Beshear stops paycheck for KY fish and wildlife chief. Board considers legal action.
Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration has stopped issuing paychecks to Rich Storm, saying he no longer is commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
Karl Clinard, the agency’s board chairman, said the board is looking at possible legal action against the Beshear Administration, with input from Attorney General Daniel Cameron, to keep Storm commissioner.
On Wednesday, Clinard said he is planning to call a special meeting of the board this week or next to consider a lawsuit.
“Rich is at home now in Nicholas County. He wants to be back at work. We want him back at work,” said Clinard, a retired orthodontist in Somerset. “The board believes along with the attorney general that it is has the sole power to hire and fire the commissioner and we want Rich Storm to be commissioner.”
The nine-member board unanimously approved a two-year job contract extension Jan. 31 of this year for Storm. He started the job Jan. 14, 2019, during the administration of Gov. Matt Bevin at a salary of $140,000 a year. The board’s two-year contract for him did not increase his salary.
Danielle Jones, a spokeswoman for the state Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, which oversees the fish and wildlife department, said the administration offered Storm a one-year contract at $140,000 a year but he never responded.
She said Storm received payment for his duties through June 30 and his last paycheck was issued on July 15. She added that Storm will receive an additional payment as a result of a contract modification that corrected a calculation error.
Jones said the administration offered only a one-year contract because this year’s state legislature approved a state budget for one year instead of two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Kentucky is now facing an anticipated $1.1 billion shortfall for the 2021 fiscal year budget, which may require devastating cuts of 16 percent to 20 percent across state government,” she said. “As the state’s budgetary outlook worsens, the executive branch now has a greater responsibility to thoroughly examine personal service contracts and expenditures that exceed that one-year period.”
Clinard said Storm did not accept the one-year contract because Cameron and the board had said the board had sole authority over his contract.
Clinard noted that the state recently hired Jason Glass to be education commissioner for four years at $260,000 a year and that the Beshear Administration has issued several contracts this year for more than one year.
The state personal service contract list for July shows that the tourism cabinet had two $1 million contracts that ran for two years.
Clinard also said the salary for the fish and wildlife commissioner comes from agency collections and other sources and not from the state’s General Fund.
“We find the administration’s position on this curious given that they have awarded contracts to other state government employees and contractors that extend beyond one year and use General Fund dollars,” Cameron spokeswoman Elizabeth Kuhn said Wednesday. “The Fish & Wildlife Commissioner’s contract is paid for using restricted funds.”
Kuhn noted that a group of legislators also sent a letter to the governor stating their belief that the commission has the ability to choose its own commissioner.
Rep. Matthew Koch, R-Paris, instigated the letter to the governor. “In my opinion, the commission’s board needs to fight to keep its right to hire and fire the commissioner,” he said Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the legislature’s Government Contract Review Committee approved the two-year job extension for Storm.
The legislative action signals that lawmakers may weigh in on the issue in next year’s General Assembly.
On July 24, Beshear appointed two new members to the fish and wildlife board, effective Aug. 14., to replace members whose terms expire Aug. 13. Boyle Circuit Court Clerk Cortney Shewmaker of Gravel Switch will replace Jeffrey Eaton of Lawrenceburg and David L. Jones of Barlow will replace Harry W. Carloss. The two new members will serve until Aug. 13, 2024.
Clinard said he wants to hold a special board meeting to consider a lawsuit before the two new members take office. “That way the board members who voted for a contract extension for Storm in January can vote on what remedy we take for Rich Storm,” he said.
Beshear is due to make one more appointment to the board this summer to replace Kevin Bond of Burlington, whose term is expiring.
A board member serves a four-year term. Licensed hunters and anglers in each of nine districts send names of five nominees to the governor, who selects one from each district. The selections then have to be confirmed by the Kentucky Senate.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 2:00 PM.
