COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2875
(By Delegates Webster, Proudfoot, Moore, Hatfield, Caputo,
DeLong, Hrutkay, Fragale, Perdue)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 15, 2007]
A BILL to amend and reenact §3-10-7 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to amending the procedure by which
a vacancy on a county commission is filled in the event the
remaining commissioners cannot agree on a person to fill the
vacancy.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-10-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. FILLING VACANCIES.
§3-10-7. Vacancies in offices of county commissioner and clerk of
county commission.
Any vacancy in the office of county commissioner or clerk of
county commission shall be filled by the county commission of the
county, unless the number of vacancies in a county commission
deprive that body of a quorum, in which case the Governor of the
state shall fill any vacancy in the county commission necessary to
create a quorum thereof. Persons appointed shall be of the same
political party as the officeholder vacating the office and shall continue in office until the next general election is certified, or
until the completion of the term if the term ends on the
thirty-first day of December following the next general election:
Provided, That in the event a quorum of the county commission
cannot agree upon a person to fill a vacancy in the office of
county commissioner
it shall be the mandatory, nondiscretionary
duty of each county commissioner, within sixty days from the date
the vacancy occurs, to submit in person to the chief judge of the
Circuit Court of the county, the name of one person who is a member
of the same political party as was the person whose vacancy is
being filled and was such member for at least one year next
preceding the filling of the vacancy and who is legally qualified
and willing to fill the vacancy. The judge shall thereupon, in the
presence of the quorum of the county commission, cause each name to
be written on a separate piece of paper, shall fold or roll up the
pieces of paper so as to resemble each other and so that the name
written thereon shall not be visible on the outside, and shall
deposit the pieces of paper in a box from which one of the county
commissioners, selected by lot under the supervision of the judge,
shall, in the presence of each other and the judge, draw one of the
names. The person whose name is so drawn shall be the county
commission's choice to fill the vacancy. The Circuit Court shall
have jurisdiction to compel compliance with the provisions of this
proviso within thirty days of the date the vacancy first occurred,
the county executive committee of the vacating county
commissioner's political party shall select and name a person to fill the vacancy from the membership of the vacating county
commissioner's political party.
Notice of the election shall be given by order of the county
commission and published as prescribed in section six of this
article. Nomination of candidates to fill the office for an
unexpired term in the office of county commissioner or clerk of the
county commission shall be made in the manner prescribed for making
nominations to fill a vacancy in the office of the clerk of the
circuit court.
In the event that the election for an unexpired term is held
at the same time as the election for a full term for county
commissioner, the full term shall be counted first and the
unexpired term shall be counted second. If the candidate with the
highest number of votes for the unexpired term resides in the same
magisterial district as the candidate with the highest number of
votes for the full term, the candidate for the full term shall be
seated. The candidate with the next highest number of votes for
the unexpired term residing in a different magisterial district
shall be seated for the unexpired term.
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