The mayor of Sunnyvale asked Dallas County commissioners this morning to intervene on behalf of a sheriff’s motorcycle deputy who was transferred to a midnight jail shift in December.

Deputy Mike Ramirez, the county’s only motorcycle deputy, has worked as a contract deputy for the town for the past eight years.

Sunnyvale Mayor Jim Phaup contends that Sheriff Lupe Valdez’s transfer of Ramirez without prior notice to the town and without replacing him constituted a breach of contract.

The town pays the county more than $1 million a year for 10 patrol deputies under the contract.

Ramirez was one of more than 20 deputies transferred to different jobs or shifts in December. He and three other deputies have hired a lawyer and are claiming they were transferred to the jail because they supported the sheriff’s Republican rival in the recent election.

A labor attorney for the men had scheduled a news conference this afternoon to announce “legal developments” in the case. But it was rescheduled for Thursday due to inclement weather.

Phaup told commissioners this morning that the town received inconsistent explanations from Valdez for Ramirez’s transfer.

He said the town was told that the department needed Spanish-speaking staff in the jail. But in a Jan. 16 letter to Valdez, the mayor wrote that the explanation contradicted what she said in an e-mail in which she noted “political and operational differences” she had with Ramirez.

“Your contradictory explanation of why Deputy Ramirez was transferred is a disappointing violation of the excellent relationship that our Town has shared with the Sheriff’s Department for several decades,” the letter said.

Valdez is out of town all week. But one of her chief deputies, Joe Costa, said Ramirez, a veteran deputy who is bilingual, was needed to man an information desk at the jail and answer questions in Spanish. He said the transfer had nothing to do with politics.

Phaup said he believed the town was only getting nine patrol deputies, and he asked the commissioners for help.

“We don’t care about the politics of this situation. We want our motorcycle deputy back,” he told commissioners.

Costa told commissioners that Ramirez was replaced with another deputy and that the department is sending someone to police motorcycle school to get that person certified to ride the town’s police motorcycle. That is expected to take several weeks.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, a Democrat, defended Valdez’s decision, saying the citizens of Dallas County spoke loud and clear when they overwhelming chose Valdez at the ballot box over her opponent, Lowell Cannaday.

He said Valdez has assured him that she did replace Ramirez, although not with another motorcycle deputy.

“They have filled the gap,” he said. “This is not about individuals.”

Commissioner Maurine Dickey, a Republican, told Phaup the commissioners could not interfere with Valdez’s decision. Doing so would be micromanaging, she said.

But Commissioner Mike Cantrell, a Republican whose district includes Sunnyvale, said the town should have received some notice prior to the transfer.

Cantrell and Phaup both said the sheriff has not given any indication that the vacancy left by Ramirez’s transfer has been filled.

After the meeting, Cantrell said Valdez should not have left the town “in the lurch.” The transfer of Ramirez without having someone trained and ready to replace him shows a lack of planning, he said.

He said the commissioners can’t tell the sheriff what to do but that he is worried that her actions will end up costing the taxpayers money if the county loses a lawsuit.