If a certified Crime Stoppers program agrees with another certified Crime Stoppers program to merge and form a multi-county or multi-jurisdictional (i.e., county and city) program, the new program must apply for Continuing Certification since it is no longer the program that was originally certified by the Council, and the following procedures must be followed:

1. (1) The certified Crime Stoppers programs that want to merge must have contiguous borders.
2. (2) The participating programs must develop a cooperative agreement or memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding the merger; each program's Board of Directors must vote to approve the cooperative agreement or MOU.
3. (3) The merging programs must choose a name for the new program unless both programs agree to operate under the name of one of the existing programs.

4. (4) The newly established program must file the following documents with the director of the Texas Crime Stoppers Council requesting certification under a new name and with an expanded geographical territory:

   1. (A) United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) compliance documents for dissolution of a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and a 501(c)(3) letter authorizing the program to operate under the new name;
   2. (B) Texas Secretary of State compliance documents for 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations;
   3. (C) Application for Continuing Certification under the new name and with an expanded geographical territory;
   4. (D) Copies of financial reviews of the restricted court fees accounts for all merging programs as required in §414.010(b), Texas Government Code; these financial reviews must be conducted by a Certified Public Accountant;
   5. (E) Copy of Board of Directors membership list of the new program, to include contact information for Board members and the law enforcement coordinator;
   6. (F) Copies of letters from Community Supervision and Corrections Departments (CSCD) detailing the amount of court fees paid to the merging programs during the previous two years, up to and including the date of the proposed merger, under the provisions of Articles 42.12, 37.073 and 42.152, Code of Criminal Procedure;
   7. (G) Training certificates showing that at least one Board member, the law enforcement coordinator, and an executive director (if applicable) received training as authorized by the Texas Crime Stoppers Council within the 12-month period preceding the merger;
   8. (H) Copies of Probation Fee and Repayment Reports for the merging programs for the previous two calendar years as specified by §414.010(a), Texas Government Code;
   9. (I) Copies of the Minutes of the Boards of Directors meetings of both certified Crime Stoppers programs in which the Boards voted to merge their programs; and
   10. (J) A letter addressed to the Texas Crime Stoppers Council stating that the new program will follow all rules applicable to the operations of Multi-County Programs as stated in the Standard Operating Procedures Manual of the Texas Crime Stoppers Council.
5. (5) If the director of the Texas Crime Stoppers Council determines that the new program meets all requirements within paragraphs (1) - (4) of this section, the program will be presented to the Council for certification at the Council's next regularly scheduled meeting.
6. (6) Once the Texas Crime Stoppers Council grants certification, the new program can merge the restricted bank accounts of both programs, as well as all other accounts held by the entities. The new program will also be eligible to apply to the relevant CSCDs to receive court fees under the provisions of Articles 42.12, 37.073, and 42.152, Code of Criminal Procedure.
7. (7) The new program is not eligible to establish an "Excess Funds Account" under the provisions of §414.010(d), Texas Government Code, until three years from the certification date.
8. (8) The certification is valid for a period of two years.
9. (9) All certified programs, regardless of the date on which any existing mergers occurred, must comply with these rules upon recertification.

Source Note:The provisions of this §3.9017 adopted to be effective June 21, 2009, 34 TexReg 3929; amended to be effective July 11, 2010, 35 TexReg 5803.