Conroe Firefighters Sue City Over Rejected Collective Bargaining Petition

Union Says Officials Wrongly Blocked Ballot Measure

Union Files Suit After Petition Rejection

Conroe, TX—The Conroe Professional Fire Fighters Association has filed a lawsuit against the city of Conroe, accusing officials of violating state law when they refused to place a collective bargaining measure on the May ballot. The suit, filed Monday, asks a court to order the city to process the union’s petition.

The dispute centers on a petition the union submitted Dec. 12 with 3,650 signatures. State law requires signatures from 5 percent of registered voters who participated in the city’s most recent general election—the November 2024 election.

City Says Voter Count Cannot Be Verified

At a special meeting, Interim City Secretary Sami Quinlan said the city is unable to determine how many Conroe voters participated in that election because the city does not hold elections in November of even-numbered years. She said Montgomery County elections officials told her they cannot generate a voter list specific to Conroe for November 2024.

“The problem with that is, I contacted the Montgomery County elections office and they cannot provide the city of Conroe registered voter lists for November 2024,” Quinlan said. According to Quinlan, county election officials said they have no way to recreate the data. “It’s unattainable; they cannot recreate it,” she said.

Under state law, if the number of registered voters cannot be determined, the petition must contain 20,000 signatures — far more than the 3,650 submitted.

Firefighters Dispute City’s Claim

The association argues the city is wrong. In the lawsuit, the union says it obtained the relevant voter data from the Texas Secretary of State and found that 40,425 Conroe voters cast ballots in the Nov. 5, 2024 election. Based on that figure, the number of signatures needed is 2,022, the suit says.

The union says its petition far exceeded that threshold. “(The city’s) claim of impossibility is patently false,” the lawsuit states.

Collective bargaining allows unions to negotiate pay, benefits and working conditions. Agreements become legally binding contracts between cities and their employees.

Union Says Process Supports Public Safety

Lloyd Sandefer, president of the Conroe Professional Fire Fighters Association, said such agreements help ensure adequate staffing and improve training and safety standards.

Sandefer said many Texas cities have used collective bargaining for decades. “No city in Texas history has responded to a legitimate voter petition the way Conroe has,” he said in a news release. He added that collective bargaining is part of state law and supported across political lines. “It’s a fair process for both the city and our firefighters – and it will not raise taxes,” Sandefer said.

He criticized city leaders for refusing to place the measure before voters. “We’re just disappointed that the mayor and city council so far refuse to let the voters decide and they’re wasting city resources in this fight,” he said.