The Lake Herman Sanitary District finds itself in an unusual situation. Our local sewage board lacks a quorum.
Last month, long-time sanitary district board member Lawrence Dirks died. That leaves one vacancy on the board. A second seat on the board has sat vacant for the last three years. I am the only current board member. A three-member board requires a quorum of two members to do business. Statute does not permit one board member to wield power unilaterally.
Therefore, technically, the Lake Herman Sanitary District should be unable to conduct any business. Uh oh.
I've spoken with counsel, who advises that I can at least write checks to pay any bills (like the fee for consulting with counsel ;-) ). He also says I can call a "meeting" where I will convene myself, move to schedule an election in July, second my own motion, and approve the election. Be careful, I'm so argumentative, I might not be able to come to an agreement with myself.
The July election provides an opportunity for my Lake Herman neighbors to file nominating petitions for the two vacant seats. If anyone files, we're back in business. But if the pattern of low public interest in septic tanks and sewage continues, then I will remain the only board member, and the Lake Herman Sanitary District will be paralyzed.
...not that I'd mind that outcome. Given minimal interest in building an expensive central sewer system, I've been happy to cut our budget to the bare minimum and advocate the merits of keeping our current cheaper, equally effective, and more self-reliant private septic tank system.
But whether you dig your septic tank or want to dig it up and lay sewer pipe all the way to Madison, if you live on Lake Herman, consider taking out a petition and joining the board. Petitions will be available at the Lammers Kleibacker and Brown law office in downtown madison June 16. You must file your nominating petition with me by July 6. I'll be available to discuss what the board does at the "meeting" on Monday, June 6, 6:30 p.m., at the Madison Public Library.
I imagine the motion dying for lack of a second.
My thanks to the parliamentarian! Counsel has greenlighted my Monday "meeting"... but I would love for some citizen to be sufficiently interested to come to the Monday meeting and challenge my designation of an election date for exactly that reason. I don't want to spend all summer in court, but I'd be very interested to hear how a judge would read the statues surrounding this situation.