Parkersburg City Council’s Finance Committee, which consists of council members Sharon Kuhl, Andrew Borkowski, Roger Brown, Dave McCrady and Mike Reynolds (who was absent) met to discuss and approve the resolution to reappropriate funds on Tuesday at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

PARKERSBURG – Parkersburg City Council approved the only item on Tuesday’s agenda, a resolution to reallocate federal Community Development Block Grant funds to the Community Oriented Police Enforcement program and the Fire Department’s Sound the Alarm initiative.

The proposed resolution was to move $95,583 to the C.O.P.E. line item and $2,000 to the program that provides free smoke alarms to homes in the community.

The money came from $205,000 funds budgeted for Americans with Disabilities Act improvements in parks that added an accessible walkway at the Southwood Park pond. The project came in under budget, and the reappropriation of the remaining funds was proposed.

The Finance Committee met prior to the regular council session and voted to refer the resolution to the full council Tuesday.

The COPE program funds officers who patrol low- to moderate-income areas in the city to interact with and support residents in need.

Parkersburg Development Director Ryan Barber stands at the podium during Tuesday’s City Council meeting to answer questions from Councilwoman Wendy Tuck about Community Oriented Police Enforcement funds. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

“They will deplete the COPE budget within about two months if funding isn’t approved,” Development Director Ryan Barber said during the committee meeting.

The program also funds officers on bike patrols. Barber said that someone is more likely to have an interaction with an officer on a bike instead of in a car, so the program focuses on improving and increasing positive interactions.

“When they (officers) can go on a side-by-side and have a cooler full of water and someone is hot, it shows them (residents) the other side of what being a police officer is all about,” Police Chief Matthew Board said. “There’s a heavy hand in the enforcement but there also has to be a soft hand, and there’s things that our officers can take away from it, too.”

During the regular meeting, two community members made comments about the C.O.P.E. program and its effectiveness.

“It said 7,000 citizens were contacted through the C.O.P.E. program. That is an output not an outcome for community development,” said community member Colt Morningstar. “You want actual measurable outcomes not just shaking hands and giving somebody in poverty a water bottle.”

Barber said this program focuses on citizen-oriented approaches rather than policing and it works towards fixing the relationship between police and residents.

Councilwoman Wendy Tuck asked Barber to explain the need for C.O.P.E. funding.

He said Board has heightened the involvement of this initiative and since more people have become interested, there is a need for more funding to continue supporting the program.

The resolution was approved in a unanimous vote.