A vacancy on an elected nonpartisan governing body of a special purpose district where property ownership is not a qualification to vote, a town, or a city other than a first-class city or a charter code city, shall be filled as follows unless the provisions of law relating to the special district, town, or city provide otherwise:

     (1) Where one position is vacant, the remaining members of the governing body shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacant position.

     (2) Where two or more positions are vacant and two or more members of the governing body remain in office, the remaining members of the governing body shall appoint a qualified person to fill one of the vacant positions, the remaining members of the governing body and the newly appointed person shall appoint another qualified person to fill another vacant position, and so on until each of the vacant positions is filled with each of the new appointees participating in each appointment that is made after his or her appointment.

     (3) If less than two members of a governing body remain in office, the county legislative authority of the county in which all or the largest geographic portion of the city, town, or special district is located shall appoint a qualified person or persons to the governing body until the governing body has two members.

     (4) If a governing body fails to appoint a qualified person to fill a vacancy within ninety days of the occurrence of the vacancy, the authority of the governing body to fill the vacancy shall cease and the county legislative authority of the county in which all or the largest geographic portion of the city, town, or special district is located shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy.

     (5) If the county legislative authority of the county fails to appoint a qualified person within one hundred eighty days of the occurrence of the vacancy, the county legislative authority or the remaining members of the governing body of the city, town, or special district may petition the governor to appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy. The governor may appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy after being petitioned if at the time the governor fills the vacancy the county legislative authority has not appointed a qualified person to fill the vacancy.

     (6) As provided in *RCW 29.15.190 and 29.21.410, each person who is appointed shall serve until a qualified person is elected at the next election at which a member of the governing body normally would be elected that occurs twenty-eight or more days after the occurrence of the vacancy. If needed, special filing periods shall be authorized as provided in *RCW 29.15.170 and 29.15.180 for qualified persons to file for the vacant office. A primary shall be held to nominate candidates if sufficient time exists to hold a primary and more than two candidates file for the vacant office. Otherwise, a primary shall not be held and the person receiving the greatest number of votes shall be elected. The person elected shall take office immediately and serve the remainder of the unexpired term.

     If an election for the position that became vacant would otherwise have been held at this general election date, only one election to fill the position shall be held and the person elected to fill the succeeding term for that position shall take office immediately when qualified as defined in *RCW 29.01.135 and shall service both the remainder of the unexpired term and the succeeding term.

[1994 c 223 § 1.]

NOTES:

     *Reviser's note: RCW 29.15.190, 29.21.410, 29.15.170, 29.15.180, and 29.01.135 were recodified as RCW 29A.24.190, 29A.52.240, 29A.24.170, 29A.24.180, and 29A.04.133, respectively, pursuant to 2003 c 111 § 2401, effective July 1, 2004. RCW 29A.24.170, 29A.24.180, and 29A.24.190 were subsequently repealed by 2004 c 271 § 193. Later enactment of RCW 29A.24.170, 29A.24.180, and 29A.24.190, see RCW 29A.24.171, 29A.24.181, and 29A.24.191, respectively.