This chapter must be administered by a Little Missouri River commission composed of the director of the parks and recreation department, the director of the department of environmental quality, the director of the department of water resources, or their designated representatives, and one member from each of the following counties: McKenzie, Billings, Slope, Golden Valley, Dunn, and Bowman. The commission members representing the above-mentioned counties must be appointed by their respective boards of county commissioners and shall serve without compensation except that each appointing board of county commissioners may reimburse its county representative for actual and necessary mileage to and from meetings of the commission at the same rate as state officers. The county representatives appointed must be resident landowners who live adjacent to the Little Missouri River with the exception of the Golden Valley County representative. A county representative unable to attend a meeting of the commission may be represented by a person who has a written proxy from the representative authorizing that person to act and vote for the representative. The proxy must be a resident landowner of the county that the proxy is representing, but need not live adjacent to the Little Missouri River. The county members shall serve terms of office as follows: two members shall serve one-year terms, two members shall serve two-year terms, and two members shall serve three-year terms.