Item 30: Meet and Confer agreement
The SMPD has a union, SMPOA, which negotiates contracts for cops with the city.
No one else gets to do this, because unions have been undermined in Texas. First, it’s a right-to-work state, which means you can’t be forced to join a union, even though you may benefit from the outcomes. (This is bad, in my book.) Second, unions aren’t allowed collective bargaining powers. If you’re not allowed to bargain for contracts and legal matters, then you’re basically an advocacy group. Underfunded advocacy groups don’t generally have much power.
The exceptions is police and fire fighters (and Houston municipal employees?) Meet and Confer is how the city of San Marcos negotiates contracts with the police and fire fighter unions.
The Ryan Hartman issue: Ryan Hartman was a police officer with SMPD. In 2020, he was in off-duty in Lockhart. He was speeding, ran a stop sign, probably under the influence, and crashed into Pamela Watts and Jennifer Miller, and Miller was killed in the crash. He had an open container in his car, but refused a breathalyzer for a few hours.
He wasn’t indicted in Lockhart, and Chief Standridge was brand new, and dithered on the issue until the 180 day time frame expired, and Hartman was put back on the force. Somewhere in here, Mano Amiga takes up the cause on behalf of Miller’s partner, Pam Watts. Mano Amiga begins a full press assault on Hartman. Back on the force, Ryan Hartman tazes someone under sketchy circumstances, and is suspended again this past January. Finally he’s terminated, this past June.
Mano Amiga has a list of five “Hartman Reforms” that they want implemented (and that are incredibly hard to find online.) Based on this article, I’m pretty sure they are:
- End the 180-Day Rule
- repeal of the statute of limitations on investigating wrongdoing by officers
- “End Delay of Interviews for Misconduct,” due to officers being allowed 48 hours to prepare answers and review materials before giving an official statement.
- Public Transparency for Personnel Files
- End Third-Party Arbitration.
(I’m not really sure how 1 and 2 are different from each other.) In the Meet and Confer agreement, they are proposing to extend the 180 day rule to a 360 day rule. The other reforms are all ignored.
Max Baker asks about the rest of the Hartman Reforms.
City staff says that the Hartman Reforms were announced on June 15th, but the negotiation meetings had already run from April-May 27th. Max Baker says that the Hartman Reforms overlap with reforms he’s brought up in the past, but he hadn’t gotten the support of council on those.
In Citizen Comment, Mano Amiga made it clear that they do not think this contract holds officers accountable. They’re going to collect signatures to get a repeal of this agreement on a future ballot. Stay tuned!
What do I think? Here are some reforms that I think are important:
- Reviews of police misconduct need to be done by independent, external investigators
- End qualified immunity for police officers (Currently, officers can’t be sued for violating someone’s civil liberties. San Marcos can’t just unilaterally change this, but it’s important)
- Ongoing de-escalation training (this may already be happening, I don’t know) and cops need to be immersed in neighborhoods and build positive relationships with young adults.
- Prioritizing mental health of police officers, keeping ongoing relationships with therapists or counselors
- Redirect mental illness emergencies to first responders with social work or mental health backgrounds
On one slide in the presentation of the Meet and Confer contract, it says, “Applicants with degree in social work, sociology, psychology, human services, or human relations will receive additional points.” This is good! You want officers with backgrounds in areas that humanize people.
By all appearances, Chief Standridge is implementing progressive principles into SMPD. This seems like an opportunity to collaborate and make progress.
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Item 32: Chris Cardoza is voted onto the Arts Commission.
Item 33: Should renters get notified when there’s a proposed zoning change? This is sent to a committee.
The San Marxist 