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