North Whidbey Park and Recreation District is working to fill a vacant board seat and swim coach position.

During the board meeting Thursday, Sept. 18, timelines were put in place to fill both the now-vacant board seat as well as the head coach position.

After board member Dave Walton submitted a resignation letter during the Aug. 28 meeting, effective midnight that date, the board illegally appointed former employee Victoria Robinson to his seat during the same meeting.

Because they had already received applications to fill another board vacancy with Wendy Shingleton, park board members decided to pull from the same candidate pool to fill Walton’s seat.

Park board members at the meeting, Chairman Allan McDougall, Commissioner Steve Hoffmire and Walton, voted to appoint Robinson to fill Walton’s seat.

State law, however, prohibits filling a seat until a vacancy is official, which wasn’t until later that night. State law also stipulates that a departing board member cannot vote on his or her replacement.

During the park board’s Sept. 18 meeting, McDougall read a statement acknowledging the appointment was illegal. The board also rescinded its appointment of Robinson and established a process and timetable for officially filling the seat.

McDougall said that the park board relies on Robert’s Rules of Order to run its meetings, and that inconsistencies between Roberts Rules and state law led to the mishap.

“If you do Robert’s Rules, everything works out one way,” McDougall said. “There’s only one minor problem — state law works out a very different way, and state law wins.”

Later in the meeting, Commissioner Sean Merrill moved to extend the acceptance of board applications until Oct. 17, after which the director, Gino Wolfe, will forward the applications to the existing board members for individual review.

Then, during the board’s regular Oct. 23 meeting, the commission will vote to fill the vacant position.

“The reason I made the motion that way is we can give everybody, including those that have applied in the past, the chance to still be in the running for the commissioner four spot,” Merrill said.

“This is consistent with how we’ve always done it in the past,” Hoffmire said.

“Historically, when we’ve appointed someone, we’ve left it open for a window,” he said. “We’ve allowed people to be a part of the process.

“That consistency factor, going forward, is the thing I really think we should always strive to do.”

Merrill’s motion passed unanimously.

Also created during the Sept. 18 meeting was a selection committee for the head coach position.

Wolfe, director of the district, proposed that a committee be comprised of himself, Merrill, Lisa Phillips, Don Brown and Jillian Pape.

The committee will begin work right away and review resumes for the head coach of the North Whidbey Aquatic Club position.

Wolfe said he hopes they will make a hiring recommendation during the Oct. 23 meeting.

“I’d like to get them done as soon as possible,” Wolfe said.

Hoffmire, who was a part of the selection committee for former head coach Bill Patterson, said he is concerned about what the committee might be looking for in a coach.

“I know when we had a meeting with the parents, the one thing that came up was a qualified guy or a qualified coach. A good mentor. All these things,” Hoffmire said.

“We have to get this so right this time.”

Hoffmire said he hopes that the new swim coach will not only focus on teaching the older kids on the team, but also will draw more participation from younger swimmers.

“The only way you’re ever going to get the numbers where we want it to be is if you inspire little kids to continue coming back,” Hoffmire said.

Hoffmire suggested that there be clear, defined points of evaluation for the candidates.

Merrill said he agreed.