Supervisors appoint special district candidates to uncontested seats

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

If the number of candidates for a special district or community planning group board does not exceed the number of positions to be filled in an election, state law allows the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to appoint the candidates who filed for those seats in lieu of holding an election. The county board of supervisors formally appointed those candidates to new terms Friday, Oct. 25.

The supervisors’ 5-0 vote also appointed candidates to new terms if an insufficient number of candidates filed for the number of seats available and directed the clerk of the board of supervisors to post vacancy listings for those unfilled seats and to notify the special districts and community planning groups of those vacancies.

Neither of the two Fallbrook Public Utility District seats up for election in 2022 involved a contested election. Ken Endter was appointed to a new four-year term for Division 2 and Charley Wolk was formally given another term as the Division 5 director. Both are incumbents.

Two seats on the Morro Hills Community Services District board were subject to election. The two incumbents, Barbara Romero and Leo Romero, were the only candidates who filed so they were appointed to the seats.

None of the three North County Fire Protection Seats were contested. Appointed incumbent Ross Pike will return to the Division 1 seat; Chris Shaw will be the new Division 2 director and incumbent Ken Munson will be the Division 3 board member.

All three San Luis Rey Municipal Water District seats scheduled for election in 2022 had only a single candidate. Division 1 will once again be represented by incumbent William Pankey; Thomas Veysey will fill the Division 3 seat and Christian Zaleschuk will be the Division 5 director.

The Vista Fire Protection District includes part of southern Bonsall as well as unincorporated Vista. Two seats were subject to the 2022 election, and incumbents James Elliott and Read Miller were the only candidates who filed.

Two seats on the board of the Rincon Ranch Community Services District in Pauma Valley were up for election this year. Laurence Puck filed and was given a four-year term for one seat, while the other seat will be noticed.

Stephen Wehr is the Division 4 incumbent on the Yuima Municipal Water District board. He was the only candidate to file for that seat. No candidate filed for the Division 1 seat, so the vacancy will be noticed.

Nobody filed for the seats on the other two Pauma Valley water districts. Vacancies were noticed for seats 1, 3 and 5 on the Mootamai Municipal Water District board and seats 3 and 5 on the Pauma Valley Municipal Water District board.

If there is a vacancy for a board seat of an independent, voter-elected special district, the board may fill that seat. The board has the option of calling for a special election to fill the seat. In the event no candidate has the support of a majority of the board, the board of supervisors will make the appointment.

The supervisors’ action did not cover uncontested school district board seats.