The March 18 election of Clyde Knowles to the Underwood Conservation District Board of Supervisors is on hold due to a boundary question.
According to Butch Ogden of the Washington Conservation Commission (WCC), there is a question as to whether Knowles lives within the boundaries of the Underwood Conservation District (UCD). Living within the district is one of the legal requirements of the position.
"They're trying to figure out exactly where the boundaries are," said Ogden, who is the WCC's field operations manager for central Washington. "The problem is, the boundaries will apparently be the boundaries of the city as of 1941, when the city of White Salmon was excluded from the district. That's information they're trying to compile now."
Ogden added that the discrepancy was not discovered until too late.
In the March 18 board election, Knowles topped Dan Gunderson 98 votes to 52 votes. No one else challenged for the position.
Ogden said the boundary will be researched by the Underwood Conservation District, and that information will be presented to the 10-member board of the WCC. The board, which next meets on May 15, will decide whether the election will be certified or not certified.
If the Knowles election is not certified, a new election is expected to be held.
"At that point, my understanding is they [UCD] would have to go to a judge to throw the election out and order a new one," Ogden noted.
One of the requirements for conservation district elections calls for 45-day advance public notice, meaning a new election -- if necessary -- would be at least 45 days after the certification decision is made.
In the interim, the current board member, Larry Williams, will stay on. Williams, who lives near Goldendale, has been on the UCD board for about 25 years and had opted not to run for a new three-year term this year.
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