Montgomery County commissioners voted 5-0 at Commissioners Court on Oct. 22 to approve additional law enforcement for The Woodlands Township’s mounted patrol services.
The decision comes after the township voted in September to approve the sheriff's office proposal for mounted patrol.
Seven horses and seven sheriff's office personnel will be provided under the new agreement, and the county will house the horses in stables at a park off Fish Creek Thoroughfare, Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley said.
Two full-time county personnel will be moved to the facility to assist with the horses, Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said.
In addition to discussion on mounted patrol needs, commissioners also voted unanimously to approve plans for completing the David Memorial Drive extension to Hwy. 242 and for San Jacinto River Watershed monitoring.
How did we get here?
Community Impact previously reported during The Woodlands Township budget meetings in August that the township was re-evaluating its contract with Alpha & Omega Mounted Patrol services, which would end Dec. 31.
The township voted to transition to a law enforcement model with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office that would still include traditional mounted patrol, but with officers who would offer broader law enforcement access and reduce liability to non-township-owned property. It also allocated about $1.3 million in funding for mounted patrol services within the law enforcement fund in the fiscal year 2027 budget.
Alpha & Omega’s 2027 proposal had included an increase in hours and contract costs from about $1.45 million in 2026 to about $1.62 million in 2027.
The specifics
Doolittle said the township agreed to pay one-time costs of up to $954,000 to support mounted patrol law enforcement needs, as well as close to $1.4 million in recurring costs.
Riley said a substation could also later be located at the Fish Creek site slated for stables.
"It would be good for not only The Woodlands, not only for Woodforest, Montgomery Trace ... It's a good deal for all involved," Riley said.
Doolittle added that the sheriff’s office wants to continue to have a safe environment for people to visit, so they try to accommodate anything that benefits the community’s safety through contracts with The Woodlands.
“Now as our county continues to grow when our crime rates increase ... we're looking for ways to do more with contracts that help benefit the community to keep them safe. And I think this adds seven additional personnel—a sergeant and six deputies— to the unit, which will benefit the mall and the security there,” Doolittle said.
What else?
Doolittle said there is a list of people MCSO could hire for the mounted patrol positions who already have their background investigations completed. However, Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray expressed concerns about approving the agreement too fast.
“We support the public safety piece of it … [about] a month or two ago, there was a vote, and I think we increased the taxes on Montgomery County, on the property taxes,” Gray said. “So, I do have concerns about the costs that maybe we're not identifying in here and that's why I pulled it to [open agenda]… I think we're moving fast, but that's my opinion.”
Gray voted in favor of the measure.
Also of note
Plans for the David Memorial Drive extension to Hwy. 242 project were also approved and the contract was awarded to JFO Services for $1.8 million. A contract was also awarded to Thompson Consulting for San Jacinto River Watershed flood mitigation efforts.
