Nov. 13, 2007 — During a special Lassen Municipal Utility District board meeting, a full house listened to how the board of directors is going to proceed in filling the two vacant slots left by Nancy Cardenas and George Sargent. Cardenas and Sargent officially resigned from the board on Friday, Oct. 26.

The meeting drew a packed house from employees to curious community members interested in the proceedings.

Wayne Langston, Fred Nagel and Darrell Wood discussed the process for replacing board members of the public owned utility.

General Manager Frank Cady said it would be in the board’s best interest to elect two new members as soon as possible. He said if anyone of the current board is unable to attend a meeting, it wouldn’t have a quorum and wouldn’t be able to make decisions.

Cady told the board they needed to make one of two decisions: Within 60 days after the resignation, the board needs to either call a special election for the open spots or make appointments based on public board meeting interviews.

The board voted unanimously to start accepting applications for the two open spots and will be accepting them until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27.

Langston asked Cady at the meeting if there were any requirements for advertising the positions. Cady responded the board must post the availability of the vacancies 15 days before they decide on who will fill them.

Community member Tim Swickard, a member of the Lassen County Office of Education Board of Directors, asked during the public comment period what the criteria was for filling one of the empty positions.

Langston responded by saying anyone elected to fill either seat must live within the ward they are applying for. Each LMUD board member represents the community members living within their ward to the rest of the utility. The must also be a registered voter within the community.

Sargent presided over most of the city of Susanville in District 2, while Cardenas’ district presided over most of the eastern area of LMUD’s service district, including areas east of Highway 139 and Johnstonville.

Cady said whoever is appointed to replace Sargent’s position would only be in place until November 2008, at which point a confirmation election would be held for the remaining two years of Sargent’s term. He said the person replacing Cardenas would simply be up for regular re-election for a full term, also in November 2008.

Cady explained while the board would be cutting off the application date by Nov. 27, the appointments needed to be made on or before Dec. 25, Christmas Day. He advised that for the board to be on the safe side, the appointments should be made by Friday, Dec. 21.

If no action is taken within 60 days of the vacancy, the decision on filling the spaces would go to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors. LMUD has the authority after 90 days to call a special election of no action is taken at the county board level.