Mesa's City Council scratched a high-stakes police union election after saying one labor group tainted the process by violating election rules.
A member of the Mesa Police Association used a city list of eligible voters to send campaign materials to potential voters, a city investigation found. A rival union, the Mesa Fraternal Order of Police, filed a complaint that the city found valid.
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The council nullified the election on Monday after saying the campaign tactic questioned the integrity of the election.
"This is a serious matter," Vice Mayor Kyle Jones said. "It's important to a lot of people. This isn't something that you play games at."
Neither side was pleased. Both organizations said they wanted the election to go through.
The election would have let Mesa's 750 sworn police employees decide whether the FOP or MPA would have rights to discuss wages, benefits and working conditions with management. The successful union would have a greater voice than either had before under a recently approved meet-and-confer process.
The FOP filed a complaint two weeks ago alleging an MPA member sent a list of eligible voters to its parent organization, the Arizona Police Association. That group in turn sent campaign material to most of the 750 police employees who could vote.
Both sides agreed before the election that they would use the list to verify it was accurate, but that it could not be used for campaign purposes, City Attorney Deborah Spinner said.
"It's unfortunate that this process has been tainted," Councilman Alex Finter said.
Council members said it was best to hold a new election in October rather than declare a winner at this point. They also told the city clerk not to tabulate the results for the election, which ended a week ago.
The MPA president has been on paid suspension since mid-February in connection with the election. The organization denied breaking any rules and objected to the city not counting votes.
"Although we are law enforcement, we respectfully requested that the council and city manager allow officers to exercise their freedom of speech and freedom of association," MPA Secretary Kurt Scanio said. "It is appalling to see city government interpreting and dictating when an election should be held."
The MPA will seek access to the ballots so an independent organization can determine the now-voided outcome, said Stacey Dillon, an MPA spokeswoman.
The union also will seek a professional mediator for the October election, such as the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services or the American Arbitration Association. The groups are similar to the National Labor Relations Board that oversees union elections in private industry.
"When a professional labor mediator is involved, and any issues arise from the election, they would have the final say-so," Dillon said. However, Dillon said the MPA is focusing on what happened Monday night in regard to the election being thrown out and whether the city manager or city council did anything wrong.
The unions split the cost of the election, which triggered FOP president Brian Soller to object that his members will have to fund another process.
"The FOP feels that we should not pay any consequences because we followed the rules," Soller said.
The election costs about $3,000.
Meanwhile, Mesa is investigating MPA president Fabian Cota on an allegation he lied during an investigation into the election. The city has not disclosed specifics. If an allegation is sustained, Cota can ultimately be fired and his law enforcement certification could be in jeopardy with the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.
