(1) (a) The district shall be managed and controlled by a board of seventeen directors. The members of the board shall hold their offices for terms of three years and until their successors are appointed and qualified. A director may serve one or more terms. The boards of county commissioners of the counties of Yuma, Phillips, Kit Carson, Washington, Sedgwick, Lincoln, Cheyenne, and Logan shall each appoint one director. One member of the board shall be appointed by each of the boards of the East Cheyenne, Marks Butte, Frenchman, W-Y, Sand Hills, Central Yuma, Arikaree, and Plains ground water management districts. One member of the board shall be appointed by the Colorado ground water commission and must be a member of the Colorado ground water commission.
(b) (I) Each director must be, at the time of the director's appointment:
A resident of the state of Colorado;
A resident of a county that is, in whole or in part, within the boundaries of thedistrict; and
An owner of real property that is within the boundaries of the district from which thedirector is appointed, as well as within the county or ground water management district from which the director is appointed.
(II) Each director shall be appointed by either the board of county commissioners of the county in which the director resides or by the ground water management district in which the director resides. The director may be a member of the board of county commissioners of such county or the board of directors of such ground water management district. The appointments shall be made at the first meeting of the board of county commissioners, ground water management district, or Colorado ground water commission after the establishment of the district; except that the directors appointed by the Cheyenne county board of county commissioners and the East Cheyenne ground water management district must be appointed at the first meeting of the board of county commissioners or ground water management district, as applicable, after August 2, 2019.
(b.5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, a person may not be appointed to the board to represent a county unless the person resides in that county.
(c) The members of the board shall annually select one of their number to act as president and one of their number to act as vice-president, each to hold office for one year or until a successor is duly selected.
The office of a director becomes vacant when the director ceases to reside in Colorado or within a county that is, in whole or in part, within the boundaries of the district, or when the director no longer owns real property that is within the boundaries of the district and within the county or ground water management district from which the director is appointed. The office of a director appointed by the Colorado ground water commission becomes vacant when the director is no longer a member of the Colorado ground water commission or when declared vacant by a majority vote of all of the members of the board when a director has failed to attend two consecutive regular meetings without having been excused from attendance by the president. If a vacancy occurs in the office by reason of death, resignation, removal, or otherwise, it shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by the board of county commissioners of the county or the ground water management district from which the director was originally appointed. Each director shall take an oath or affirmation in accordance with section 24-12-101.
(a) Upon creation of the district, the directors shall be appointed by the respective boards of county commissioners or ground water management districts as provided in this section for the following terms of office:
The directors from the counties of Phillips and Kit Carson and from the Marks Butteand Arikaree ground water management districts, whose terms of office shall expire on the date of the regular quarterly meeting of the board to be held in October 2005, or as soon thereafter as their respective successors are appointed and qualified;
The directors from the counties of Washington, Sedgwick, and Lincoln and from theW-Y, Central Yuma, and Plains ground water management districts, whose terms of office shall expire on the date of the regular quarterly meeting to be held in October 2006, or as soon thereafter as their respective successors are appointed and qualified; and
The directors from the counties of Yuma and Logan, the directors from the Frenchman and Sand Hills ground water management districts, and the director appointed by the ground water commission, whose terms of office shall expire on the date of the regular quarterly meeting to be held in October 2007, or as soon thereafter as their respective successors are appointed and qualified.
The director from the county of Cheyenne has an initial term ending on the date ofthe regular quarterly meeting of the board of county commissioners to be held in November 2021 or upon the appointment of his or her successor, whichever occurs later. The director from the East Cheyenne ground water management district has an initial term ending on the date of the regular quarterly meeting of the district's board to be held in November 2020 or upon the appointment of his or her successor, whichever occurs later.
(b) Thereafter, each director is appointed for a term of three years, and the term expires on the date of the regular quarterly meeting to be held in November of the year that commences during the third year of the director's term, or as soon thereafter as a successor is duly appointed and qualified. For the purpose of determining the expiration date, the term of the director shall be taken as having begun on the date of the first regular November quarterly meeting at which the term of a predecessor would have expired had the director then been duly appointed and qualified.
Source: L. 2004: Entire article added, p. 1906, § 1, effective August 4. L. 2018: (2) amended, (HB 18-1138), ch. 88, p. 703, § 42, effective August 8. L. 2019: (1), (2), and (3)(b) amended and (3)(a)(IV) added, (HB 19-1029), ch. 112, p. 479, § 2, effective August 2.
Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 18-1138, see section 1 of chapter 88, Session Laws of Colorado 2018.