Friday, May. 09, 2008

Local Democrats Endorse Civil Service Initiative

Breaking News

Nicholas Sakelaris

Staff Writer

The Colleyville, Grapevine, Southlake Democrats club voted to support civil service at its meeting Thursday.

The endorsement comes two days before Southlake voters will go to the polls to decide whether to adopt a civil service form of management for the Southlake Department of Public Safety.

“We chose to take a stand on the issue because we are interested in local politics,” Club President Kathleen Thompson said. “It’s not a partisan issue. We just felt it was the right thing to do.”

The group voted unanimously to support the measure. The issue has been extremely divisive with political action committees forming on both sides of the issue and thousands of dollars being raised.

Thompson said they sought input from speakers who are for and against the civil service issue. Lance Wyatt, who represents a Southlake police officer, explained why the Southlake police and fire associations want a civil service form of management. Wyatt disputed many of the arguments that have been raised by the group opposing civil service, which includes Southlake City Council members.

The club invited Councilwoman Virginia Muzyka and others opposing civil service to provide a counter argument, but no opponents attended.

The Southlake Chamber of Commerce board of directors voted last month to oppose civil service.