A. The governing body of a district shall be composed of five supervisors who shall be residents of the district and shall be elected pursuant to the provisions of the Local Election Act [Chapter 1, Article 22 NMSA 1978]; provided, however, that two additional supervisors may be appointed to the governing body of each district by the commission in accordance with the provisions of the Soil and Water Conservation District Act. Four elected supervisor positions of each district shall be filled by landowners within the defined geographical area of their district. One elected supervisor position shall be designated supervisor-at-large, and the supervisor filling that position may serve the district without landowner qualification. B. In the first election of supervisors to serve a newly organized district, two supervisors shall be elected for terms of four years and three supervisors shall be elected for terms of two years. Thereafter, each elected supervisor shall serve a term of four years and shall continue in office until a successor has been elected or appointed and has completed an oath of office. A vacant unexpired term of the office of an elected supervisor shall be filled by appointment by the remaining supervisors of the district. Two or more vacant unexpired terms occurring simultaneously in the same district shall be filled by appointment by the commission. C. Appointed interim supervisors may continue to serve as appointed supervisors until their successors are elected at the next local election pursuant to the Local Election Act. History: 1953 Comp., § 45-5-52, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 137, § 11; 1973, ch. 324, § 6; 1977, ch. 254, § 67; 1997, ch. 137, § 7; 2003, ch. 88, § 10; 2018, ch. 79, § 167. The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, provided that the governing body of a watershed district shall be elected pursuant to the provisions of the Local Election Act; in Subsection A, after "shall be elected", added "pursuant to the provisions of the Local Election Act"; deleted former Subsection B, which related to certain election procedures, and redesignated former Subsections C and D as Subsections B and C, respectively; in Subsection B, deleted "Oaths of office may not be completed prior to July 1 after an election."; and in Subsection C, after "until their successors are", deleted "otherwise appointed" and added "elected at the next local election pursuant to the Local Election Act". The 2003 amendment, effective June 20, 2003, in Subsection A, inserted "residents of the district and shall be" following "who shall be" near the beginning, inserted "the supervisor filling that position" following "supervisor-at-large and" near the middle of the third sentence and redesignated the fourth and fifth sentences as part of Subsection C; in Subsection B, substituted "declarations of candidacy" for "nominating petitions proposing candidates" near the beginning, substituted "commission" for "department. Nominating petitions shall be signed by no fewer than ten owners of land situate within the district; landowners shall not be restricted in the number of nominating petitions they may subscribe" following "filed with the" near the middle, substituted "registered voters residing" for "owners of land situate" near the beginning of the fourth sentence, deleted "board, with the advice of the" near the beginning of the fifth sentence, and inserted "however, the commission shall bear the expenses of the first election of a newly organized district" at the end; in Subsection C, substituted "four years and three" for "one year; two" following "terms of" near the middle of the first sentence, deleted "and the supervisor-at-large shall be elected for a term of three years" at the end of the first sentence and substituted "four" for "three" following "a term of" near the beginning of the second sentence. The 1997 amendment, effective July 1, 1997, substituted "board" for "commission" throughout the section; in Subsection A, substituted "four of whom" for "who" and deleted "one from each zone" following "shall be elected" in the first sentence, added the second and third sentences, deleted the former last two sentences, which read "Four elected supervisors of each district shall be owners of land within the defined geographical area of their district. One elected supervisor shall be designated supervisor at large and may serve without qualification"; in Subsection B, substituted "department" for "division" in the first sentence and for "commission" in the third sentence, inserted "with the advice of the commission" and deleted "shall bear the expense of the election" following "supervise the election" in the next-to-last sentence, and added the last sentence; and made minor stylistic changes. County clerks do not have a duty to ensure that candidates for local soil and water conservation district boards satisfy the applicable statutory criteria. — Elections for soil and water conservation district supervisor positions are held in accordance with the Local Election Act, 1-22-1 to 1-22-19 NMSA 1978, and while county clerks are responsible for determining whether a candidate filing a declaration of candidacy is registered to vote within the area to be elected to represent, they do not have the authority under the Local Election Act to determine whether the candidate either resides in the district or owns land within the geographical boundaries of the district. Instead, any registered voter may file a legal challenge to the qualifications of candidates in the appropriate district court. Recent Amendments to the Soil and Water Conservation District Act (12/4/20), Att'y Gen. Adv. Ltr. 2020-11. Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 94 C.J.S. Waters § 320.
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