by JEN BIUNDO
The Hays County Sheriff’s Office will provide free law enforcement coverage for Buda as the city builds its own home-grown police department, county and city officials confirmed in a meeting Tuesday.
Buda had been contracting with the sheriff’s department to provide eight officers dedicated to the city at a cost of $60,000 per month. The agreement will free up cash for start-up costs with the municipal police department being developed by new Police Chief Bo Kidd.
The same officers currently patrolling the Buda area would still be assigned to the district, said Buda City Manager Kenneth Williams, with one sergeant rather than a lieutenant and a captain in command.
“Sheriff Ratliff has extended a hand to the City of Buda and Chief Kidd in their transition from a contract law enforcement agency to a municipal police agency,” said a press release issued by the sheriff’s office Tuesday. “With the intent of helping Buda’s department get started, Sheriff Ratliff has formulated a plan to begin a new Buda patrol district.”
Buda officials said they had originally thought they would phase out the agreement with the county.
“We submitted a proposal, they didn’t want to discuss that proposal and came back with this proposal,” said Williams.
The city developed the contractual law enforcement plan in 2007 with former sheriff Allen Bridges, who died of a heart attack in December of 2008. Sheriff Tommy Ratliff, appointed by Hays County Commissioners to fill the empty seat, made the controversial move to reassign Kidd without consulting the city, and Buda councilmembers voted to terminate the contract shortly after, with a nine-month notification period.
The press release sent out by the sheriff’s office noted the reassignment as reason for the contract ending.
“This move apparently upset the Buda City Council and City Manager Kenneth Williams who in turn decided to cancel the contract,” the release said.
Kidd came on as the city’s police chief on April 1. The city has charged Kidd with building the department from the ground up and hiring officers, to coincide with the completed renovations of the Houston Street building that will house the new police department and other city offices. The renovations could be complete as early as July, Kidd said.
With some shaky history between the city and county, some councilmembers questioned how strong the law enforcement presence would be in Buda without a contractual agreement with the county, and worried about being kept in the loop.
“I think we had more with the Buda Patrol than just calls for service,” said Councilmember Cathy Chilcote. “I think we had dedicated presence in the neighborhoods…The problem is the citizens notice and they’re quite concerned about this whole issue. I hope that presence is good, it’s solid, it’s continuous.”
Kidd responded, “I would think that the city’s priorities will still be the sheriff’s office priories to some degree…The citizens of the city of Buda are still citizens of the county and I think their concerns will be heard.”
Councilmembers asked Kidd if the same officers currently patrolling Buda would be hired on to the new police force.
“I predict a seamless transition,” Kidd said. “I don’t think it will be problematic at all.”
