09-18-06 Ad Hoc Meet and Confer Law Review Committee

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of the La Porte Police Officers Association, our local organization, and Jerome Mckown is now serving as President of the State TMP A organization. It can be confusing, but the issue of Meet and Confer is with the local association or LPPOA. What is apparently in some disagreement is which State organization will speak for the LPPOA, not the issue of Meet and Confer. The fIrst thing that must be determined is who is the 'Association'. The law under 142.052 defmes the "police officer association' means an employee organization in which police officers employed by the municipality participate that exists for the purpose, on whole or part, of dealing with the municipally ... concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of work, or conditions of work affecting police officers. This means that the Association has to be an employee organization, in this case the LPPOA. Under 142.060 (b) the law indicates who can be bargaining agent for the association and that can be one or more representatives to negotiate or bargain on the associations behalf. This is where some people may be confused in thinking that the representative could be a representative from one of the State organizations; however, 142.060 (c) clearly indicates that a municipalities bargaining unit is composed of all th~ police officers of the municipality who are not the head of the law enforcement agency or exempt under Section 142.058 (b) [Appointed by the Chief]. This does not preclude TMP A or CLEAT representatives as coming in as "advisors" and that is apparently the issue among the members, not the meet and confer process. CLEAT's handout pretty well outlines the elements of meet and confer. The key issue is that once the Association, LPPOA, submits a petition that is signed by the majority of the non- exempt officers, everyone except Assitant Chief Corrales and myself. The Council has 30 days to do one of the following: 1. The Council may recognize the Associations petition and grant recognition of the Association as the police officers bargaining unit and not have to conduct a election by voters. 2. The Council may defer recognition and order an election by the voters regarding whether or not the City may meet and confer with the Association. 3. The Council may order a certifIcation election under section 142.054 of the Local Government Code to determine whether the Association represents the majority of the affected police officers. If the Council opts for selection 3 and by doing so it determines by certifIed election that the Association does represent the majority of police officer affected, then they within 30 must go through option 1 or 2. Either path the Council will have to accept it or take it before the voters. In the meetings we will look at each section of the law as attached to ensure everyone understands the implication or application of meet and confer. Officer Matt Novasad as the LPPOA President will also serve on the committee to provide input from the perspective of the LPPOA. I will additionally ask one of the City Attorney's to attend to answer any legal issues. These meetings will be open to the public and posted.