Austin police contract not available to public during negotiations, negotiations will be streamed
As the City of Austin's negotiating team comes back to the table with the Austin Police Association (APA) Wednesday to discuss a long-term police contract, Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills confirmed the contract drafts themselves will not be available to the public until after a contract becomes official.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — As the City of Austin's negotiating team comes back to the table with the Austin Police Association (APA) Wednesday to discuss a long-term police contract, Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills confirmed the contract drafts themselves will not be available to the public until after a contract becomes official.
"Although this has not always been our practice in the past, the City’s negotiating team has agreed to the Police Officers Associations’ request to strictly comply with the statutory language," Mills said in a statement emailed to KXAN.
A city spokesperson told KXAN later Wednesday afternoon that "the proposed agreement will be available to the public prior to any council action." This was in response to our question as to whether the new move will impact council's required public pre-vote discussion.
The contract negotiation meetings will still be live streamed, click here to watch.
Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said that as APA prepared for the start of negotiations, the union discovered a state law that indicates the drafts cannot be made public until they're ratified. He said relaying this to the city's legal team was not an attempt to be less transparent.
"Filling the police vacancies that have plagued APD for years is a top priority for me. Key to achieving that is to enter into a long-term contract with the Austin Police Association," Mayor Kirk Watson said last week.
Once APA and the city reach an agreement on a contract, city council members must then vote in favor for it to pass.
Council Member Zo Qadri posted on the social media platform "X," formerly known as Twitter saying "I strongly oppose the decision to keep the police contract from the public eye. For something as important as this, it is vital that we are as transparent as possible."
Oversight measure stalled contract negotiations for roughly one year
In May 2023, voters passed the Austin Police Oversight Act, which established enhanced police oversight measures. Ever since the measure floated around as an initial petition from advocacy group Equity Action, the APA said components of the ordinance violated state law related to officer privacy.
“It’s a really big victory. There’s a strong mandate for improving police oversight and transparency in the city,” said Equity Action Board President Chris Harris when the voting results came in last year.
Since the ordinance's passage, the City moved to seek clarity on how much of the ordinance could legally be enacted. As this sat in limbo, Equity Action filed a lawsuit against the City, essentially demanding the enforcement of the ordinance in its entirety.
The lawsuit includes arguments over something called a g-file. A g-file is an internal, confidential file that contains complaints against officers that have not been substantiated and did not result in any form of punishment. The ordinance states that the type of claims currently in the g-file should be made public.
Previous APA officials explained eliminating the presence of a g-file would violate state law. City officials are still working on obtaining more clarity on that front.
"We've found a way where we can address the lawsuit. We can address oversight, we can address our concerns, everyone's concerns who have been brought into account," Bullock said. "And we can find a way to push forward and hopefully find our way out of this public safety crisis that we've found ourselves in."