Hello-this is an inquiry into the possibility of joint action on the
makeup of the Mon. County Commission. Do you know if there is any
movement afoot, specifically a petition, to increase the size of the
Mon. County Commission to make it more representative of the community?
Asel K. and Bob Bell have made so many arbitrary decisions not in the
interest of a livable environment that I believe the Commission needs to
be increased to 5 or 7 members. I originally thought it might be
accomplished by petition for placement on the November ballot, but
according to the Sec. of State, such a move must be done by petition
thru the County Commission. If such a petition has sufficient
signatures, then the Con. Commission is required to forward the petition
to the State Legislature for action. Ten percent of the registered
voters must sign such a petition, which would be about 5000 signatures.
It is my understanding that this number could be reached with the proper
support from various concerned organizations. Now might be the time to
initiate such a drive when we could get commitments from the candidates
running for the Legislature to specifically state if they would support
or ignore such a petition forwarded to the Legislature from the County
Commission.
I am not a lawyer, so the above is my interpretation of the appropriate
part of the State Constitution that I have copied below. In addition,
such a petition needs to be worded properly so that the County Lawyers
could not successfully challenge it. I already had a "turn off" from
a County Lawyer in attempting to get information about the Commission.
I presented this info and suggestion to the WV Interfaith Group. They
gave their support to the idea, but they appear to have too much on
their agenda to organize such a petition.
Here is the appropriate State Code:
Art. 9, Sec13 0f the State Constitution entitled "Reformation of
County Commissions"
The legislature shall, upon application of any county, reform, alter or
modify the county commission established by this article in such county,
and in lieu thereof, with the assent of a majority of the voters of such
county voting at an election, create another tribunal for transactions
of the business required to be performed by the county commission
created by this article. Whenever a county commission shall receive a
petition signed by ten percent of the registered voters of such county
requesting reformation, alteration or modification of such county
commission, it shall be the mandatory duty of such county commission to
request the legislature, at its next regular session thereafter, to
enact an act reforming, altering or modifying such county commission and
establishing in lieu thereof another tribunal for the transaction of the
business required to be performed by such county commission, such act to
take effect upon the assent of the voters of such county, as aforesaid.
Whenever any such tribunal is established, all of the provisions of this
article in relation to the county commission shall be applicable to the
tribunal established in lieu of said commission. When such tribunal has
been established, it shall continue to act in lieu of the county
commission until otherwise provided by law.
Acts 1974, S.J.R. 6, ratified Nov. 5, 1974
Are others working on this, and if not, what do you think?
Bob Shumaker
304-292-4918