After being down to two officers patrolling the city—the chief on days and an officer on nights—the Krugerville Police Department has hired back to full staff.
Krugerville Police Chief Stoney Ward gave the council an overview of the department under his leadership from when he was appointed into the forecast of what is soon to develop.
'We've undergone a lot of changes, a lot of things have moved a whole lot in different directions that we may or may not have been prepared for,' Ward said. 'I'm happy to say that we're still standing with the help of Aubrey PD.'
The neighboring department helped with patrolling when the department got down to basically one officer on at a time because of resignations and other officers still being out for health-related issues.'
He spoke about being involved with the budget planning process with Mayor Pro Tem Kristen Kromer, Assistant City Administrator Sandy Frantz and Deputy City Secretary Kayleen Moss 'One of the best things out of those entire meetings that we've had is it's more collaborative,' Ward said. 'It's a give and take.'
The former chief vehicle will be turned into a patrol-ready vehicle.
'Having a working chief, a chief that will get out there and go after it is something that the city council wants, so that's something that we as a department aim to do,' Ward said.
Ward also said he was proud to announce the department has made three hires—Katrina Thomas, who will be an investigator and patrol officer; Alfonso Desantiago, who will be a sergeant and patrol officer; and Daniel Byrum, who will be a patrol and traffic officer.
'All three officers that we have hired over the past two weeks, with myself and Officer [Jeff] Pruitt and Clay [Parrent] back here, you will have roughly over 102 years of experience in a seven-person department,' Ward said. 'I don't even know if we have Tinkle's in there.'
Adding his, that brings the total to 126.
'That's a lot of experience in a small department,' Ward said. 'That's a lot of good experience in a small department.'
The police officers will also have a standard uniform, including a Class A uniform option, to ensure that the team looks cohesive, Ward said.
It will also be revamping the space it occupies in the police station, he added.
'My plan is to implement an open house in conjunction with National Night Out for the police department and community center,' Ward said. 'For it to be wide open. We want to invite our residents. We want our people to come walk through and see what it is that you paid for.'
The council also heard a request from Aubrey Fire Chief Eric Schlotter for a dry hydrant that would be installed along the bank of the pond in the Woodlands Park.
'We asked this year, in lieu of the CPI increase for the contract, that y'all would consider partnering with us to install a dry hydrant in your pond,' Schlotter said.
Having dry hydrants throughout AFD's service area means the department doesn't have to go as far if it runs out of water on the scene.
'We have experienced in the past, and I fully expect that we will continue to experience in the future, calls for service where there's not enough water to combat the fire at hand,' he said.
It doesn't have to be winterized because the water in the line is underground.
'If we're just servicing the dry hydrant, we'll just flow the water right back into the source,' Schlotter said. 'They're very useful in times where your water system's down because of a power outage or a well being down, whatever the situation may be, or in areas where there's no coverage.'
The installation is the biggest expense, with the components only costing $1,500.
'You have to dig a trench, put some thrust blocking in to protect the pipe and then fill it back in, and it's there,' Schlotter said.
Council member Stacey Sasser asked about how it would improve response time and when the projects would come online, both of which Schlotter said would be as quick as possible, given the conditions.
Sasser also asked about the possible impact on wildlife, which Schlotter said should be minimal.
This is a feature the department is asking developers to install on all future retention ponds during the construction period.
Also at the meeting, Squires Lane residents Brooke Foster, who is a veterinarian, and her husband Ryan Foster spoke during the public comment section to ask the council to consider amending its runs regarding how much space is required to have more than one horse, citing Tioga as an example city in that regard.
'I have two horses,' she said. 'They don’t do well alone without each other. I would like to see my two horses on our 1.6-acre property.'
