On October 12, 2022, Mr. Freddy Khlayel-Avalos, Trustee District 6, submitted his letter of resignation to the Board of Trustees.  Pursuant to Texas Election Code 201.023, when a board member submits a resignation, whether effective immediately or at a future date, a vacancy occurs on the date the resignation is accepted by the board or on the eighth day after receipt by the board, whichever is earlier.  Accordingly, by law, Trustee Khlayel-Avalos’ resignation became effective on October 20, 2022, creating a vacancy in this 7-member board.

When a vacancy occurs on the board, the remaining board members may fill the vacancy by appointment until the next trustee election or may order a special election to fill the vacancy.  A special election to fill a vacancy may be held on either of the two uniform election dates in May or November.  Here, the resignation came outside of the deadline to call a special election in November.  The regular term and election schedule for Trustee District 6 is the May uniform election date in 2023.

In the interim, if the Board decides to fill the vacancy by appointment until the next trustee election, there are no set guidelines about the method to fill the vacancy, except that the person must be otherwise qualified to hold the office.  The three most commonly used methods by a board to fill a vacancy are: nomination, the recipient of next highest votes from the previous election, and application.  In the most recent past, the Board chose the application process.