The ink is dry on Austin's tentative police labor contract ahead of a City Council vote on the five-year, $218-million deal. The city kept the language in the contract private throughout more than a year of negotiations, but made it public Wednesday night.
The contract gives police officers 28% raises across the board over its lifespan. It also addresses policies to increase civilian access to police complaints that Austinites had voted for last year as part of the Austin Police Oversight Act.
Equity Action, the group that got the APOA on the ballot, had sued after the city failed to release the personnel files. The Austin Police Department countered that state law doesn't give civilians the right to see files that don't result in officer discipline.
A state district judge disagreed earlier this month, paving the way for public access. City staff had held off on releasing any files until the lawsuit played out.
The language in the tentative contract seems to be in line with the judge's ruling, opening up the records to the public.
Equity Action had been leery of the city's announcement of the labor contract, as it wasn't clear whether it would prohibit access to the files prior to its approval.
Council Member Chito Vela told KUT on Wednesday that the language looks "strong" and that, as he reads it, it opens up those previously confidential files, which the city refers to as the "G-file."
"The city has the right to decide to not use a G-file, which that's what Austin's voters did when we went to the polls and voted for the APOA," he said. "We've looked at it and just given the current legal rulings that are out there, we are opening up the file."
But Vela said he wants reassurances from the city's law department. On Thursday, he called on the city attorney to clarify if his reading is correct and to detail how police records would be released ahead of the Austin City Council's vote on the contract.
In a statement Thursday evening, City Manager T.C. Broadnax said the city "no longer maintains G-files" as a result of the court's ruling and that it won't during the contract's lifespan.
"Prop A and the current court ruling confirm and further provide assurance that there are no G-files," he said. "Specific to the [contract] between the City of Austin and the Austin Police Association, there are no G-files during the entire time frame of the contract – five years."
Broadnax stopped short of saying whether files that were previously confidential would be released.
Council is set to vote Oct. 10.
