Hi all. I hope you and your families had a great Thanksgiving!
Some notes ahead of our Special Session:
Chief Davis with AISDPD and Northlake PD confirmed a meeting on the morning of our Special Session. I am unable to attend. However, Patricia and Kendall will be there. This meeting is to discuss AISDPD’s stance that their jurisdiction ends at the curb and that crossing guards and traffic control for JRE and AWE is the responsibility of Belmont District 1. AISDPD is looking to either offload the responsibility or be compensated for it. This jurisdictional stance is allegedly shared by Northlake PD but they were unable to attend the larger group meeting on the 18th. I did request that Town of Northlake be represented at this meeting. Discussing jurisdictions with police entities is one thing. But what that means in practice is something else entirely. The Town was the one who originally said they could not include AISD crossing guards in our contract since AISD has their own PD. So the Town may disagree that they have an obligation. Or they may accept it without issue. We don’t know. But Town Manager Drew Corn confirmed he would attend with Chief Crawford.
I have asked Kelsey to provide input on this new jurisdictional stance. And an opinion on an FWSD’s obligation when it comes to school crossing guards and school traffic control. I asked for examples of what other FWSDs with schools in their boundaries do relative to school crossing guards and school traffic control.
What does Lantana do, and why? What does Elm Ridge do, and why? Lantana FWSD has no police contract and just uses Denton County Sheriff. Elm Ridge is a Denton County FWSD that formed their own PD.
Patricia also found language in the Development Agreement that Northlake stipulated no school on Cleveland Gibbs or 407. That has been sent to Kelsey for guidance on if/how this impacts the issue in front of us. It was likely included to avoid the very traffic flow and pedestrian safety issues we are now facing.
There’s a menu of potential stances our board could take related to JRE and AWE crossing guard and traffic control. Some of these may be off the table following Patricia and Kendall’s meeting with AISDPD, Northlake PD, and Town of Northlake. But it’s a starting point:
*Northlake should provide crossing guards and/or traffic control at no additional cost: Belmont District 1 currently pays for police services, an all inclusive contract. No other items in service to the District are itemized or up-charged. And the Town has a stance, from a policing perspective, of treating the District as if it were part of the Town.
*Despite being located on the boundary of Belmont District 1, a majority of JRE students come from The Ridge. As The Ridge continues to build out JRE is likely to be heavily fed by The Ridge. Ridge residents already pay Northlake taxes for police services. Therefore, it would be appropriate that some portion of the cost burden be absorbed by Northlake.
*Belmont District provides additional funding to Northlake PD either itemized or via a revision to our per-home rate to provide crossing guard and traffic control services to JRE and AWE. But takes an active role in dictating and minimizing the number of pedestrian crossings to manage expenses.
*Belmont District provides additional funding to Northlake PD either itemized or via a revision to our per-home rate to provide crossing guard and traffic control services to JRE and AWE to maintain service as-is.
*Belmont District signs agreement with AISDPD and AISD to reimburse for crossing guards (staff) and/or traffic control (police) at JRE and AWE but takes an active role in dictating and minimizing the number of pedestrian crossings to manage expenses.
*Belmont District signs agreement with AISDPD and AISD to reimburse for both crossing guards (staff) and traffic control (police) at JRE and AWE to maintain service as-is.
Some additional things to consider:
**Child Safety Fee (CSF) funds are paid by every resident of Denton County and are distributed by the County to Cities and Towns within its boundaries based on their proportion of the population. CSF funds must be used for a crossing guard program if a school exists. School Districts and FWSDs are not recipients of these funds. Denton County also has the ability to retain a portion of CSF Funds proportional to the population of unincorporated Denton County plus a 10% administrative fee. It is unclear if Denton County is retaining any Funds or if 100% get disbursed to Towns and Cities.
Since School Districts and FWSDs are not recipients of CSF funds. It follows that neither were intended to be the financial owner or host of crossing guard programs for schools. That falls on either the City/Town Police or County Sheriff, depending on where the school is located. As Belmont District 1 has chosen to not use Denton County Sheriff as our police service, leveraging CSF Funds for our schools is complicated. We have chosen to pay extra for Northlake Police. But Northlake the Town does not receive an increase in CSF funds by taking us on. In addition, despite Belmont District 2 being supported by Argyle Police, District 2 children feed schools in District 1.
Should Northlake and/or Belmont District 1 take on an additional financial burden related to crossing guards, then both entities should work with Denton County on properly capturing the CSF fund entitlement for at least the population of Belmont District 1. Perhaps District 2 also.
Finally, I had a work obligation change so I will be in attendance for our Special Session. We’ll have a full house. I’ll see you all Tuesday.