MORGANTOWN – City-vetted and issued identification cards that will be accepted by all Morgantown officials – including law enforcement and city election workers – are expected to begin rolling out in the coming weeks.
The first reading of an ordinance establishing the Morgantown Municipal ID Program is scheduled for first reading consideration as part of the consent agenda during Morgantown City Council’s Feb. 3 meeting.
According to the ordinance, “Whenever the provisions of identification is referenced in any section of the City Code, or in any ordinance of the City hereafter adopted, or required by state or federal law, any City official responsible for receiving such identification shall accept a municipal identification card issued by the City as such identification …”
The city’s website explains the cards will be official identification in Morgantown:
- When interacting with Morgantown Police Department officers.
- As valid identification for the municipal court clerk’s office.
- When requesting notary services from the city clerk’s office and as valid identification for participation in municipal elections.
- When making a payment in the city’s finance department.
- When registering with the permitting and code enforcement office.
- When accessing equipment from the Morgantown Tool Outreach Program.
- As valid identification for obtaining a library card and accessing free notary services from the Morgantown Public Library.
- As a valid form of identification for picking up prepaid bus passes through Mountain Line Transit Authority.
Further, the cards will be considered a valid form of identification for opening checking and savings accounts at both the Star City and Cheat Lake branches of United Federal Credit Union.
The city has invested roughly $3,000 for the computer software and printer needed to produce the cards. The cards will be available for any city resident at least 14 years of age, and will be valid for two years before renewal is required.
The vetting process for issuing city IDs will be handled by Special Projects Coordinator Shannon Davis, who explained the purpose is to provide a secure, low-cost ID for city residents who may or may not face barriers in obtaining a state or federal source of identification.
“They would need to provide at least four points of proof of identity … they may be expired as long as they include your legal name and a photo to kind of verify those,” Davis said. “Then for proof of residency, they have to provide at least two points of proof of residency. Those must be current and show their name and Morgantown address on it. No exception. And we also don’t allow duplicate documents, so you can’t use the same documents within your proof of identity as your proof of residency. So there are a lot of safeguards in place to make sure that we are still doing this properly and still making sure that there aren’t going to be as many risks involved with this.”
At a minimum, the ID will display the holder’s full name, photograph, address, date of birth, signature and card issue/expiration dates. Space permitting, additional information may be included if requested and voluntarily provided by the applicant.
The cards will require a fee of $15 for adults and $10 for children, veterans, the disabled and senior citizens. Renewal of the card will be $10. It will cost $7 to change information on an existing card.
While the city is looking to expand the card’s use through partnerships with private businesses and other entities, the ordinance notes, “private companies, state officials and federal officials are not required to accept this card as identification.”
Further, the card is simply identification, and won’t be accepted in place of a driver’s license during traffic stops conducted by any law enforcement agency, including the MPD.
In terms of voter identification, the city-issued IDs will be acceptable in municipal elections conducted by the city.
As the city plans to move its elections in line with the county primary in compliance with passage of Senate Bill 50 during the 2025 session of the West Virginia Legislature, the 2027 and 2029 municipal elections are expected to be the last elections conducted by the city clerk’s office.
The municipal ID program was first pitched in March 2025. During that discussion, it was noted that while the city believes the program will be beneficial to all residents, its origin dates back to a previous effort to help unhoused individuals get established.
If ultimately implemented, it’s believed Morgantown will be the first city in West Virginia to issue its own form of identification.
Communications Director Brad Riffee previously said research on the proposal included data from similar programs in cities ranging in size from Madison, New Jersey, with a population of 17,000, to Detroit, Michigan, with a residency north of 630,000.
