AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- In spite of having a tentative agreement on a four-year police labor contract on the table, Austin City Council members voted Wednesday to send both sides back to the negotiating table with a directive to reach an agreement on a temporary, one-year extension of the city's current contract with the Austin Police Association.
Wednesday's vote was 9-2, with council members Mackenzie Kelly and Alison Alter voting against the resolution.
A key issue in the debate is a looming deadline - with the current agreement between the city and APA set to expire on March 31, officers who are eligible for retirement only have until Feb. 24 to file paperwork if they wish to retire under the terms and benefits of that agreement. City estimates indicate as many as 250 officers will be eligible to retire, which could critically impact a department already dealing with a significant number of vacancies.
Once the contract expires, officers would lose accrued sick leave and other benefits, giving them an incentive to retire ahead of the contract expiration.
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Supporters of the resolution, meanwhile, say the city is obligated to respect the will of the voters, referring to two dueling citizen-led ballot initiatives that will go before voters in May, with both measures seeking to make significant changes to the city's civilian oversight of the police department.
Wednesday's vote - taken just hours after council members voted to fire City Manager Spencer Cronk - directs city staff to go back to the negotiating table and attempt to hammer out a one-year extension of the parties' current agreement - something that APA leadership has pushed back on.
"I will be as crystal clear as I can," APA President Thomas Villarreal told council members last week. "[APA] is not going to negotiate against ourselves and go negotiate a one-year deal at the same time that we're going to finish negotiating a four-year deal. We've spent a year - a year - negotiating a four-year deal, and we've come to a tentative agreement."
So far, the council has taken no official action on the negotiated four-year agreement - and based on Wednesday's vote, any action seems highly unlikely.
"The Austin City Council sets policy. We will follow their direction through the Interim City Manager and approach the Austin Police Association to start negotiations for a 1-year contract in accordance with the provisions of the resolution passed,” said Sarah Griffin, the city’s Interim Labor Relations Officer, in a statement late Wednesday afternoon.