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A letter put out by the Springfield Police Officer's Association outlines the group's displeasure over the pick of the city's new city manager. SPOA President Jerry Plott says this isn't personal against new hire Greg Burris (shown left), he says it's the process that concerns them. He says the SPOA feels the search committee was not given any teeth as they combed through the finalists -- with many members of city council left to do as they please and hire the local guy. Councilman Gary Deaver says he thought the process was fair. He says he felt the vast majority of the search committee put Burris at the top of the list. The SPOA letter isn't addressed to anyone. Plott says that's because it's addressed to everyone.
In other SPOA news, Plott says they had an informal meeting this week with St. Louis Attorney Dan Tobben who took a lawsuit against the city over the Firemen's Retirement System all the way to the state supreme court and won. The SPOA says it's looking over options as it fights to its own pension fully funded. An action plan could come as soon as next month during the group's next meeting.
updated 1:27pm 8/20/08