City approves interlocal agreement for police services

Wise County Messenger
By Jillian Nachtigal 
September 21, 2023

The New Fairview city council approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Boyd to provide law enforcement services. 

In July, the cities approved an interlocal agreement for New Fairview to take over Boyd’s court services. Since then, discussions of Boyd providing police services to New Fairview have been in progress.

The city has three options to enforce city ordinances — establish a municipal police department, appoint a marshal, or contract with another city for law enforcement services. Of the three, contracting with another city is the least costly.

“I got proposals from both Decatur and Boyd, and looking at the proposals and my discussions with them, it just appeared that the better fit for our organization as well as our finances was to look at Boyd,” said New Fairview city administrator John Cabrales. “So I began discussions with Boyd about what that would look like, and they understand what we need.” 

New Fairview has had ongoing issues with the enforcement of city ordinances. The sheriff and his deputies are authorized to provide law enforcement services for the municipality but can only enforce state laws. As a result, the city currently has no ability to enforce city ordinances. 

Boyd police chief Jason Schmidt was present at the meeting to discuss the agreement and how it will benefit the city. 

“When people start seeing red and blue lights on the side of the road all over the town, that’s a deterrent for people to come in and do criminal activity in your city,” Schmidt said. “The hope is that the more we’re out and the more these red and blue lights are on throughout the neighborhoods and streets, that’s going to lower your crime rate.” 

The agreement is scheduled to begin on Oct. 1 and is good for three years, with up to two additional three-year terms. The patrolling from Boyd is only for enforcement of city ordinances, enforcement of traffic laws and patrolling of neighborhoods and businesses. The city will continue to use the Wise County Sheriff’s Office to respond to criminal calls. 

“When we did the citizen survey at the end of last year, one of the areas we got some bad ratings on was the lack of law enforcement presence in our neighborhoods,” Cabrales said. “My hope is that, and this is part of what we talked about with the police chief, they’ll be able to drive through our neighborhoods as well, because you can see some code violations there.” 

Boyd will provide an average of 15 hours of police service each week at a $136 hourly rate. This will cost the city $106,080 annually, but a conservative estimate of the amount of citations they will be issuing for the municipal court will bring in about $150,000. The city can also request additional service if needed at the set hourly rate.