Discovery Bay leaders tonight will try for the second time to fill two vacant seats on the town's governing board amid disagreement about the appropriate process for making the appointments.

Community Services District board President Ray Tetreault and directors Mark Simon and David Piepho could not agree last week on whom to appoint to the seats left vacant by two resignations in late September. If the board cannot agree tonight, the decision will be made by Contra Costa County supervisors, one of whom is Piepho's wife, Mary Piepho.

The board narrowed the list of applicants to three from seven last week but deadlocked when attempting to appoint two members simultaneously. Because one of the three nominees has since withdrawn, Tetreault believes the four applicants who didn't make the final cut should be reconsidered.

"It appears that (the decision) will go to the Board of Supervisors," Tetreault said. "I would prefer it didn't go that way, but it's pretty much being dictated."

All three directors must agree on the appointments to replace Dave Dove and Shannon Murphy-Teixeira.

Tetreault said he'd been through the appointment process before and was fairly certain the board would choose one member at a time.

Piepho, however, suggested last week that the board select two nominees at once. But the board could not agree on the appointments, prompting it to call a special meeting for tonight to continue the matter.

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The town's legal counsel, John Stovall, said one board member could be appointed before the other. That person would then have a vote in appointing the second member, which made Piepho uncomfortable.

"It seems that they would not have the background and the knowledge to make that decision," he said.

Piepho said he's read that when there are two vacancies on an elected board, the appointments should be made simultaneously.

"I can't explain things to everybody," Piepho said. "I get frustrated when people don't do their homework."

Residents at last week's meeting said they didn't understand why Piepho wanted to make both appointments at once. Some speculated that Piepho is more than willing to let the matter go before the supervisors.

The supervisors would all weigh in on the matter, but it's likely Mary Piepho would ultimately make the decision, Tetreault said.

"They will defer to her because it's her district," Tetreault said.

For that reason, Tetreault wants to "get it done in our own backyard."

David Piepho, however, is willing to let the supervisors decide.

"I feel totally comfortable with that," he said. "All of the (supervisors) have held positions of local government. They usually take the position of the (district) supervisor, but they don't have to."

Jonathan Lockett covers East County. Reach him at 925-779-7174. Follow him at Twitter.com/jonathanlockett.