Tioga could receive money from the Department of Homeland Security by documenting interactions with undocumented people.
The program, which does not include a binding contract, would have the police department provide extra documentation if it interacts with people in the country illegally, Tioga Police Department Chief Curtis Macomb said.
'What they're asking us to do is to start documenting when we encounter illegal aliens,' Macomb said.
That documentation would be different depending on whether the person in question is apprehended on a charge of a felony or a Class A misdemeanor versus other encounters with people who do not have proper documentation.
'If we pull somebody over and we're going to write them a ticket and he has no criminal history, then they don't want us to do anything with that person,' he said. 'They want us to notify them that we have encountered somebody without a criminal history. There were no criminal charges filed, other than a Class C citation, and this is the identifier that he presented to us.'
The agreement would not mean the police department would be acting as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, he said.
'What they're not asking us to do, where this gets a little—people get a little bit confused about this, is they're not asking us to go check on rooftops, they're not asking us to go to cabinet shops, they're not asking us to go to horse farms, they're not asking us to do their job,' he said. 'They're asking us, in the event that we encounter an illegal alien in the act of a criminal offense, that they get taken to jail, which we already do, and if they're not a criminal and they haven't got a violation of above a Class B, they just want us to submit a form saying, we've encountered this person.'
To qualify, the Tioga offi cers would need to take 40 hours of training.
'Once we complete that training, they're going to send the city of Tioga Police Department $100,000 to buy a vehicle,' he said. 'You guys know how hard it is to find the money to buy them. Well, I found the money.'
Additional money—$15,000 per quarter per participating officer—would come in after the department reports interacting with an undocumented individual.
'That money that we receive on that $15,000 could be training and equipment that we use in the field to conduct our everyday activities,' he said.
The city is 'not bound for this forever,' Macomb added, and the money would remain with the city.
The council members voted to allow Macomb to apply for the program.
Macomb also spoke to the council about his denial of a recreational off-highway vehicle permit, which was appealed to the City Council.
'These are considered an off-road, high performance RTV,' he said. 'They run in excess of 70 miles an hour. They go up high terrain. They travel them. They go to all different places.'
Richard Jordan spoke to ask the council to tighten up its ordinance related to recreational vehicles and its enforcement.
Macomb clarified that the ordinance Jordan referenced is intended for people to use golf carts in town in a lawful manner.
He also explained that the person who submitted the permit request lives outside of city limits.
The council voted to deny the application.
During his staff report, Tioga Volunteer Fire Department Chief Richard Hartman also informed the council that Grayson County has set a deadline of Aug. 1 for all departments to switch to digital radios.
'We got all the radios donated, but they're going to need batteries, cables, installation, so I went out and got a quote on how much that's going to cost,' he said. 'It's going to cost about the same as buying just one radio. Shipment, installation cost as $9,824.70.'
Consideration of that expense will be on the July council agenda.
Hayter Engineering, the city's engineering firm, was selected as the engineering architectural service provider to apply for the Texas Water Development Board grant.
Hayter scored a 98.3, with Wall Engineering coming in at 83.6, South-West Engineers at 78.3 and TLC Engineering at 47.
Also at the meeting, the council elected Tommy Hunter to serve as mayor pro tem.
The council also accepted Rick Staples' resignation from the Economic Development Corporation board and appointed Robert Wishmeyer to the EDC.
The council also approved sending out a request for proposals for audit services.
