The city’s largest public safety associations said it was “unacceptable” for the city manager to not show up for their scheduled meeting Thursday.
DALLAS — The Dallas City Manager skipped a scheduled meeting with the city’s largest public safety associations Thursday in order to attend a “meet and greet” with President Trump, who was in town for the Republican Midterm Convention, she said in a statement late Friday.
The Dallas Fire Fighters Association, National Latino Law Enforcement Organization and Dallas Police Association said representatives waited to meet with City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert at a scheduled meeting for two and a half hours Thursday.
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“The city manager never appeared,” they wrote in a joint letter to Council members and the mayor. “That is unacceptable.”
In a statement late Friday night, Tolbert said she “understands the frustration” that her “unavoidable absence” caused. She said she — along with the city’s police and fire chiefs — was representing the city in a “meet and greet” with President Trump.
“This was an important opportunity to advocate for Dallas. As you know, high level meetings can arise unexpectedly when world leaders are in Dallas,” she wrote.
She continued: “I deeply appreciate the steadfast dedication and selfless service of our city’s police officers and firefighters, and I remain unwavering in my commitment to treat them with the utmost respect and seriousness.”
The city’s various associations representing public safety workers are split on a proposed new contract, with some demanding further negotiations and others advocating putting the city’s offer to members for a vote.
The holdouts, who signed the letter to Tolbert Thursday, said the scheduled meeting was to discuss the city’s “final offer” face to face. “You cannot demand sacrifices from police officers and firefighters while refusing to show up to discuss their compensation,” the associations wrote.
Tolbert said she has been committed to finding a fair and equitable agreement and said she has been accessible through the city’s negotiation process — dubbed “meet and confer” — and said Dallas is ready to return to the negotiating table “promptly and in good faith.”
The current meet and confer agreement is set to expire at the end of the month; however, there is a grace period to allow police officers and firefighters to continue to work under the existing contract.
The City Council is set to approve the city’s $5.6 billion budget on Wednesday, which would add millions of dollars to public safety. As in years past, public safety represents two-thirds of the general fund budget.
The $69 million increase in public safety funding in the upcoming budget would include more officers at a higher starting salary, increasing contributions to the police and fire pension fund, expanding the police drone first responder program and expand funding for firefighter physicals and cancer screenings.
Other city departments had to offset the growth in funding for police and fire for a third year in a row, the city said.