SLVWD Board Meeting Summary
March 10, 2022
Mark Dolson
Highlights:
Appointment Process to Fill Vacant Board Seat
New Board Vice President
Next Board meeting is at 6:30 PM on March 17th.
Preliminaries
President Mahood reported that Director Henry sent an email at the end of February announcing her resignation effective March 1 “to give her spot to a younger person with the time and energy to do the job.” There will be a formal resolution of recognition for former Director Henry at the next Board meeting.
There was no general public comment.
New Business
Board of Directors Vacancy
District Counsel Gina Nicholls introduced this agenda item. She explained that the District has confronted a number of Board vacancies in recent years, and there are always three options: (1) the Board appoints a replacement (who, in this case, would serve until the winner of the upcoming November election is seated), (2) the Board allows the seat to remain vacant until a replacement is determined by the next feasible election (which, in this case, would not be until November), or (3) the Board allows the County Board of Supervisors to decide how to fill the vacancy. Staff recommended that the Board fill the seat by appointment so as to minimize the potential for 2-2 votes and possible difficulties in obtaining a quorum for Board meetings. District Manager Rick Rogers concurred.
President Mahood said the proposed timetable for filling the seat via appointment would be to announce the position on March 11th, to accept applications through March 31st, and to interview applicants and fill the seat at the Board meeting on April 7th.
All Board members expressed their appreciation for Director Henry and said they looked forward to honoring her at the next Board meeting. Directors Ackemann and Smolley also concurred with the Staff recommendation to proceed via appointment.
Director Fultz said he generally believed that elections were preferable to appointments because he saw it as important for the community to be allowed to vote. He referenced a similar situation in recent years involving the SLV School Board where there were numerous resignations (and appointments) outside of the election cycle, and some people began to perceive the Board as kind of “clubby.” He said he would have preferred to see Lois serve until her term expired in November, and he also suggested that it would be worthwhile for the District to lobby the State to allow more flexibility in conducting elections to fill vacant seats. Given the current reality, though, he said his only concern was that the proposed 20 days of public notice seemed too short. He suggested delaying the appointment to the second Board meeting in April so that the public would have a full 30 days to decide whether to apply. Director Smolley agreed with this.
Two members of the public offered input. Jim Mosher said he appreciated Director Henry’s service and supported the Staff recommendation to proceed with an appointment. He left it to the Board to decide on the length of public notice. Larry Ford agreed with Jim on all of these points.
President Mahood said the proposed timeline was partially driven by wanting to get someone on the Board as soon as possible. She noted that the appointment could also affect Committee memberships. She also said the Board could have addressed this issue one week earlier at its regularly scheduled meeting on March 3rd, but there were concerns that the public might have viewed this as moving too quickly. She was fine with Director Fultz’s proposal to extend the deadline.
President Mahood moved to adopt a revised resolution whereby applications would be due by the Wednesday before the April 21st meeting, and interviews would be held at that meeting. Director Ackemann seconded. There was no further public input.
The motion passed 4-0.
New Vice President of the Board of Directors
President Mahood nominated Director Ackemann to replace former Director Henry as the new Vice President. Director Ackemann said she appreciated and accepted the nomination. Director Smolley seconded the nomination There was no public comment.
The motion passed 4-0.
Unfinished Business
California Office of Emergency Services (OES) Designation of Applicant’s Agent
District Manager Rick Rogers explained that this agenda item was directly related to FEMA and CalOES grant applications for CZU Fire recovery. It is purely a housekeeping requirement that is needed as part of the reimbursement process.
Director Smolley sought further clarification on the status of reimbursements. Rick said this was for work that has already been completed and reviewed, for which FEMA is now obligated to make reimbursements. There is still a long way to go because other categories of FEMA reimbursement are still pending.
President Mahood moved to adopt the attached resolution designating the specific Staff members authorized to serve as agents. Director Fultz seconded. There was no public comment.
The motion passed 4-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM.