The Harris County Sheriff's Department will operate from a satellite office in front of the new Fresh Water Supply District 61 administration building on Cypress N. Houston Road.[/caption]

Officials with Harris County Fresh Water Supply District No. 61 are inviting the community out to a ribbon cutting Dec. 10 for their new administrative office, which will also include a Harris County Sheriff Department district 5 satellite office.

The event will take place at 13205 Cypress N. Houston Road from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. with the ribbon cutting set for 10:30 a.m.

The closest sheriff’s office to the Cy-Fair area is currently at 23828 Hwy. 249, just north of Spring Cypress Road in Tomball. When District 61 General Manager Jerry Homan began planning the project five years ago, he reached out to J.D. Glesmann, who was a captain with the sheriff’s department at the time.

“We were starting to get concerned about crime in our area and were planning to amp up our security measures,” he said. “I decided to contact the sheriff’s department to let them know we were going to build a new building and asked if they had a need for the space.”

Homan said the new office, which cost about $150,000 to construct, will have very real benefits for Cy-Fair residents, both within and outside of his district.

“The officers working from Hwy. 249 cover a very large district,” he said. “This brings them right into our general area. It will cut down on the time it takes for them to get all the way out to Cypress and back.”

The satellite office has room for a conference room, several private offices, a lock-up evidence room and computer stations for deputies to connect to the system and file their reports. The water supply district facility also has generators, which can serve as an auxiliary power source during hurricanes or other emergencies, Homan said.

Homan, who has partnered with Harris County Precinct 4 and local homeowners associations to develop parks in the past, said he thinks working with other government entities has many benefits.

“It’s just a good thing when you have government entities working together to create assets for the community at a minimal cost,” he said. “Everyone benefits from it. I see this as a forever deal.”