FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 8, 2023

City of Morgantown Ensures that Future Parades will be Supported

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - In light of recent parade cancellations, the City of Morgantown is taking steps to ensure that upcoming parades will have adequate staffing.

City of Morgantown employees (such as Morgantown Police officers) will continue to receive priority when it comes to staffing parades and other special events.

However, if the city is unable to meet the required amount of staff needed to run these events, then it will utilize the services of a traffic-control company to block and/or reroute traffic during future parades in order to ensure attendees' utmost safety.

"We certainly prefer that our parades are staffed by City of Morgantown employees," said City Manager Kim Haws, "but we felt that it was necessary to formulate a backup plan to make absolute sure that we can provide sufficient traffic control for these events."

City administration recognizes the impact that major parades have on the history and quality-of-life of Morgantown. Therefor, City Manager Haws has authorized the payment of overtime for city employees who work during one of the events listed below:

-  The Monongalia County Fair Parade

-  The Morgantown Pride Parade

-  University High School's Homecoming Parade

-  Morgantown High School's Homecoming Parade

-  West Virginia University's Homecoming Parade

-  The Christmas Parade

-  The Veterans' Day Parade

The utilization of employees who are regularly scheduled to work during the hours of these events will be encouraged, but overtime has been authorized to help meet staffing requirements. If staffing requirements still cannot be met, the city will supplement traffic control with a contracted company.

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