proposed district and the object of such election; in other respects, such election shall be held and called in the same manner as provided by law for the holding and calling of general elections: PROVIDED, That notice thereof shall be given for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days prior to such special election. In submitting the proposition to the voters for their approval or rejection, such proposition shall be expressed on the ballots in substantially the following terms:

Public Utility District No. . . . .YES

Public Utility District No. . . . . NO

At the same special election on the proposition to form a public utility district, there shall also be an election for three public utility district commissioners. However, the election of such commissioners shall be null and void if the proposition to form the public utility district does not receive approval by a majority of the voters voting on the proposition. No primary shall be held. A special filing period shall be opened as provided in RCW 29A.24.171 and 29A.24.181. The person receiving the greatest number of votes for the commissioner of each commissioner district shall be elected as the commissioner of that district. Commissioner districts shall be established as provided in RCW 54.12.010. The terms of the initial commissioners shall be staggered as follows: (1) The person who is elected receiving the greatest number of votes shall be elected to a six-year term of office if the election is held in an even-numbered year or a five-year term if the election is held in an odd-numbered year; (2) the person who is elected receiving the next greatest number of votes shall be elected to a four-year term of office if the election is held in an even-numbered year or a three-year term of office if the election is held in an odd-numbered year; and (3) the other person who is elected shall be elected to a two-year term of office if the election is held in an even-numbered year or a one-year term of office if the election is held in an odd-numbered year. The commissioners first to be elected at such special election shall assume office immediately when they are elected and qualified, but the length of their terms of office shall be calculated from the first day in January in the year following their elections.

The term "general election" as used herein means biennial general elections at which state and county officers in a noncharter county are elected.

[2015 c 53 § 85; 1994 c 223 § 55; 1979 ex.s. c 126 § 36; 1951 c 207 § 5.]

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