Community policing, the Texas Water Development Board and the Lake Conroe Summit 2017 are a few things Montgomery residents should know about following Montgomery City Council’s March 28 meeting.

To view the entire agenda, visit  www.montgomerytexas.gov.

1. Chief Deputy Ken Culbreath presented the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department’s community policing capabilities and philosophies.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department is striving to instill a community policing model across the county.

Community Policing is a philosophy in which police officers would spend roughly 50 percent of his or her shift dedicated to making contacts with residents and business owners in their assigned patrol areas. With this model, police officers will be better able to recognize problems in their respective areas and communication with residents and business owners will be optimized, Culbreath said.

“Our goal is to have a full community policing model along with our precinct model, by this time next year with our staffing and all the training,” Culbreath said.

The program was first presented the police departments countywide at the quarterly chief’s meeting, which took place in January. However, the Montgomery Police Department has been following the philosophy since 2014, according to Chief Jim Napolitano.

“Here at this [Montgomery] Police Department have been doing community policing for the last three years,” Napolitano said. “People in this town know who their police officers are and they know what shifts they work and they reach out to their respective police officer.”

This was the second presentation on community policing given to a county municipality by the Sheriff’s office. The first was given to The Woodlands Township.

2. The council unanimously postponed the adoption of the ordinances approving the sale of Certificates of Obligation to the Texas Water Development Board.
The item will be discussed again at the next Montgomery City Council Meeting April 11 at 6 p.m.

3. The Lake Conroe Summit 2017 will take place March 31.
Hosted by the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, this event will discuss data collected by Community Development Strategies about the economic development future of Conroe, Willis and Montgomery.

The event will include panel discussions and keynote speakers, and will be held at LaTorretta Lake Resort & Conference Center in Montgomery, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

For more information, visit www.montgomeryareachamber.com.