Highland Village council approves police substation hosting agreement with MP Shoppes at Highland Village

The Highland Village City Council on Dec. 10 approved a renewed police substation hosting agreement with MP Shoppes at Highland Village LLC that keeps a small, on-site police presence at the shopping center and adds provisions for the department’s license-plate readers.

Chief Rhine, presenting the item, said the substation arrangement began in 2015 and was negotiated to ensure the shopping center remained "the safest shopping center in Texas." He told council the shops pay $243,330 in hosting fees for police services and that the contract requires a minimum of 280 hours a month of city staffing with allowances if staffing needs shift. "They currently pay us $243,330 in fees for us to be out there and provide law enforcement services," he said.

The presentation described operational uses for the facility — storing equipment for large events, serving as a field command post and a place officers can write reports or take meal breaks. Rhine acknowledged the substation is not staffed continuously: it is a proactive presence when officers are assigned there and staff may leave to respond to calls elsewhere in the city.

The new agreement includes language tying the shops to an annual fee covering obligations associated with the department’s license-plate readers, which the chief said "have been installed for about a year, year and a half now." Rhine said the contract locks the annual fee for several years and projects that, over six years, the arrangement would yield "almost $1,500,000" in expected contract revenue if the terms run their course.

Council members asked practical questions about surveillance and public access. A resident asked whether the shops’ cameras are monitored by the city; Rhine said the city has the ability to log into the shops’ system but that details about camera feeds and Fleet/FLock integration would require a closed-session security discussion. On public access, he said the substation has a ramp and limited parking and is used when staff are present but is not staffed around the clock.

The hosting agreement was listed on the consent agenda (Resolution authorizing execution of a police substation hosting agreement with MP Shoppes at Highland Village LLC) and approved as part of the consent motion on a unanimous 7-0 vote.

What’s next: The agreement was approved on consent; the council did not hold a separate roll-call vote on the substation item during open discussion. Any operational or security details requiring staff follow-up were handled by staff and flagged for additional, staff-level briefings.