The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission will hold its first organizational meeting on Saturday, July 21, at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s Ray Bell Building in Nashville. The brief meeting will start at 3:30 p.m.
The governing body of the TWRA became the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission (TFWC), effective on July 1. The body had previously been known as the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission.
The TFWC’s first meeting will include the election of the chairman, vice-chairman, and secretary. The commission’s various committees may be established during the meeting. Upcoming monthly meetings may also be scheduled.
The TFWC will feature nine members appointed by Governor Bill Haslam to represent the commission’s districts. Two members each will be appointed by the Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the Senate. There will be 13 voting members of the commission while the governor and the commissioners of Tennessee’s Department of Agriculture and Department of Environment and Conservation will be ex-officio non-votingmembers.
Six of the appointees by Gov. Haslam were serving as TWRC commissioners. Commissioners William Brown of Chattanooga (District 4), Julie Schuster of Pegram (District 6), and Jeffrey Griggs of Lexington (District 7) will serve two-year appointments. Commissioners Harold Cannon of Lenoir City (District 2), Jim Bledsoe of Jamestown (District 3), and Trey Teague of Jackson (District 8) have received four-year appointments.
The new commissioners receiving six-year appointments by the governor are Clayton Stout of Johnson City (District 1), Jamie Woodson of Lebanon (District 5), and Bill Cox of Collierville (District 9), who previously served on the TWRC.
Appointed to the commission by the Speaker of the House are Tom Rice of Nashville to a two-year appointment and Jim Ripley of Kodak to a four-year appointment. Dr. Jeff McMillin of Bristol was serving on theTWRC and received a four-year appointment by the Speaker of the Senate. One remaining commissioner will be named to a two-year appointment by the Speaker of the Senate at a later date. These four commissioners are statewide appointments.