The commission is dead; long live the mission.
An unlikely idea from the longtime executive director of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission has come to pass. Back in March, Ed Fite suggested to legislators that the best way to save the mission of the organization he has led for 33 years could be to disband and reorganize it under the Grand River Dam Authority.
With a stroke of her pen late Wednesday Gov. Mary Fallin marked the final days of the commission by signing into law Senate Bill 1388.
The commission will be eliminated and its staff and responsibilities will transfer to a division of the GRDA effective July 1.
GRDA and commission staff members met early Thursday to begin working on that transition process.
“We’re here because of the state’s financial woes,” Fite said. “What is most important is, whatever the name of the organization, whether its OSRC or GRDA, that core mission continues for which there is no endpoint, the protection of our rivers.”
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The Scenic Rivers Commission was established in 1977 to carry out provisions of the 1970 Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Act, “to protect, enhance, and preserve the outstanding aesthetic, historic, archaeological and scientific features of the Illinois River and its tributaries, Barren Fork Creek and Flint Creek,” as the commission summarizes it in its mission statement.
With an annual operating budget at less than $500,000 and minimal staff and expected further cuts given the state’s dire budget situation, Fite and GRDA Chief Executive Officer Dan Sullivan saw the move as a way to preserve Oklahoma’s mission to preserve its most precious waters and combine those efforts under one roof.
GRDA has increased its work on water quality issues in recent years and initiated public outreach regarding water use and preservation in the Grand River drainage area. Now that role will expand, Sullivan said.
“There actually is a lot of synergy there,” he said in April. “If you consider the importance of the mission and the lack of funds available, particularly in this difficult budget time, I don’t see another viable option.”
The initial meeting of the GRDA and commission staffs Thursday focused on basics, like human resources issues, inventory, handling expenses, summer staffing and other details, Fite said.
“For example, we have processes for collecting user fees and making those deposits and I’m sure they will have different processes,” he said.
Indeed the bill, SB 1388, began with the idea the conservation and reclamation district might begin collecting recreation user fees, possibly for taking over operations of some parks, but particularly for improvements and added enforcement needs in an area below Pensacola Dam that has become increasingly popular as a “rock crawling” site for off-roaders.
In late March it was amended in the House Appropriations and Budget Committee to include the Scenic Rivers move and the idea drew broad support with encouragement from Sullivan and Fite.
“Once it passed the House it remained the same through the Senate,” Sullivan said. “We didn’t anticipate any problems (with the governor’s office), and now we’re ready to go to work.”
While the official transition to GRDA comes mid-summer, both Fite and Sullivan said “status quo” is the operating philosophy in the short term. People who play on the Illinois River or below Pensacola dam will not see immediate changes — with the possible exception of increased law enforcement presence — until after the administrative changes are managed and study and processes that involve public comment on fee structures are carried out.
Still, as of July 1, the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission will be no more.
“It’s a bittersweet moment,” Fite said. “I have been the executive director for 33 years and there are not many who can say they’ve held a position of leadership like that for that long. It has been a blessing.”
