by carla gray
carla@themonitor.net

SEVEN POINTS‑The City of  Seven Points council met June 11 for their regular session meeting. The council approved deactivating the police department and assigned  Mayor Raymond Wennerstrom to notify the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) and to negotiate and execute an interlocal agreement with Henderson County Sheriff’s Depart ment for Public Safety.
The mayor started with, “The letter that [the City of Seven Points]  received from the Henderson County District Attorney and the County Attorney’s Office stated that they will not accept cases from the Seven Points Police Department for six months.” 
According to the mayor, TCOLE Deputy Chief T. J. Vinyard, who is director of the Compliance and Standards Division, said the City of Seven Points cannot provide a police department for the citizens because the Henderson County District Attorney and the County Attorney’s Office are not going to be able to file cases. TCOLE also said that there needs to be updates on equipment and an evidence room audit.
The mayor continued, “I reached out to the Sheriff’s [Botie Hillhouse] Office. We got to give him some numbers of what we can afford to pay. They provide the services now. But if we deactivate the police department, then we would have to pay them [the sheriff’s office] in order to provide coverage to help them out, because they’re going to have a deputy that’s going to be over here.”
Council member Mary Wennerstrom stated, “I would like to ask the Sheriff’s Department to let us know exactly what that deputy would be doing before we gave numbers on or started that negotiation. Because I mean, are they going to be fully dedicated to here as if we’re paying for an officer to be present in our city? Or is it what we’re getting right now? They’re answering calls?”
City Attorney Joe Gorfida answered Mary Wennerstrom by saying, “And that’s going to have to be in the agreement itself. Whether or not they’re just going to be answering calls or not, should be a question.”
Speaking to Gorfida, Mary Wennerstrom asked, “I mean, I guess you’ll be highly involved in that process to try to figure out what does that mean for us? Are we going to have a fully dedicated deputy or are we going to have what we got now?”
Gorfida responded, “I’ve done this before with other cities who has the county actually provide the police services. So, the idea would be to give us the authority to start the negotiations and it would be nice to be able to execute that agreement, but you might want to see that agreement back before you. But we’re going to have a meeting before July 1st, that’s kind of under a time crunch. And are they going to continue, if we deactivate [the police department] tonight, are they going to continue to provide those services free of charge, more or less, after July 1st,” 
Council member Lance Vernon asked, “Could you also look at Tool?” The mayor answered with, “So basically, what TCOLE told us last time was that if we try to get an agreement with Tool, they will have to go over there and do a complete audit like they did here. Which could cause them issues if there’s something not totally correct with their department. They recommend that any agency that they have been consulting with and basically they’re deactivating, that they just go with the sheriff’s office because they know the sheriff’s office got the funding.” Mary Wennerstrom added on, “It’s a much bigger agency so they typically have everything that TCOLE is going to require them to have.”
According to Gorfida, the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office has to be paid because of additional staffing needed. The goal is to get a dedicated officer over here in Seven Points, the city attorney said. 
Speaking to Gorfida, Mary Wennerstrom said, “And that’s why I said what I said, are we getting a dedicated deputy or are we getting the same thing that we’re currently getting? So, are they going to hire another deputy to provide additional compensation?” Gorfida’s answered, “That is part of the discussion.”
Mary Wennerstrom continued, “If we’re paying additional compensation to them, what are we going to get for that additional compensation? Not just pay them to be available when needed.” Mary Wennerstrom went on to say, “Maybe within the next week or two, y’all have those conversations, kind of figure that out and then bring it back to us if we could schedule another special meeting so that we could all have eyes on it and look at it ourselves too?”
Gorfida reiterated, “So just give us the authority to start the negotiations.”
Council member LaJohnna Wells made the motion to approve the deactivation of the police department and assigning the mayor to notify TCOLE. Mary Wennerstrom made the motion to authorize the mayor to negotiate and execute an inter local agreement with Henderson County Sheriff’s Office for public safety services. Both motions were passed.
In other business, the council:
• Approved  Gforgov to create the       new city’s website.
• No action on flea market opening on Fridays and holidays due to no ordinance in existence.
• Approved $3,000 to Integrity A/C services to moved A/C from old city hall building to the Justice of  the Peace office and Tax Office.
• Approved taking bids for solid waste collection.
• Approved getting bids for the asbestos removal at the old city hall building.
•  Accepted the resignation of City Secretary Charlotte Witherspoon.
•  Approved Interim city Secretary Jennifer Thompson.
• Approved moving city council meeting days to the fourth Thursday of each month.