Parkersburg budget includes new police liaison | News, Sports, Jobs

Parkersburg City Council Vice President Mike Reynolds, right, asked if any council members had questions about an amendment proposed by the administration during council’s third and final budget hearing Thursday evening in council chambers at the Municipal Building, as Councilwoman Wendy Tuck listened. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG — The main change made at the final Parkersburg City Council budget hearing Thursday was a revision to fund a Police Department position aimed at better dealing with repeat offenders and reducing officers’ time spent in court.

It was part of an amendment updating projected revenue with the latest property tax valuations from the Wood County assessor’s office. Otherwise council left in place the $39.36 million budget submitted by Mayor Tom Joyce and his administration.

“I think that shows that there’s largely a level of trust between myself and the members of council,” Joyce said.

Council met for the third and final budget hearing as the Committee of the Whole, then voted to rise and report and approve the budget while seated as council on a pair of 6-1 votes. Councilman J.R. Carpenter was opposed, and Councilman Bob Mercer and Council President Zach Stanley were absent.

The only amendment seconded and voted on was offered by the administration. It increased projected ad valorem property tax revenues by $160,790 to $4,074,024 and added in $22,490 to be provided by the City of Vienna and Wood County to support the new law enforcement liaison position.

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce spoke during Thursday’s Parkersburg City Council budget hearing in council chambers at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

The liaison would be a civilian employee of the Police Department who would operate primarily out of the Wood County Magistrate Court offices.

“This would be a dedicated person to … make sure the prosecutors are getting the law enforcement side of the story,” Joyce said.

Parkersburg Police arrested 54 individuals six or more times in 2021, Joyce said, including one person who was arrested 10 times.

In many cases, due to the crimes being misdemeanors like shoplifting or trespassing, the individual is released on a personal recognizance bond, officials said. Because previous offenses may not have made their way through the court system, the person can’t yet be charged with a second or third offense. The liaison could inform prosecutors of such situations in an effort to get bonds revoked for repeat offenses.

The liaison would attend pre-trial hearings in place of the arresting officers, interim Police Chief Scott Elliott said.

Interim Parkersburg Police Chief Scott Elliott discussed a proposed law enforcement liaison position at Thursday’s Parkersburg City Council budget hearing in council chambers at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“This position will eventually eliminate court overtime for officers,” he said, noting officers would still appear for trials.

The liaison would also work with Magistrate Court and the prosecutor’s office on the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, which offers treatment and other assistance programs to low-level, first-time offenders.

Joyce said the liaison concept is supported by the Wood County Sheriff’s Department, Vienna and Williamstown Police, Wood County Prosecutor’s Office, Chief Wood County Circuit Court Judge Jason Wharton, the Public Defender’s Corporation and the county’s magistrates.

“Everybody that had a piece of this process was supportive of it,” he said.

The liaison would also work on cases brought by the Williamstown Police Department, but Williamstown is not being asked to provide funding due to its relatively small caseload.

The amendment, which was approved 7-0, also reduced expenses in the Streets Department by $34,851 to remove a medium equipment operator position. The administration intends to create a fourth foreman job to oversee another crew to complete various in-house projects by promoting an operator, but the salary for that position was inadvertently left in the budget, Finance Director Eric Jiles said.

With the additional revenue and those salary funds, the amendment covers the city’s share of the liaison’s $37,830 salary, increases funding in the residential sidewalk repair program by $64,106 to $142,106, passes through $54,332 to the Mid-Ohio Valley Transit Authority for its levy based on the new valuations and allocates $50,000 to the capital reserve fund toward eventually replacing the Municipal Building’s aging phone system.

“The phones that we have are obsolete,” Jiles said. “The same vendor doesn’t even support these phones any longer.”

Carpenter offered two more amendments, both of which died for lack of a second.

The first was to leave the city’s contribution to Wood County Recreation flat at $37,500. The administration proposed increasing it to $60,000, with Joyce, who sits on the agency’s board, saying they had improved operations and oversight and the county contributes the same amount.

Carpenter said he wanted more specifics about how the money would be used. Joyce listed the funding, not including personnel costs, for several programs and said he saw it as investing in the youth of the community to help turn them away from drug abuse.

“This is just another way of hopefully raising another generation that looks at this illicit substance problem like we look at clubbing baby seals,” he said.

Carpenter also proposed removing the 3.2 percent across-the-board pay increase for department heads and putting that money toward stormwater improvements.

“We need just to hold the line until we have an uptick” in population and economic development, he said.

Carpenter also argued the raises would put department heads closer to the mayor’s $90,000-a-year pay, leading to efforts to eventually raise the salary for that position as well.

“Department heads, you guys do a great job,” Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl said after the meeting.

The budget’s projection for business and occupation tax revenue accounts for a new $200-a-quarter exemption for all filers, but that still requires legislation by council to enact, Joyce said.

The new fiscal year begins July 1.

Evan Bevins can be reached at [email protected].