Was there a fixed deadline to replace a commissioner on Assumption Parish Waterworks District No. 1's board?

Plain-English summary

Assumption Parish Waterworks District No. 1 asked whether an appointing authority had to replace a vacant board seat immediately or could delay indefinitely. In the official opinion, the AG quoted Louisiana R.S. 33:3813, which assigned replacement appointments to the police jury or municipal governing authority that had appointed the departing member, “at its sole discretion.”

The AG concluded that filling the vacancy was discretionary but should occur within a reasonable time. It did not identify a fixed statutory number of days or resolve when a particular delay would become unreasonable.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2002. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Who filled a vacant district commissioner seat?
Under the provision quoted, the police jury filled a seat it had appointed; a municipal governing authority filled one of its own appointed seats.

Did the opinion give an exact appointment deadline?
No. The AG said the appointing authority had discretion but should act within a reasonable time.

Could an appointing authority delay indefinitely?
The opinion did not approve an indefinite delay; its stated limit was a reasonable amount of time.

Background and statutory framework

Louisiana R.S. 33:3813 governed the appointment of waterworks commissioners and their replacements. The AG applied the provision's “sole discretion” language to the vacancy question and added the reasonable-time qualification.

Citations and references

• Louisiana R.S. 33:3813 (waterworks commissioner appointments and vacancies)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/02-0053

Original opinion text

One American Place
301 Main Street, Suite 600
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O Box 9400~
CIVIL DIVISION
TEL.. (225) 342-7013
FAX (225) 342-2090
BATON ROUGE
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
7O8O4-9O05
ATTORNEY GENERAL

I~R 1~, ~-0~
OPINION NUMBER 02-0053

Mr. Henry M. Templet
Waterworks District Board, General Manager 90-A POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS - Officers, Agents
Employees
4633 Highway 1 172-A WATER DISTRICTS - See Political Subdiwsions
P. O. Drawer 575
The Assumption Parish Waterworks Distdct No. 1 has ful
discretion in filling a board member vacancy.
Napoleonville, Louisiana 70390

Dear Mr. Templet:

Please be advised that our office is in receipt of your opinion request wherein you inquired about the responsibility and obligation of the appointing authority to the Waterworks District Board when appointing a replacement member. More specifically, you asked:

Is the appointing authority obligated to name the replacement immediately or are they allowed to delay appointing a replacement for an indefinite amount of time?

Are there any time constraints on naming a replacement?

The answer to your question can be found in Louisiana R.S. 33:3813, which provides for the appointments of waterworks commissioners. La. R.S. 33:3813 states in pertinent part:

I. Any vacancy which occurs by expiration or otherwise of any commissioner appointed by the police jury shall thereafter be filled by the police jury, at its sole discretion and any vacancy which occurs by expiration or otherwise of any commissioner appointed by the governing authority of a municipality included in the district shall thereafter be filled by the governing authority of said municipality, at its sole discretion.

Thus, it is our opinion that the Assumption Parish Waterworks District No. 1 has full discretion in filling the vacancy of the board, as the law provides for same, and such action should be done in a reasonable amount of time.

Page 2

Mr. Henry M. Templet
OPINION NUMBER 02-0053
Page - 2 -

We hope this opinion sufficiently answers your questions. If you have any further
questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

Yours very truly,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

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