Petition to repeal meet and confer contract turned into city clerk’s office

A petition to repeal the meet and confer contract between the City of San Marcos and San Marcos Police Officers’ Association was turned into the San Marcos City Clerk’s office.

Mano Amiga hosted a press conference inside San Marcos City Hall on Wednesday where representatives turned in the petition with signatures from more than 1,300 San Marcos residents.

“This team has learned that through hard work and really going out in the community to have real conversations, we can strong arm democratic change to fight for what we deserve,” said Elle Cross, Right to Justice Coordinator with Mano Amiga Safety. “The over 1,300 signatures that we’re turning into today are from our community members who enthusiastically added their voice to a plea for justice for our city.”

Mano Amiga began making the push to repeal the approved meet and confer contract after the city and SMPOA didn’t consider the Hartman Reforms, which call for an end to the 180-day rule  — the statute of limitations for investigating wrongdoing by officers.

Mano Amiga, along with Pamela Watts — whose life-partner Jennifer Miller was killed in a  vehicle collision caused by former SMPD Sgt. Ryan Hartman, while he was off-duty in Lockhart on June 10, 2020 — called for the “Hartman Reforms” on June 10, 2022.

“I want to make sure what happened in the Hartman case never happens to any other citizen again,” Watts said. “That’s my mission. There should not be a time limit on investigating wrongdoing. There should be transparency with officers who are suspended for wrongdoing. The community needs to know and so do the officers who have to work with those officers who are guilty of wrongdoing to the point that they require a suspension.

“...I am not anti-law enforcement, I’m very pro-law enforcement,” Watts added. “But they need to understand it is their job to protect and serve the community and victims, not cover up wrongdoings for one of their fellow cops who had participated in bad policing. We need to weed out those officers. So, I’m asking for everyone to do better.”

The reforms also called for an end of delaying interviews for misconduct, officers are allowed more than 48 hours to before giving an official statement; public transparency for personnel files; an end to third-party arbitration; and end vacation forfeiture as a substitute to suspension.

“The five Hartman reforms are nothing radical,” Cross said.” These are common sense changes that cost the city nothing to implement. If the city fears the cost of holding police officers to the same standard as you and I when under scrutiny for misconduct then it’s critical that their priorities be examined closely. How are we to feel protected when the so-called protectors themselves are inflicting harm without accountability?”

The Meet and Confer process is defined in legislative statute under Texas local government code chapter 142 where cities are allowed to meet with police and fire departments to come to a consensus on ways to modify state law to meet the needs of local entities. According to the city’s policy, meet and confer allows the city and the police and fire associations an opportunity to understand each other’s interests and come to an agreement on employment issues.  The city and SMPOA began meeting for the meet and confer process in May.

The contract agreement between the two entities addresses concerns regarding hiring and retaining police officers, including providing higher starting pay for experienced officers, hiring certified officers without an entrance exam process, entrance exams offered in the spring and fall, and an increase to the maximum hiring age to 50.

The agreement also made changes to promotions within the San Marcos Police Department, which included the ability for officers with intermediate Texas Commission on Law Enforcement certifications to test for corporal with two years of service instead of the previously required for years of service.

The agreement addresses disciplinary actions, allowing the chief of police to file complaints for non-criminal violations 180 days from occurrence, criminal violations 180 days from chief’s discovery of the act, and 300 days from occurrence of sexual harassment. The agreement allows 180 days from the date of complaint to take formal discipline on each category of violation with the ability to extend time for formal action on criminal violations not to exceed 30 days following final disposition of criminal proceedings regarding the alleged act.

During San Marcos City Council’s Sept. 6 meeting, where the contract was approved, City of San Marcos Director of Human Resources/Civil Service Linda Spacek said the city and SMPOA met in their first three meet and confer sessions on May 13, 19 and 27.

“Our locked issues were on May 27th by our ground rules,” Spacek said. “My understanding is that the ‘Hartman Reforms’ were not made public until June 15th.”

Following city council’s approval, the agreement was signed by both parties by Sept. 6. Organizers had 60 days from Sept. 7 to collect enough signatures to place the item to have voters consider a repeal of the agreement on an upcoming ballot.

Organizers began collecting signatures in mid-September. The petition will now head to the city council once the City Clerk has finished verifying the signature, according to the City of San Marcos. The city council could then consider repealing the agreement on their own or to have voters decide. State law would govern specifically when an election could be held, the city added.

“With police accountability being a polarizing issue, I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to collect enough signatures in time, especially with our timeline being cut short, but the people of San Marcos proved us wrong,” Benavides said. “I was blown away by how many of our community members were more than willing to sign on to our petition calling for police accountability.”