MORGANTOWN — For the first time publicly on Tuesday, members of Morgantown City Council expressed their own frustrations with the administration’s ability to mend the rift between city hall and the city’s police and fire departments.
Tuesday’s meeting came about 24 hours after a joint press release declaring votes of “no confidence” in city leadership from both the International Association of Fire Firefighters Local 313 and the Mon Preston Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 87. That vote included both the city manager’s office and city council.
Councilor responses came about an hour after Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, urged council to do what it needed to remedy what he called “a horrible black eye on everyone here,” during a pre-meeting work session with state legislators.
Both the police and fire departments have expressed concerns with changes to city policy that, they say, will disproportionately impact their pay and benefits, and therefore, their ability to fill open positions — of which the police department currently has 21.
Deputy Mayor Danielle Trumble offered the most pointed comments, noting she’s made a good-faith effort to work with both sides of the issue, but now believes the city is “kicking the can down the road.”
“There are those among us who are not complacent with some of the changes that are being made. We are asking for numbers, which we’ve been asking for, in my opinion, for weeks, months. I was receiving, up until 4:45 this afternoon, new numbers,” she said. “We have asked to meet between council and the city manager and the chief of police and the fire chief and those meetings have not been set up.”
Councilor Brian Butcher echoed Trumble’s sentiments explaining he feels like his hands are tied on the issue.
“I feel that we’ve not been given the information required to make proper decisions. That makes us look, frankly, silly when we try to speak to our constituents,” he said, explaining he believes the city’s communication with its employees has been lacking, “And I want to apologize to our city staff for our failings in that regard.”
Butcher also addressed an issue raised during the public comment portion of the meeting when Todd Stainbrook, of Morgantown, and Debra Gordey, of Westover, brought up questions about whether or not City Manager Kim Haws lives in the city of Morgantown.
In response to questions by The Dominion Post, Mayor Jenny Selin previously said council is looking into claims that Haws has remained a resident of Bridgeport since being hired by Morgantown in November 2020.
The city’s charter says he must be a resident while in office.
Stainbrook began asking Haws directly if he lived within the city before Selin intervened.
During her remarks, Gordey, a former Morgantown police officer, said she knows for a fact Haws doesn’t live in the city because “I have followed the city manager on more than one occasion.”
Butcher took issue with that.
“I find that highly disturbing,” he said. “He’s a public employee that works for the city and stalking him because you think that he shouldn’t be working, no matter how much you might disagree with him, I find that unacceptable and disturbing.”
In other city news, council:
- Approved an agreement between the city, the Morgantown Utility Board and BOPARC that will allow for public recreation in and around MUB’s Flegal Reservoir, which remains under construction off Cobun Creek Road.
- Set the city’s Trick-or-Treat festivities for 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 31.
