(a)  Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 4730, the resolution of intention to form the district and the order of formation of the district may provide that the governing body of the sanitation district shall be constituted in accordance with this subdivision or subdivision (b) or (c).

(1)  If the district includes no territory which is within a city, other sanitation district, or public agency, the county board of supervisors is the board of directors.

(2)  If the district includes territory which is within a city, other sanitation district, or public agency, the board of directors shall be composed of the presiding officer of the governing body of each city, other sanitation district, and public agency and the chairman of the county board of supervisors. If the chairman of the county board of supervisors and the presiding officer of the governing body of each city, sanitation district, and public agency constitute an even number, a member of the county board of supervisors appointed by the board of supervisors or, in the alternate as determined by the board of directors, a resident of the district elected by the registered voters of the district for a four-year term, shall be a member of the board of directors of the district.

(3)  The governing body of each county, city, sanitation district, and public agency having a representative on the board of directors may designate one of its members to act in the place of its regular member in his or her absence or his or her inability or refusal to act.

(4)  The governing body of any city, sanitation district, or other public agency may designate a member of the county board of supervisors to serve as its representative member on the board of directors of the district in the place of the presiding officer of its governing body; in that case, the supervisor shall have one vote for each city, sanitation district, and public agency represented by him or her.

(b)  (1)  The board of directors may be composed of directors who are residents of the district elected by the registered voters of the district for four-year terms.

(2)  The number of directors on an elected board shall be determined, subject to the requirements of Section 4730 and subdivision (c), by the board of directors of the district, if any, in existence prior to the election.

(c)  (1)  In the Arvin Sanitation District in Kern County only, if no board of directors is in existence prior to the election, the county board of supervisors shall determine, subject to the requirements of Section 4730 and subdivision (d), the number of directors on an elected board.

(2)  The district shall reimburse the county for any reasonable costs incurred by it for the conduct of elections required by this subdivision.

(d)  The governing body of a sanitation district is a board of directors composed of an odd number of not less than three members.

(e)  “Public agency” as used in this section means any sanitary district, public utility district, resort district, county water district, municipal water district, sewer maintenance district, or county maintenance district, engaged in the collection, transportation, treatment, or disposal of sewage or any other public agency empowered to, and engaged in, the collection, transportation, treatment, or disposal of sewage.

(Amended by Stats. 1986, Ch. 982, Sec. 23.)