VIDEO: Kerrville City Councilman Takes Jab At Sheriff's Office; City Officials Laugh

KERRVILLE, Texas — A Kerrville city councilman took a public jab at the Kerr County Sheriff's Office during the City Council's July 24 budget workshop — and drew laughter from two of the city's top officials.

The moment came as the council reviewed the police department's budget. Councilman Jeff Harris, of Place 2, flagged down Police Chief Jerel Haley just as the chief was wrapping up, with an idea he wanted to float: a reserve-officer program that could bring retired officers back part-time to ease staffing pressure. His model was the county. "I know it works. I know the Sheriff's Office has it," Harris said. Then he thanked the chief for not being the county agency: "I definitely understand you're not the Sheriff's Office, so thank you," Harris said.

City Manager Dalton Rice, mid-sip, nearly spit out his water while laughing; Councilmember Delayne Sigerman looked over at him and laughed.

Haley was noncommittal on the reserve idea itself. The department had been approached about it, he said, but he had reservations — noting that by the time many officers retire, "it really is time for them to move into a different career field." Harris let it go. "It just popped in my head," he said. "There's a thought."

But the aside stuck, because of what it reflected. Since the 2026 flood, the City of Kerrville and Kerr County have visibly pulled apart. The two governments held separate press conferences after the July 15 groundwater flood, and Kerrville officials did not appear at the county's July 17 briefing — even though the city had said a day earlier that the two would brief "in conjunction with Kerr County."

At the next county briefing, announced by Kerrville Police Department Public Information Officer Jonathan Lamb as a joint-meeting, City of Kerrville media partner Louis Amestoy showed hostility toward county, state, and federal officials on the absence directly: "Why didn't we do this yesterday and why didn't we do it with Kerrville? Is there not a unified command here?" he asked. "What's going on?"

The second question went unanswered. Two days later, when Gov. Greg Abbott brought local leaders together on July 20, Kerrville's police chief and the county's sheriff were not visibly present at the press conference.

Against that backdrop, a city councilman pausing to thank Kerrville's own police chief for not being the Sheriff's Office read, to the room, as more than a throwaway line — and the laughter from the Kerrville city officials suggested Harris was not the only one who heard it that way.

Kerrville Breaking News will keep you up to date with the facts and answers as this is a developing story.