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Wheeling City Council Backs Creation of Diversity, Inclusion Coordinator Position - Wheeling Intelligencer

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WHEELING — The city of Wheeling officially has thrown its support behind the creation of a Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator position, a resource that is expected to be shared with the Ohio County Schools and Ohio County Commission.

During this week’s meeting of Wheeling City Council, officials raised questions about the proposed position – an effort that has been in the works for over a year. Following discussions about the purpose of the job and origins of the proposed Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator post, members of council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron to enter into a memorandum of understanding between the city, the school district and the county for the shared creation of the position.

As the resolution states, the city would provide 50% of the cost, while the school district and county commission would each contribute 25% of the total cost of the position, which is expected to be around $90,000 per year.

“What happens if one of them does not go forward and pass a resolution – where does that leave us?” Councilman Jerry Skavounakis asked of the partner entities’ assumed participation in the joint effort.

“If any one of those two remaining entities were not to pass the MOU, then it would have to come back to city council for further consideration,” the city manager explained.

Herron said he understood that the Ohio County School Board was expected to take action on the matter during their regular meeting next week, and the Ohio County Commission was expected to discuss it during their meeting this week. However, the commission met on the same night as city council, and they reportedly did not discuss the memorandum at Tuesday’s meeting.

The city manager noted that he had been working on this issue over the past year, meeting with officials from the school district and the county, as well as other entities. The proposed creation of a Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator was also discussed during a joint meeting of the city and county leaders last December.

“So we’ve been working on this for some time and feel very comfortable that this position would very well serve all three entities,” Herron said. “It is my recommendation that this position will be very valuable and is needed within the community, and I think would serve the community very, very well.”

According to the resolution, the new coordinator would be a city employee with office space in the City-County Building with a possible off-site office at the school or other pertinent building in the county. Herron indicated the involved parties agreed that the shared percentage of cost for the position would be proportional to the time spent by the coordinator with each entity.

Prior to council’s vote on the resolution, Councilman Ben Seidler asked several questions about the position.

“What exactly does this position entail?” Seidler asked. “What does it look like? What is the driving force behind it? How did we get to this position? Was there a series of events that transpired? What is the driving force for the need, and what does the day-to-day position look like?

Herron explained the events that took place over the past year regarding discussions about the proposed position. He noted that in 2021, council passed a resolution regarding diversity, equity and inclusion, and directed city staff to work with local groups associated with this initiative, including Men of Change.

“This was their No. 1 priority as far as a position that they feel would serve the community well in respect to the various responsibilities related to diversity and inclusion,” Herron said, adding that the action had been thoroughly vetted before the resolution was brought before council. “This is not uncommon for cities across the country to have positions like this.

“From the city’s perspective as an organization, I’m excited that this position would assist us in recruiting minorities to apply for our positions, would enable us to better train our employees with respect to diversity and inclusion. I look forward to this person – similar to what’s happened with the homeless liaison position – serve as a community resources for those areas, as well.”

Seidler said he would like to be able to work with the coordinator on issues such as providing neighborhood safe housing for local individuals who are in need. He also asked the city manager if any individuals had been identified as potential candidates that would be interested in the position.

“I believe that there will be interested and qualified applicants for this position,” Herron said.

“My hope is that this brings us one step closer to making good on the promise that we are the Friendly City,” Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum said, noting that a Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator position is not a unique one for cities the size of Wheeling.

Mayor Glenn Elliott commended Herron for his work with the partnering entities over the past year to get the proposal ready for implementation.

“I know there are critics of this idea who say if Wheeling is not a city where discrimination actively occurs, then why do we need this position?” Elliott said. “I think that the more you look at an issue like this, it’s sometimes not good enough just to not discriminate. You have to do more to make sure that there are more people at the table sometimes who don’t feel welcome or for whatever reason don’t feel like the city is listening to them.”

The mayor said he believed it was “incumbent upon us to make sure that we are a city government that reflects a population that is welcoming to everybody and not only does not discriminate but also takes active steps to include more faces at the table.”

Elliott said he serves on many local boards, attends many meetings and takes part in a variety of civic engagements in the city.

“I see a lot of the same faces,” he said. “I think we need to broaden the spectrum of people participating in this process, and I think this position is a great resource for doing that. I would certainly hope that our friends at the county and our friends at the school board would follow suit with this. I think this is an important step forward.”

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