MORGANTOWN — The Monongalia-Preston Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #87 is suing the city of Morgantown for access to the wage and compensation study used to inform salary and budget decisions for the upcoming 2022-23 fiscal year.
In a lawsuit filed May 11 in Monongalia County Circuit Court, attorney Teresa Toriseva claims the city wrongly denied a Freedom of Information Act request filed by FOP President Brandon Viola seeking the wage and compensation study conducted for the city by consultant GovHR.
The suit further states the city incorrectly characterized the result of Viola’s FOIA as complete and “granted” in the mandatory reporting of such requests to the West Virginia Secretary of State.
“The FOIA request is not complete. The information on the FOIA request database is incorrect,” the suit states, adding “FOP President Viola made two requests to the Defendant City for the Wage and Compensation Study and was twice denied.”
The suit points out that city administration indicated in its 2022-23 budget presentation that the study was complete. While the city did provide a requested list of salaries for the 2021 calendar year, it denied Viola’s FOIA for the study itself on the grounds that it wasn’t finished.
Viola then altered his request to ask for the completed portions of the study. That request was denied.
The lawsuit asks the court to convene a hearing as soon as possible or make declaratory judgment supporting the right of the city’s police officers — the majority of which are represented by FOP Lodge #87 — to receive the wage and compensation study.
It cites West Virginia Code 29-B-1-1, which states “ … it is hereby declared to be the public policy of the state of West Virginia that all persons are, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees …”
This issue has been percolating in recent months as representatives of both the city’s fire and police departments have asked city hall to be more responsive to their concerns regarding upcoming changes to city personnel policies.
As previously reported, the city has spent the last year or so working on the first substantial update to its personnel rules in three decades. Tied in with that is the classification and compensation study.
Morgantown Communication Director Andrew Stacy said the city had no comment in response to the lawsuit.
Asked if the compensation study is complete, Stacy said it is not.
“City administration has kept all employees updated weekly on the status of the employee handbook and the compensation study projects,” Stacy said. “Those weekly status updates include that the study will be provided to all employees once it is complete.”
