LINDEN &8212; Even before the Marengo County Commission repopulated the E-911 board in December 2007, its message was clear: Citizens want the board to move forward, but some board members have not even shown up to hear that message.

A work session between the commission and the board Thursday was again a display of &8220;preaching to the choir,&8221; as Commissioner Ken Tucker put it, with the same three board members in attendance from their previous meeting this month. It was also yet another meeting without a quorum, a practice that has occurred seven times in the last fours years, including a period of nine months in 2004 where the board did not meet at all according to meeting minutes.

With all five of the commissioners present at the work session, Baker asked if the board&8217;s by-laws could be amended so that non-contributing members could be replaced in favor of members who would attend meetings.

But according to laws governing the board, once members are appointed they cannot be replaced unless they voluntarily resign.

Tucker said he also looked into adding new members to the board, but once again there are no provisions for adding additional board members outside of the five district appointments and two at-large members.

In an effort to garner a quorum, Tucker said he will be looking appoint a new board member to replace his former appointment at the next commission meeting on May 13. Both Commissioners Calvin Martin and Freddie Armstead said they would speak with their appointments about the possibility of resigning in order to appoint new members.

But this, too, could be a difficult task for commissioners.

While the gathered group agreed there had been past controversy, Carolyn Rogers made the point that the group needed to move forward.