The three current trustees of the Tracy Cemetery District have voted unanimously to ask county supervisors to expand the board to five members.

The action followed a two-hour meeting Tuesday, March 15, at the cemetery office, where proponents of enlarging the board presented their case, citing benefits of a larger board.

“We felt what they had to say made sense, so we decided to ask the board of supervisors to enlarge the board,” said Jim Fisher, chairman. “I feel supervisors are likely to accept our recommendation.”

Four proponents, who individually had earlier unsuccessfully sought appointment to a single seat the board, stressed that adding two members would make a stronger board — one able to deal with the issues facing the district in the future.

“The meeting went very well,” said Derrick Davis, one of the proponents. “The board listened to our presentation, and we had a good dialogue. We were impressed by the attitude of the trustees, and this is a start of the process leading to a five-member board.”

Davis said a larger board, in addition to adding two voices to board decisions, should generate more public input and provide greater transparency for the tax-levying district.

Specifically, the board action Tuesday was to move ahead to adopt a resolution calling on county supervisors to enlarge the board. Action on the resolution itself will come within the next month, said Fisher.

If and when approval is given by supervisors, they then would seek applications for the two new board positions and then make the appointments.

Trustees receive a $100 stipend for each monthly meeting.

Fisher said the current board members — Gene Birk, Mary Mitracos and himself — also agreed Tuesday to consider changing the location of monthly board meetings to a public building in Tracy with easier access and more space than the small cemetery office, as well as to change the meeting time from 3 p.m. to early in the evening.