Call to Action Senate Bill 537
The Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission (KCPRC), which manages Coonskin, has been strangely silent on the issue of protecting our park. Why is that?
Good question! It turns out that the KCPRC is appointed by the Kanawha County Commission (KCC). The Kanawha County Commission also controls Yeager Airport (by appointing the majority of the voting members to the Central WV Regional Airport Authority), meaning there’s a huge conflict of interest at play here. The County Commission wants to destroy half of Coonskin to shift the Yeager airport runway and has appointed people to the Parks Commission who they know are willing to throw Coonskin under the bus.
What can we do about this? There’s a bill currently in the legislature that would make the Parks and Recreation Commission an ELECTED position, rather than an appointed one, and would allow the residents of Kanawha County to elect people to the commission who actually care about protecting and maintaining our county parks.
We need your help to get this bill passed!
Senate Bill 537 is currently in the Outdoor Recreation Committee and was put on the agenda but the meeting was canceled. We need calls and emails to committee chairman Mark Maynard, asking him to again put SB 537 on the agenda for a vote.
Please call and/or email Senator Maynard at mark.maynard@wvsenate.gov and (304) 357-7808 You can keep your message short and sweet, just say or write, "Senator Maynard, please put Senate Bill 537 on the Outdoor Recreation Committee agenda for a vote as soon as possible". (When you call you'll most likely be leaving a message with his secretary or on his voicemail).
And please call/email Senator Hunt, the lead sponsor of this bill, at mark.hunt@wvsenate.gov and (304) 357-7841 to thank him for sponsoring it and to ask him to encourage Sen. Maynard to add it to the committee agenda.
WHAT COMES NEXT? Getting a bill passed through the legislature is a multi-step process. If we can get SB537 through the Outdoor Recreation Committee, then it will go to the Governent Organization Committee, then from there it will go to the full senate for a vote. After that it goes to the house, then to the governor for a signature. We'll need calls and emails sent to legislators for every step of this process, but we'll take it one step at a time and we'll keep you updated.
Thank you!