Members of Parkersburg City Council and Police Chief Matthew Board, right, watch a Ring doorbell video from a 2021 incident in which a gunman opened fire while police attempted to evacuate nearby residents. Board shared the video in support of council approving a budget revision that includes $200,000 from a federal grant for a $384,310 bulletproof Bearcat vehicle. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG – City Council on Tuesday approved legislation allocating funds that included a $200,000 federal grant for a bulletproof police vehicle and additional changes to council’s rules.

A small group gathered outside the Municipal Building before the meeting to protest those actions as well as the potential privatization of the city’s sanitation services.

Three speakers in the public forum questioned the city’s plan to purchase an armored Bearcat vehicle for the Police Department for $384,310.

Parkersburg resident Brian Hayden said there would be costs for the vehicle beyond its purchase, asking about insurance, repairs and training for officers to drive what he described as “a 9-ton battle jitney that has the handling characteristics of a potato.”

Parkersburg resident Jamie McCormick said spending that much money on the Bearcat was an example of “misplaced priorities” with federal SNAP benefits set to run out due to the ongoing government shutdown.

Parkersburg resident Jamie McCormick speaks against the proposed purchase of a Bearcat bulletproof vehicle during the public forum at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“We’re talking about buying military-grade vehicles while our neighbors are struggling to put food on the table,” he said.

McCormick said $384,000 could benefit efforts like food pantries and after-school programs.

Parkersburg resident Julia Monroe suggested purchasing body cameras for officers would be a better use of the money.

During the message from the executive portion of the evening, Police Chief Matthew Board made his case for the vehicle and Finance Director Eric Jiles, serving as acting mayor with Mayor Tom Joyce absent, noted the money for the purchase comes from sources that can only be used for law enforcement expenses.

“If this does not happen, this (federal) money goes to another police force for the same thing,” Jiles said.

Nine people gathered outside the Municipal Building an hour before Tuesday’s Parkersburg City Council meeting at a protest organized by Indivisible MOV to demonstrate against potential actions by city officials. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

The rest of the money comes primarily from state and local asset forfeiture funds and the Police Department’s Law Enforcement Support Fund, which Board said consists of “unsolicited charitable donations” to the department.

Board emphasized that the vehicle is for defensive purposes only and will have no weapons attached. He said it’s built on a Ford F-550 chassis that city personnel can repair.

“This is about safety. And sometimes safety doesn’t look the way we think it should,” Board said.

He described incidents in which the city could have used such a vehicle, including a 2021 incident in which a suspect fired multiple rounds from a third floor apartment in south Parkersburg, including as police tried to evacuate people. Officers were forced to lay on top of people to protect them, he said, when a vehicle like the Bearcat could have backed up to the door, loaded them in and safely driven away.

Board asked council if they wanted him to show a Ring doorbell video from the incident, saying it could be upsetting to youth in the chambers or people who might have PTSD.

Parkersburg resident Sue Ellen Waybright, right, speaks against a proposed City Council rule change during the public forum at Tuesday's council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Council President Mike Reynolds suggested they vote on it.

“Let’s take a vote and see whether you want to see the chief’s video or tell him to go home,” he said.

Council voted 8-1 to play the video, with Councilwoman Wendy Tuck opposed. A couple of younger audience members briefly left the chambers.

The black-and-white video didn’t show many details of the incident but numerous gunshots could be heard, as well as Board’s voice, which he said before the video played was him imploring the shooter to stop.

Councilman Rob Moore asked how many people the Bearcat could hold. Board said it has a capacity of 10 passengers, plus the driver.

Parkersburg Police Chief Matthew Board discusses his rationale for seeking the department’s purchase of a $384,310 Bearcat bulletproof vehicle during Tuesday's City Council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“In a situation like that, we’re going to do a load and go, and people are going to be on laps or in the floor,” Board said.

Jiles said acquisition of the vehicle would not immediately affect the city’s insurance, which is locked in based on its fleet on an annual basis.

Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl, whose husband is a retired police officer, said the cost of insurance, tires and maintenance didn’t matter.

“What is the price to save the life of one of our citizens and one of our police officers that puts their life on the line?” she said.

Council approved the resolution that included the grant funds on a 9-0 vote. Before that, they unanimously approved a motion to allocate $50,000 for a gateway sign, an amount proposed but removed during this year’s budget hearings.

Council voted 6-3 to approve a change to its rules specifying that the deadline to submit items for the next week’s meeting agenda is 4:30 p.m. on the Tuesday prior, but items submitted by noon Wednesday could be included and other items could be added, with approval of the president, before the agenda is printed and made available to the public on Thursday afternoon.

Tuck made a motion to amend the resolution to specify a final deadline for those late additions of 3:30 p.m. the Thursday before but it failed with Councilmen Zak Huffman and Chris Rexroad joining her in voting for it. Those same three voted against the final resolution.

The resolution also specifies that the chairman of a council committee has the discretion to determine whether legislation needs to go before the committee prior to the full council. Parkersburg resident Sue Ellen Waybright, a former council candidate, spoke in opposition to that during the public forum.

“What happens when a majority of members want to have a meeting to discuss an important issue and the chairman disagrees?” she said. “If you pass Resolution 2, you are giving up your voice and the voices of the people (you represent).”

Councilman Roger Brown said the changes reflected how council has long conducted its business.

Council also voted 8-1, with Tuck opposed, to approve the final reading of an ordinance enacting a 5% cable franchise fee, which will be passed along to customers. It’s expected to generate approximately $250,000 a year.

A unanimous resolution slated November’s council meetings for Nov. 4 and 25 because Nov. 11 is a holiday.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.