ELKINS — Church in the Park organizers and supporters plan to voice concerns at tonight’s Elkins City Council meeting, after the Elkins Parks and Recreation Commission asked the group to stop hosting events in the parks.

The Church in the Park group plans to attend and express their opposition to the decision during tonight’s City Council meeting, at 7 p.m. at the Phil Gainer Community Center.

The religious community group, comprised of multiple ministries in the area, was reportedly asked by the commission to no longer hold their weekly prayer and free meals events at the city’s parks. Church in the Park Director Mike Brooks told The Inter-Mountain Wednesday that the move by the commission was unexpected.

“All of a sudden things changed,” Brooks said. “They’ve been very cooperative when I do the baptisms, they turn on the water for me… When we ask anything of them, they’ve been cooperative. It’s just, all of a sudden, in the last 30 days, the police started showing up.”

“The city just seems to be opposed to anything to help the homeless,” Church in the Park volunteer Pastor Mike House, of the Ambassador Baptist Church in Elkins, told The Inter-Mountain. “(The city) is kind of back-peddling because they told (Brooks) he couldn’t meet (at the parks anymore)… now they’re trying to make it like they’re all OK with it.”

In a statement to The Inter-Mountain, Elkins City Communication Manager Leon Kaye was adamant that this matter is not between Church in the Park and the City of Elkins, as the decision was made solely by the Parks and Recreation Commission; however, the City stands by the Commission’s decision, he said.

“The city had nothing to do with what happened,” Kaye told The Inter-Mountain on Wednesday. “It’s Parks and Rec, and we back them up… They made their decision, which I think is fair, and the City backs them up 100%.”

Kaye explained that Parks and Recreation made the decision to ask Church in the Parks to no longer hold their events in the parks due to trash being left behind after the events.

“The truth of the matter is there were activities at the park, they were leaving a mess, they were warned, ‘Please don’t leave that mess,'” Kaye said.

House, however, said this is not accurate.

“The whole trash thing is not true because (Church in the Park) has some people who are designated to clean up after their services,” House told The Inter-Mountain.

The group also states that, during their Sunday events, power at park pavilions have been turned off and there has been an increased police presence.

Kaye said the problem was that Church in Park did not properly book the spaces with Parks and Recreation.

“They need to book those spaces like any other organization, including good groups like the YMCA where they’re having (summer) camps,” Kaye told The Inter-Mountain. “They weren’t doing that.

“The City is not sending police or anybody around to see if anybody is charging their cellphones under the pavilions. We don’t care about that, but if they’re using that electricity without even asking us and booking the space… We’re just asking people to go through the same process as everybody else or have that conversation with us.”

Kaye also said there were issues with “human filth, like human defecation” that had to be removed after the events, syringes found in the park’s garbage and people going into the park bathrooms and “having sex” during the group’s events.

Brooks, however, said Church in the Park is not the problem.

“There’s nothing going on there when we have church,” Brooks said. “It’s usually, whatever they’re complaining about, is happening in the evening. They think stopping Church in the Park is going to make the problem go away. Their problem is never going to go away; anyhow, I’ve told them that. God tells us he favors the broken-hearted and the broken-hearted will always be with us… the homeless and the lost people are always going to be with us. We’ve got to learn how to help them, one soul at a time.”

House said the group wants to approach city officials during tonight’s council meeting about working together on the issue of homelessness in the area.

“We have several church ministries that are helping the homeless, and the only thing that’s happening in town, as far as helping them, is what the churches are doing,” House said. “What we want the city to do, and the county, is to start partnering with us… There are many things that they can help us accomplish instead of fighting us all the time… we’re going to come (to the meeting) and just let them know what they’re doing isn’t right, and what they need to be doing is helping us, partnering with us, so we can help the homeless.”

Kaye told The Inter-Mountain the city is open to having conversations with the group.

“All this talk about how we’re ‘banning them from the park’ is not true,” Kaye said. “We’re just asking them to respect the space and also, fundamentally, respect the employees at Parks and Rec who work very hard on a shoestring budget to maintain four very well kept-up parks.”

Brooks said he hopes that everything can be worked out in peace.

“The people in the park want to have church, and I think the community here wants them to receive church,” Brooks said. “We had 100 people there last Sunday and we’ve had 80 (people) many times… it shows there is a need.”

The Church in the Park group will also meet with the Parks and Recreation Commission on Aug. 20.

Elkins Parks and Recreation Director Tom Tesar was unavailable for comment as of press time.