SAN MARCOS, Texas — On Tuesday, the San Marcos City Council voted 5-2 to approve the Meet and Confer Agreement between city leadership and the San Marcos Police Association.
"Meet and Confer is a process designed to allow police and fire associations and management an opportunity to understand each other’s interests and reach agreement on important employment issues," city documents state. "The enabling statute outlines specific areas of discussion for this process which include wages, rates of pay, hours of work and working conditions."
Local activist group Mano Amiga is now looking to overturn the newly approved agreement, pushing to have the City agree to changes they say would hold police more accountable.
The news comes around two years after the death of 56-year-old Jennifer Miller in a crash involving former San Marcos police Sgt. Ryan Hartmann.
Amid City agreement discussions, Mano Amiga, along with Miller's partner, Pam Watts, have been pushing for what they call the "Hartman Reforms," which include:
- Ending the 180-day rule
- Ending the delay of interviews for misconduct
- Public transparency for personnel files
- Ending third-party arbitration
- Ending vacation forfeiture as a substitute to suspension
In a press release this week, Mano Amiga said it is now prepared to launch a ballot initiative to repeal the agreement upon its ratification.
"Zero of the five reforms proposed by Pam are met in this current agreement. This means the San Marcos Police Department will continue to operate under the same guidelines that protected Hartman despite his blatant disregard for the safety of our community. The current guidelines did not hold him accountable; WE did, and until we can implement real change into this agreement, it will continue to protect trouble cops," said Sam Benavides, communications director with Mano Amiga.
In June, the group said it submitted signatures from more than 10% of registered voters in San Marcos, launching a ballot measure to decriminalize marijuana. They say the threshold to repeal the Meet and Confer Agreement is much lower.
“The threshold to repeal this contract is 12 times lower than what we collected for the marijuana decriminalization petition. We now have a group of dedicated students and community members ready to assist us in this campaign starting today, and we are prepared to repeal this contract with ease,” said Elle Cross, right to justice coordinator.
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