(A) For a corporation converted to a public service district pursuant to Section 33-36-1310, the existing board of directors and officers shall serve until the expiration of their present terms. Thereafter, and not less than forty-five days before any expiration of the term of a board member, the board of directors shall submit to the county legislative delegation the name or names of a person or persons recommended for appointment or reappointment. A letter of recommendation by the board stating why the name or names are recommended shall accompany the submission. The county legislative delegation shall consider the recommendation of the board but is not limited to make a selection for its own recommendation from among those submitted. Upon recommendation of the county legislative delegation, members of the board must be appointed by the Governor for a term of four years. A vacancy may be filled by the board, if the remaining term is less than two years; if more than two years, then in the usual manner for the unexpired term.

(B) For a corporation converted to a public service district pursuant to Section 33-36-1315, the existing directors, who shall constitute the initial governing board of the district, and officers shall serve until the expiration of their current terms. Thereafter, the public service district must be governed by a board comprising the same number of members as the predecessor corporation had as directors; provided that the governing board shall comprise no fewer than five members and no more than nine members. The governing board, by resolution, may decrease the number of members to not less than five and may increase the number of members to not more than nine. The successor members must be recommended by the board and appointed by the respective county legislative delegations in accordance with the following procedures. Each county legislative delegation shall have the right to appoint a number of members who bear the same relationship to the total number of members as the number of customers of the district within the county bears to the total number of customers of the district. The number of customers within each county, and the total number of customers, must be determined by reference to the billing and customer records of the public service district. Not less than forty-five days before the expiration of the term of any member, the governing board shall submit to the county legislative delegation with the right to appoint the successor member the name of a person recommended for appointment or reappointment to the board. A letter of recommendation by the board stating why the name is recommended shall accompany the submission. The county legislative delegation shall consider the recommendation of the board, but is not limited to that person in making its appointment. Each member must be appointed for a term of four years and until his successor is appointed and qualifies, provided that the terms of the members must be staggered by a county legislative delegation in making its appointments such that approximately one-half of the total members appointed by that county legislative delegation must be appointed or reappointed every two years. No member may be appointed for more than two consecutive terms. A vacancy must be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the manner of original appointment.

(C) For a corporation converted to a public service district pursuant to Section 33-36-1310, the governing body of the district, by a resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote of all members of the governing body, may request that board members be elected in a nonpartisan general election. If adopted, a certified copy of the resolution and a map clearly setting out the lines of the boundaries of the district in the county or counties in which the district is situated must be presented to the county election commission before August first of a general election held in an even numbered year for the election to be held at the general election in November of that year. The governing body must be elected from single member election districts.

(D) Notice of the election must be published by the governing body of the district at least three times before the election, including (i) not less than sixty days before the date of the election, (ii) two weeks after the first date of publication, and (iii) a date not more than fifteen and not less than ten days before the date of the election. The notice must appear in a newspaper of general circulation within the district and contain at a minimum the following:

(1) the full name of the district and its governing body;

(2) the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the members of the district's governing body;

(3) the existing means of appointment of members of the district's governing body;

(4) a brief description of the governmental services provided by the district;

(5) a map showing generally the boundaries of the district;

(6) a list of precincts and polling places in which ballots may be cast; and

(7) an explanation of the procedure to be followed for election of members of the district's governing body and State.

HISTORY: 2001 Act No. 78, Section 2; 2012 Act No. 168, Section 2, eff May 14, 2012.

Effect of Amendment

The 2012 amendment rewrote the section.