9-954. Board of trustees of fund; membership

A. The mayor or the mayor's designee, the fire chief, the elected chief and secretary-treasurer of a fire district or, if administered by a district board, a board member and the fire chief, four members elected from the fire department or from the fire district and one lay member appointed by the city, town or district constitute the board of trustees of the fire fighters' relief and pension fund for that incorporated city or town or fire district. The board of trustees shall provide for the disbursement of the fund and designate the beneficiaries of the fund as directed in this article.

B. The fire department of each incorporated city or town and each fire district shall elect by ballot from its membership four members of the board of trustees, or number of members as, when added to the incumbent members thereof, will constitute four members in addition to the chief. If two members in addition to the chief are already on the board of trustees, two additional members shall be elected to hold office for the same respective terms as the two incumbent members. At the expiration of the two shorter terms, and thereafter biennially, two members shall be elected for terms of four years each.

C. For an incorporated city or town, the mayor, with the council's consent, shall appoint lay members to fill the elected positions on the board when active volunteers are no longer available. For a fire district, the fire chief, with district board consent, shall appoint lay members to fill the elected positions on the board when active volunteers are no longer available.