The County Commission has mandated a new Development Authority, but it has not made public what it’s selection criteria will be. Will those criteria create an Authority that will serve all the interests of this Jefferson County? It’s important we citizens know.
The County Commission apparently doesn’t like the way its oversight and advisory group, the Development Authority, is constituted. So it did a DOGE on it and fired all fifteen members. The Authority had representatives from all the magisterial districts in the county, but there’s no guarantee that the Commission will reconstitute that representation. The commissioners feel they can do what they want.
The term “unitary executive” has come to be interpreted as a license for presidents and governors to do things on their own. Instead of submitting to our Constitutional framework to have Congress make the laws, the unitary executive can decide to bypass the Constitution and mandate changes. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey thinks of himself in this way. He has eliminated civil service protections, axed the Office of Minority Affairs, and wants to end mandatory vaccinations in schools–all ordered by past legislation. He’s ignoring it.