Frisco City Council members certified two Frisco Fire Fighter Association petitions during an Oct. 17 meeting. The petitions met the signature requirements to put civil service and collective bargaining on the general election ballot.
Some context
Council’s acceptance of the petitions was the most recent episode in an effort to bring civil service and collective bargaining to Frisco’s Fire Department.
Here are what those terms mean, according to state law:
- Civil service is a system with a three-citizen commission to assess the hiring, firing and promotion of firefighters. Under Frisco’s system, city officials have that power.
- Collective bargaining is a system allowing both the fire department and the police department to become their own bargaining agents when it comes to agreements on wages, staff numbers and recruitment.
Association members began collecting signatures July 11 before submitting the two petitions—with an estimated more than 5,000 signatures combined—to the city Aug. 21.
State law mandates a minimum number of signatures is needed to place each issue on the ballot:
- For civil service, the total number of signatures must be equal to at least 10% of the number of qualified voters who cast ballots in the most recent municipal election.
- For collective bargaining, the total number of signatures must be equal to at least 5% of the number of qualified voters who cast ballots in Frisco in the preceding general election for state and county officers.
It took seven staff members from the city secretary's office and one volunteer approximately 519 hours to verify all of the signatures, according to meeting documents.
The big picture
The resolutions were adopted because of council’s belief in transparency and residents’ legal right to call for a vote on their issues, Mayor Jeff Cheney said.
“Council, by taking an affirmative position on these items, does not mean that we support the items,” Cheney said. “In fact, your City Council has signed a letter unanimously to the contrary. None of the City Council members support the two items that will be on the ballot.”
The letter Cheney mentioned was an Aug. 3 open letter published on the city’s website discouraging residents from signing the association’s petitions. The letter stated the two structures the petitions proposed were “outdated and restrictive."
The letter was later removed from the city’s website and has not been reposted since.
“[Council is] going to take their stance, and that's OK,” association President Matthew Sapp said. “[The resolutions] passed, and that's really what the important thing is.”
Stay tuned
More detailed information on civil service and collective bargaining is expected to be distributed by both the city and the association up until the election.
“As your elected officials, we take great pride in making public safety our No. 1 priority,” Cheney said. “We stand committed to educating the public over the coming months regarding this ballot measure.”
