Published: November 04, 2009 06:49 am      

Bridge City welcomes new police officers

City officials welcomed the newest additions to the police force Tuesday following a swearing in ceremony.

Three new police officers were officially recognized after taking the oath recited by Bridge City Chief of Police Paul Davis at the conclusion of Tuesday’s city council meeting at City Hall. The new hires include Robert Dale Bergeron, Nicholas Paul Wright and Brittany Irene Hilton.

According to Chief Davis, the Bridge City Police Department has been operating with less than a full complement of officers since Hurricane Ike.

“The department was only short one officer after Ike, but shortly after that we lost two more officers,” Davis said. “Since then our officers have been working a lot of overtime and doing a tremendous job of serving the community over these many months.”

At full staff, the Bridge City Police Department is at 14 strong. Currently, the department has 13 people employed.

“We recently lost a person to another agency so we are still looking to fill one position,” Davis added. “But we are happy to have these new officers with us and serving Bridge City. I believe they will do a fine job.”

In other news city news, Jerry Jones, city manager, said work will begin today in the Seven Glades area as city workers begin marking manhole covers for much needed drainage system repairs.

This work is part of the $9.689 million the city received as a grant from the Office of Rural Community Affairs in June.

“All of the contracts have been signed with the engineers and consultants and the work orders have been signed,” said an elated Jones. “As we get the release of more funds, we will get to more of the work projects we have planned.”

Other projects include repairing an estimated 11 miles of roads within Bridge City, as well as purchasing and installing emergency power generators for city facilities such as City Hall, sewer plants and lift stations.



Tommy Mann Jr. is a reporter for The Orange Leader. He can be reached at 409-883-3571, Ext. 2619 or tmann@orangeleader.com