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ELECTIONS - Registrar of Voters Sean Houghtby
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Requested Action(s)
recommendation
a) Declare 3 vacancies for the position of Thomes Creek Water District Director
b) Board discussion and direction to staff regarding the candidate selection process to fill the vacancies
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Financial Impact:
No financial impact associated with this item.
Background Information:
The Thomes Creek Water District is in Tehama County, west of Richfield, and encompasses the Thomes Creek area. The Water District serves approximately 25 registered voters and supplies water for agricultural use. This district currently has no Directors and received no applicants the last time it was up for election.
Pursuant to Government Code section 1780(h), the Board of Supervisors may appoint enough members to constitute a quorum, allowing the District to conduct business. The three appointed members may then appoint two additional members to fill the five seats on the Board. At the next regularly scheduled election for the District, all appointees will stand for election.
Posting requirements for this position are that the announcement be posted on the County website and in 3 places within the District boundaries. Staff proposes to run the announcement in the local papers due to the rural nature of the area and lack of gathering places to post the announcement.
The department proposes running a recruitment for these positions starting 1/28/26 through 2/23/26. Each applicant must own property in the District to be eligible for appointment. The application will include a Declaration of Candidacy and a Candidate Statement of Qualifications. Interviews of eligible candidates are planned to be conducted as follows:
1) Candidate statement of interest and qualifications, not to exceed 3 minutes per candidate.
2) Questions from the Board, with a 2-minute time limit per question.
3) The Board will publicly vote to appoint candidates.
The interview process is not prescribed by Government Code and is therefore within the discretion of the Board. The proposed selection process is consistent with the procedures used to fill comparable vacancies for other elected positions.