MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Morgantown city council has voted to table the Diversity Policy for employees and volunteers.
The goal of the plan is to transform the make up the city workforce and volunteers to reflect the diversity of the city.
The plan was produced by the Morgantown Human Rights Commission over the four after reviewing “best practices” from other cities across the country.
Deputy Mayor Rachel Fetty is concerned that following the plan could actually reduce diversity on boards and commissions. Fetty believes term limits, as proposed, would reduce the talent pool to draw from.
Other concerns are policies about video taping interviews and making them public. Also, processes that could lead to “outing” a person’s sexuality have been brought up as problematic.
Ash Cutright is non-binary and president of Morgantown Pride and they want council to hear the concerns of the LGBTQ+ community.
“West Virginia has the largest trans population in the country,” Cutright said,”All I ask is that this plan is presented to city council, that city council and Human Rights Commission sit down with multiple queer led organizations and go over this. Their intentions are good, but there’s a lot of wording in here that’s really concerning.”
Council members have yet scheduled meetings with those organizations.