I too favor keeping the commission as is. An imperfect solution but can not think of a better option.

But would like throw out an additional idea. We are at the end of 25 year experiment in agency organization. At the time of the merger of the old Department of fisheries and Department of Wildlife there was an intense discussion whether a centralized structure (DF model) or regional structure (DW model) was most appropriate. The decision was for the DF model. Pretty clear that has not worked!

To be fair there really is not a magical structure that solves organization problems; it is people. Each of the organization models have their strengths and weaknesses and for the managers their task is to recognize those weakness and develop strategies to minimize program impacts. From my view the current structure the major weakness is communication based. The communication failure is both within the agency and between the agency and its public. Within the agency the communication problem can be distilled down to two basic issues. One is too wide of chain of command and disconnect between the resource (and those familiar with that resource) and the ultimate decision makers (centralized).

The public communication problem is a bit more complex but may not be in-solvable. The trick is to develop trust that those most familiar with the resource can effectively with the public and how best to structure that communication.

Curt