AUSTIN, Texas — It is back to the negotiating table for city of Austin leaders and the Austin Police Association as they iron out a new contract for the Austin Police Department. Negotiations have been stalled for more than a year now.
Both sides spent about four hours negotiating, hoping to bargain "in good faith," but there are still some disagreements. One of the biggest sticking points is over expanding access to the "G" file, which contains personnel information of officers' allegations and misconduct. In the past, city leaders and the Austin Police Association hit a roadblock when nonprofit Equity Action filed a lawsuit against the city for not fully implementing the Police Oversight Act, otherwise known as Prop A. It was overwhelmingly passed by voters last May.
During the negotiations, the city said it wants to enforce Prop A.
"What concerns me is I keep hearing this undertone that you can just decide that Prop A is not valid and the provisions in that ordinance, you don't have to get them in the contract, you can contract without them. I just want to be honest, that can't happen," Lowell Denton, a lead negotiator for the city of Austin, said at the bargaining table.
A little later during the discussion, Denton added: "Because the elephant is here, standing right here in the room, we will not get an opinion from the city attorney. I heard what you said – you don't care that the contract fully complies and fulfills Proposition A – and without that, the city council won't pass it. That's why I'm trying to do something here that's not an exercise in futility and it doesn't injure any substantive right of the union or any member."
But APA President Michael Bullock still has reservations about the entirety of the G file being released.
"We don't want to create a system wherein information can be used against officers inappropriately, things that have been unsubstantiated, you know, complaints that are false or made, you know, for retaliation purposes. That's not information that should be public," Bullock said. "The city management, city legal, OPO [the Office of Police Oversight], all these folks certainly have access to this information, so it's not secret; it's just not public. There's a big difference in those things. So it's much like anyone else that wouldn't want certain personal information to be out there, especially if it's inaccurate or untrue. The same is true for officers, especially when they do an extremely difficult job."
As of early March, there are 342 APD officer vacancies. The city declined to do interviews during ongoing negotiations.
There are plans to return to the bargaining table on March 20. A couple of hearings will be taking place on the lawsuit in the next few weeks, which Bullock said could further shape discussion.