NEWS > 23 January 2007

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Team 4 News - Harlingen,TX,USA
23 January 2007

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The friction between the police union and the City of McAllen heats up with a series of newspaper ads
and the city attempting to discredit the police union president.

The ads have appeared in the newspaper for several weeks, with the city aiming to set the record straight against information being released by police union president Mike Zellers.

Action 4 News visited with the union and the city to see how much it's costing tax payers to settle this feud.

If you've picked up a McAllen monitor lately you are bound to have seen a series of newspaper ads that have the city of McAllen trying to set the record straight on police pay. The latest ad even questions the credibility of police union president Mike Zellers who has repeatedly tried to bargain with the city for better pay and retirement.

Zellers says he can't believe the city has resorted to presonal attacks.

"I've been a police officer for 20 years and I don't think that you need to spend 20 to 30 thousand dollars taking out these ads attacking me when I dedicated half my life protecting the citizens of McAllen," says Zellers.

He says he has filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Committee to see why the ads don't have a political disclaimer. And he would like to know how much taxpayer money is being spent.

McAllen Mayor Richard says he doesn't have the amount, but did say the ads are part of the cit's legal strategy on fighting the union. he says the citizens of McAllen deserve the truth and warned against allowing the union to dictate salaries.

"It's very concerning to us that we could get to the point where we're going to have two classes of employees and we're going to have somebody who's not elected deciding what's the proper pay and compensation for somebody," says Mayor Richards.

But Zellers says the city just isn't being straightforward with claims McAllen is number one with entry level salaries.

"The number is correct, but this is the salary that a McAllen police officer makes his second year and they were comparing that with the entry level of all the other cities. Well first of all these cities, with the exception of Brownsville, are half the size of McAllen and we should be ahead of them to begin with," says Zeller.

To settle the debate on officer pay, Zeller is passing around a petition to amend the city charter that would mandate the city to go to arbitration, but he believes city leaders would oppose it because they aren't being honest to the public.

If enough signatures are collected, the charter amendtment could go before the voters in May. And an arbitration would examine the fact to see who is right. Otherwise this issue could tie in the courts for years. We called the city's legal counsel on the cost of the ad, but so far have not heard a response.

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Article sourced from

Team 4 News - Harlingen,TX,USA23 January 2007

Newspaper Ads Create More Fric

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Team 4 News - Harlingen,TX,USA
23 January 2007