The San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association took the occasion of its victory in the four year legal battle over the Evergreen Clause in its 2011 contract to unleash a mighty broadside of insults against City Manager Sheryl Sculley, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to consider the City's appeal of an appellate court ruling dismissing its lawsuit that claims the clause, which requires that the provisions of the 2011 contract will remain in effect for ten years after its expiration, amounts to an unconstitutional encumberance limiting the actions of a future City Council.
'The city manager is not concerned with right and wrong, or the fact that duly elected judges have sided with us,' the union said.. 'She has a mission to exercise total control over a city she is not from and does not understand.'
The SAPFFA got a charter amendment on the November ballot that would limit the pay of the city manager, although the limitations would not apply to Sculley.
The union described Sculley as an 'unelected out of town bureaucrat trying to collect a windfall bonus.'
Sculley has insisted that firefighters begin paying premiums on some insurance benefits they receive, saying the swelling cost of health care threatens to 'crowd out' general fund revenue available for other purposes.. The SAPFFA has used the fact that the provisions of their 2011 contract will remain in place until 2024 to avoid negotiating a new contract which will mean the end of firefighters' zero premium health insurance.
'As you see by this waste of three years and millions of dollars, the city manager and mayor need oversight and accountability,' the union said.