MORGANTOWN — By this time next month a new category of city employees will be patrolling downtown Morgantown five nights a week.
On Tuesday, Morgantown Special Projects Coordinator Venessa Reeves said one-year pilot city ambassador program will launch in mid-April after six months of preparation.
The program, funded with $200,000 of the city’s American Rescue Plan dollars, will initially place a rotation of three ambassadors to serve as a resource for visitors to the city’s downtown and Wharf District, as well extra eyes and ears for first responders.
The ambassadors will be uniformed, complete with two-way radios for direct communication with MECCA 911, and will be active between 9 a.m.- 11 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
The city liaisons will wear a number of hats, providing everything from local tourism information to safety escorts. They’ll act as a line of communication between downtown businesses and city hall, and initiate litter cleanup and beautification efforts.
But according to Reeves, there’s one hat they won’t wear.
“The ambassadors are not going to be first responders. They may be first to the scene, and they are going to be training in [crisis intervention] and what is illegal and what’s not illegal to help identify situations and what are the proper resources that need to be in those situations,” she said.
She later added, “So when they’re out walking the streets they can assess, is this something where the police need to be called or is this something where social services needs to be called. So we’re really trying to train our ambassadors to really be a resource to all members of our community.”
Reeves went on to say that there will be signs placed downtown informing people how they can contact an ambassador to request information or assistance, like an escort to a nearby vehicle.
While the response from council was positive overall, Councilor Brian Butcher questioned whether one week of crisis intervention training was adequate, noting “They might have a lot on their hands.
Reeves reiterated that the ambassadors are not to act as first responders, but to help identify and marshal need resources.
Deputy Mayor Danielle Trumble said she supports the program, but will continue to push for the creation of a dedicated street outreach coordinator position for the city.
“I think the more eyes on this kind of thing, the better and the more people who do have training, the better, but I don’t think this is an adequate replacement for that position within our police department,” Trumble said.
