MORGANTOWN – Based on budget discussions held as part of Tuesday evening’s Morgantown City Council meeting, the central question pertaining to the Morgantown Public Safety Training Center is not if city council will pull the plug on the investment, but when.
A voting majority of the body used words like “unconscionable,” “foolish,” “wasting money,” and “too expensive” in expressing their desires to see the city divest itself of the former Defense in Depth shooting range turned Morgantown Police Department-branded training facility.
Deputy Mayor Brian Butcher kicked off the discussion with a motion to remove all costs tied to the training center from the city’s upcoming fiscal year 2027 capital escrow budget.
While the motion was never seconded, the conversation that followed indicated the sentiment has support, but others feel the follow through may require more time.
Members noted the city needs to ensure its contractual obligations are met, not only to the lease holder, but to agencies that have agreements in place to utilize the facility. That’s to say nothing of the significant question of MPD training going forward.
The city’s involvement with the 19,938-square-foot facility has been somewhat contentious from the start. After weeks of debate, MPD input and community comment, council ultimately chose to move forward on a 4-3 split vote held Dec. 6, 2022.
The vote authorized the city to enter an arrangement with Glenmark Holding LLC through which it would pay $500,000 up front and $2.4 million in lease payments over 10 years, or $240,000 annually.
It was explained at the time that the facility would offset those costs to a significant degree through use agreements. Further, the acquisition was held up as a first-of-its-kind in-house training facility that would aid the department’s ability to fill numerous open officer positions.
Mayor Danielle Trumble, who voted against the initial investment, said the actual total annual cost to the city budget is closer to $360,000.
Currently, 11 of the MPD’s 67 officer positions are unfilled, according to the city.
Butcher, who also voted against the initial acquisition, said the city has seen ample evidence the facility is not meeting any of the performance metrics the 2022 decision was based on. He called it “unconscionable” that the city would continue to invest in it while tightening the belt by removing cost of living wage increases and freezing open positions, among other measures.
Both Trumble and Councilor Jodi Hollingshead noted they would not support an immediate vote to cut funding on July 1 as part of the upcoming budget, but said the city needs to move with purpose in that direction.
“My timestamp is not to give the training center a chance to fulfill its promises to us. I’m not interested in that … I’m no longer interested in funding that,” Hollingshead said. “I’m not personally asking how we can make the police training facility work. I’m asking what we need to do in order to not be spending $240,000 a year on a facility that, I understand, we made a commitment to, but they made a commitment to us as well, and they’re not fulfilling it.”
Councilor Mark Downs said he wants city administration to bring an exit strategy to council by June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
“Four months is plenty of time to get this plan together. Four months is plenty of time. If we can’t get a plan together in four months, then I’m a, ‘no,’ he said, referring to his vote on the 2027 capital escrow budget. “To Brian’s point, enough money has been wasted on this endeavor. Enough is enough. We’ve got to draw the line somewhere. Four months for a plan is fine.”
Councilor Jenny Selin is one of two members of the current council, along with Joe Abu-Ghannam, to originally support the city leasing the Sabraton facility.
“Our police department and the partners they have pulled in have been doing a good job of utilizing the facility. I think that as a city, we have also utilized the facility,” she said. “I don’t think it has been fully utilized. I don’t think that the money generated from partners paying in to use the facility has fulfilled the promises of the discussion at the time, but I do feel it has been a success in that we’ve had some good trainings there. We’ve have some good partnerships made. I think it’s a useful facility. I think it’s just too expensive.”
Councilor Louise Michael, who has joined the body since the 2022 decision, was the only member to voice strong support for keeping the training center.
“We made a commitment. The previous council made a commitment to [the MPD] with this training center and I think we need to honor it,” Michael said. “And you know, taking it away this, I feel, is going to be a morale issue as well. We made a commitment to our police department, and we need to honor it.”
