City cites employee policy in Cape police group's TTF-4 opposition

The Cape Girardeau Police Officers Association's ads against a city road tax led to a swift crackdown on city employees opposing measures advanced by their bosses.

Soon after the ads, which included a list of association members, appeared in the Southeast Missourian in May, the city discovered a policy against political activity by employees. While the policy is supposed to bar any activity in support or opposition to city initiatives, city attorney Eric Cunningham said Friday that the most troubling actions are when workers take a stand against what the city wants.

A city employee opposing a city ballot proposal is being insubordinate, Cunningham said. "There is no insubordination in supporting your employer's position," he said.

The police association opposes the Aug. 3 tax measure, known as TTF-4, because many members don't trust the city to keep promises, said association president Bill Bohnert, a sergeant on the police force, soon after the ads appeared. They believe that promises about officer pay made during a tax campaign in 2004 haven't been kept, he said at the time.

On June 4, city manager Scott Meyer distributed a memo outlining the policy on political activity. In it, he noted that when the city repealed an ordinance guiding employee political activity in May 2008, the provisions should have been put into the city personnel manual but were not.

On Friday, Bohnert said the officers association has hired a St. Louis lawyer to evaluate the policy and whether it violates employee free speech rights. And he said the officers association continues to oppose the Aug. 3 tax measure.

"We were made a lot of promises" in 2004, Bohnert said. And he added voters should not trust the city with their tax dollars unless the spending of every dime is laid out in detail before the vote.

The TTF-4 proposal, he said, doesn't do that. While there are $13 million for specific projects in the plan, another $8.175 million is set aside for paving overlays, sidewalk construction and repairs, with $2 million of that amount set aside for contingencies such as cost overruns.

"Unless they guarantee it in writing, we won't support anything they want," Bohnert said.

The policy covers all political activity by employees. It bars active employees from becoming candidates, serving as officers of a political club or party or collecting signatures to help a municipal candidate get on the ballot, among other banned activities. On issues such as TTF-4, it bars employees from "distributing badges or literature of any kind favoring or opposing any municipal issue." The policy does not bar a group like the officers association from taking a stand because it is a private group with voluntary membership, Meyer said. But anything the association does must not include any employee names.

"If the association does it, there is no problem with the association," he said.

Meyer, along with Mayor Harry Rediger, has appeared in front of numerous groups with a city-produced presentation on the tax measure. He said those are informational events, not advocacy. "I'm not out to squelch people's right to freedom of speech. But if I am limited in my ability to advocate, there is also a limit on employees going out and opposing it."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO