MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Members of the Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board have decided to speak out on issues they feel have avoided additional members joining their board.
Board Chair Rich Burks and Board Secretary Bob Cohen claimed during a recent appearance on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town” that the city is not moving at an appropriate pace in regards to confirming members onto their board. They said it’s combination of board appointment rejections they weren’t told about as well as a lack of interviews scheduled for available spots and other inactions affecting their duties.
“We know that some good people who have applied, we don’t know why they were rejected, specifically, they were not told they were rejected,” Cohen said. “I know that one of the people who was not seated on the board who applied was an advocate for homeless people, I’m guessing that one or more people in city council blackballed her.”
City council must approval all board appointments.
The Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board was established in 2021 in response to public calls for police oversight shortly after the George Floyd protests in 2020. The board had the appointments of Burks and Cohen passed by the Morgantown City Council in the months shortly after it was established, as well as city council member Rachel Fetty, who currently serves as vice chair. With the intent of the board aimed to prevent negative interactions with city police officers and the public with the help of police data, the lack of appointments is considered confusing for board members.
“Boards of this type usually came about in other cities as a result of a catastrophic event,” said Burks. “We haven’t had one, and we want to avoid one, we’re trying to be proactive with that.”
Burks and Cohen said close to two dozen applicants have expressed a desire to have a seat on the board over the past several months. Those applicants have also included required professional references, with members of the board taking the appropriate steps to have interviews scheduled with the Morgantown City Council ahead of an approval vote. Despite the number of applications, no interviews have been scheduled for several months, adding to the confusion about how the board is viewed by city officials.
“They had to have a letter from that particular group to even get an interview, so we did all of that, and we had, I hate to say it, but I think we had over 20 applicants,” said Burks on how many potential board members were affected by the apparent inaction.
The City of Morgantown issued a statement shortly after Burks and Cohen voiced their concerns, where it was stated that the interview process is ongoing for new Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board members as well as other boards.
“As we work diligently to fill vacant seats across more than 30 boards and commissions that serve the City of Morgantown, we want to emphasize that City Council dedicates a great deal of time and consideration to the interview process,” said City of Morgantown Director of Public Relations Brad Riffee in the statement. “The city is committed to thoughtfully reviewing and appointing the most qualified individuals. As you can imagine, this process takes time and requires scheduling a full slate of interviews.”
Burks and Cohen said they hope the panel can fulfill its original mission. This includes the chance for applicants considered worthy of a seat to at least speak with city officials in the near future and to get data from the Morgantown Police Department that hasn’t been given in over two years.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to move along and get a much more detailed picture of what’s going on in the city,” said Cohen. “They keep the statistics, it’s just a matter of disseminating them and publishing them for the community.”