(1) Except as provided in RCW 52.14.020, in the event a five-member or seven-member board of commissioners of any district determines by resolution that it would be in the best interest of the district to decrease the number of commissioners from five to three, or from seven to five, or in the event the board is presented with a petition signed by ten percent of the registered voters resident within the district who voted in the last general municipal election calling for such a decrease in the number of commissioners of the district, the board shall submit a resolution to the county auditor. Upon receipt of the resolution, the county auditor shall call a special election to be held within the district at which election the following proposition shall be submitted to the voters substantially as follows:

Shall the board of commissioners of (name and/or number of district) be decreased from (five/seven) members to (three/five) members?

Yes . . . .

No  . . . .

If the district has commissioner districts, the commissioners of the district must pass a resolution, before the submission of the proposition to the voters, to either redistrict from five commissioner districts to three commissioner districts, or from seven commissioner districts to five commissioner districts, or eliminate the commissioner districts. The resolution takes effect upon approval of the proposition by the voters.

If the proposition receives a majority approval at the election, the board of commissioners of the district shall be decreased to three or five members.

(2) The number of members on the board of the district shall be reduced by one whenever a commissioner resigns from office or a vacancy otherwise occurs on the board, until the number of remaining members is reduced to the number of members that is chosen for the board eventually to have. The reduction of membership on the board shall not be considered to be a vacancy that is to be filled until the number of remaining members is less than the number of members on the board that is chosen for the board eventually to have.

(3) At the next three district general elections after the reduction is approved, the number of commissioners for the district that are elected shall be as follows, notwithstanding the number of commissioners whose terms expire:

(a) In the first election after the reduction, only one position shall be filled.

(b) In the second election, one position shall be filled.

Thereafter, the commissioners shall be elected in the same manner as prescribed for such districts of the state.