31-1408. FIRE PROTECTION BOARD — APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSIONERS — OATH. (1) There shall be three (3) fire protection commissioners in each district, who shall constitute the fire protection board. The first fire protection commissioners of such fire protection district shall be appointed by the board of county commissioners. If the district is to be situated in two (2) or more counties, the boards of county commissioners from those counties shall coordinate a joint public meeting whereby the appointment shall be made by a majority of all county commissioners present at the joint public meeting. If the county commissioners cannot agree on the appointment of a commissioner, all the interested persons who received the highest and equal number of votes shall have their names placed in a container. The county commissioner with the most continuous length of service shall draw one (1) name from the container. The person whose name is drawn shall then be appointed to fill the vacancy. The certificate of such appointment shall be made in triplicate: one (1) certificate shall be filed in the office of the county recorder of the county, one (1) with the clerk of the board of county commissioners, and one (1) with the assessor and tax collector of the county. Every fire protection commissioner and appointed officer shall take and subscribe the official oath, which oath shall be filed in the office of the board of fire protection commissioners. If thirty-three percent (33%) of the area or population in the fire protection district is situated in two (2) or more counties, not more than two (2) of the appointed fire protection district commissioners shall be from the same county.

(2) The oath of office of fire protection commissioners and appointed officers shall be taken before the secretary or the president of the board of the fire protection district at the first regularly scheduled board meeting in January succeeding each election. Provided however, in the event of an inability to appear for the taking of the oath, a duly elected fire protection commissioner may be sworn in and may subscribe to the oath wherever he may be, provided he appear before an officer duly authorized to administer oaths, and provided further that any person who is in any branch of the armed forces of the United States of America may appear before any person qualified to administer oaths as prescribed in section 51-113, Idaho Code, and may take and subscribe the oath of office as provided for in section 59-401, Idaho Code, and the oath of office shall have the same force and effect as though it were taken before the secretary or the president of the fire protection district pursuant to this subsection.

History:

[31-1408, added 1943, ch. 161, sec. 8, p. 324; am. 1986, ch. 137, sec. 6, p. 370; am. 1998, ch. 190, sec. 1, p. 692; am. 2006, ch. 318, sec. 4, p. 992; am. 2010, ch. 337, sec. 1, p. 891; am. 2016, ch. 89, sec. 1, p. 275; am. 2017, ch. 128, sec. 3, p. 299; am. 2017, ch. 192, sec. 12, p. 457.]