La Marque police association, city continue collective-bargaining talks; next session set for July 23

City of La Marque officials and representatives of the La Marque Police Association met July 2 to continue negotiations over economic and non-economic terms of the police collective bargaining agreement and set the next bargaining session for July 23 at 10:30 a.m.

The meeting, presided over by J.V. Pritchett, focused on salary and compensation issues the association has raised and several operational changes the city proposed. Richard Garcia, La Marque Police Association president, outlined the union’s requests and said, “We provided information that we hope will, help the governing body support, providing salary increases based on, a market approach that we have.”

Why it matters: The talks address pay, assignment stipends and contract language that affect patrol staffing, special teams and retention for officers in La Marque, a coastal Texas city. Both sides said they plan additional…