SAN MARCOS, Texas — San Marcos City Council members voted 4 to 3 to repeal an agreement with the San Marcos Police Officers' Association.
That means five reforms presented by a local activist group could be enacted if the police union agrees to them.
The group Mano Amiga pushed for measures like removing a statute of limitations on investigating police wrongdoing, boosting public transparency in police personnel files and no longer delaying interviews after allegations of misconduct.
The council could have voted to put this on a future ballot on Tuesday night. But now, the City and the San Marcos police union have 120 days to renegotiate a police contract and potentially add these new reforms.
Mano Amiga pushed for the changes in a petition that was certified in January.
The petition certification comes more than two years after the death of 56-year-old Jennifer Miller in a crash involving former San Marcos police Sgt. Ryan Hartmann.
The reforms were written by Pam Watts, Miller's surviving life partner. Watts, along with Mano Amiga, said there was no accountability for the officer that crashed into Watts and Miller.
Reports state that police found an open container of beer inside Hartman's vehicle. He was ultimately not charged with criminally negligent homicide because a Caldwell County grand jury did not believe there was enough evidence to move forward with a criminal prosecution.
Hartman was ticketed for running a stop sign, placed on paid administrative leave and was allowed back at work as a sergeant for the San Marcos Police Department. He was terminated from the San Marcos police force in January 2022.