MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Commissioners in Monongalia County have changed the order of their regular meeting agenda in an effort to bring more order to the proceedings.
Protests related to the county’s use of Flock cameras have devolved into personal attacks, name-calling, and conduct that disrupts the commission’s efforts to conduct business.
Commission president Tom Bloom said they received consultation from Attorney General J.B. McCuskey and met with legal counsel and local officials to formulate a plan that complies with the West Virginia Open Meeting Law. Bloom said the solution they will use can be a template for other municipalities seeking to restore order to public meetings.
“We wanted to come up with something that could resolve this issue for not only the county but also for other cities in this county dealing with the same problem,” Bloom said.
Prior to the change, the public portion of the meetings was held at about the midway point. Some of the disruptions have included the use of objectionable language, reciting unrelated material, and using the three-minute comment period for nothing but silence.
“We would be able to conduct the business of the county first,” Bloom said. “And at the same time, get a lot of that work done before we hear public comment.”
State leaders developed a set of rules and adopted the West Virginia Governmental Proceedings Act that set the basic rules of interaction during public meetings. Information from the Secretary of State’s office said the act is in place to ensure citizens have the opportunity to observe the proceedings of state, county, and municipal public bodies, rather than granting a universal right to participate or comment.
“If concerned citizens were permitted to assert their First Amendment rights by addressing public meetings at will without following established procedures, the governmental body would cease to function, and no meaningful communication could occur.”
Protests during the first three weeks included calls for a copy of the contract, questions about who handles the data, and the voluntarily provided transparency portal on the Monongalia Sheriff’s Department website. In recent weeks, some of the comments have been completely off-topic personal attacks on the commission members during the public comment portion.
“I don’t understand what the real purpose is,” Bloom said. “That’s my concern. I will say the one individual admitted he was doing TikTok and he got 3 million hits.”
Bloom said because of the actions of the “mob,” the people with real concerns at the meetings are not properly heard. Their tactics now have the commission refining a meeting policy rather than addressing real concerns.
“By coming to a county commission meeting cursing, disrupting, and making lewd comments they really are not pushing their point across to make change,” Bloom said. “That is something I do not understand.”