KY lawmakers to Beshear: Give two-year job contract to fish and wildlife commissioner
Thirty-four Kentucky House Republicans have sent a letter to Gov. Andy Beshear, urging him to offer Rich Storm a two-year contract renewal as state fish and wildlife commissioner.
The lawmakers’ two-page letter to the Democratic governor Tuesday said that it has come to their attention that the Beshear administration intends to disregard the Jan. 31 unanimous decision of the nine-member Fish and Wildlife Board and not renew Storm’s contract for two years.
“We respectfully request that you reconsider this decision,” they said.
Beshear had no comment on the letter Wednesday.
“This simply should not be an issue. Members of the Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously in January to offer Commissioner Storm a two-year renewal and the administration should respect that decision,” Rep. Matthew Koch, R-Paris, said Wednesday. His district includes Nicholas County, where Storm lives.
The Beshear administration informed Storm last Friday that he was out as commissioner of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, but the agency’s board chairman, Karl Clinard, said the Beshear administration lacks the authority to do that.
On Tuesday, the legislature’s Government Contract Review Committee led by Republicans snubbed the Beshear administration and approved the two-year job extension the fish and wildlife board unanimously approved for Storm on Jan. 31.
The board chairman, Karl Clinard of Somerset, and Attorney General Daniel Cameron maintain the board has exclusive authority over the contract, but the Beshear administration disagrees.
Clinard noted Wednesday that the state Board of Education provided a four-year contract for new education commissioner Jason Class and that the legislative committee this week reported that it has handled hundreds of contracts since April for two-year periods.
Storm started on the job Jan. 14, 2019, at a salary of $140,000 a year. The board’s two-year contract for him did not increase his salary.
In a July 10 letter to Storm obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader, Cannon Armstrong, executive director of the human resources office in the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet told Storm “you may no longer serve as KDFWR Commissioner.”
Armstrong told Storm that it had been more than a week since Storm was presented with a personal service contract renewal for him to continue as commissioner beyond June 30, the expiration date of his previous contract.
Armstrong said Storm did not respond. He reminded Storm that the cabinet, which oversees the fish and wildlife department, had offered him a new contract with the same provisions as his previous one except it would be for only one year instead of two.
Armstrong said the contract offer was for one year instead of two due to the anticipated $1.1 billion state budget shortfall brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Clinard said no state General Fund dollars are used to pay the fish and wildlife commissioner, that the money for the salary comes from fees and other sources. He noted that the legislature this year approved only a one-year budget.
Armstrong told Storm to return all state government property in his possession to Fish and Wildlife deputy commissioner Brian Clark.
Rep. Koch said Wednesday, “To say that a one-year contract is more appropriate because of COVID-19 disregards that the department receives no state tax dollars and is entirely funded by Kentucky’s outdoorsmen and women.”
In their letter to Beshear, legislators stressed Storm’s work on the department’s financial resources. They said resources for the department under Storm has increased from $9.1 million to more than $28 million.
Storm said that primarily was done through cuts.
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 3:38 PM.
