Lawyers for the city and the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association are expected in court Thursday to argue over whether City Manager Sheryl Sculley and Mayor Ivy Taylor should be deposed.

It’s the latest turn in ongoing litigation over a clause in the contracts between the city and the police and fire unions.

Unable to reach agreements on new collective-bargaining agreements, the city last year filed lawsuits against the two public-safety associations. The city alleges the “evergreen” clause, which appears in both contracts and extends the terms of the agreements for up to 10 years while new contracts are being negotiated, violates the Texas Constitution, but the district court judge disagreed in both cases.

The city has appealed their lawsuits to the 4th Court of Appeals.

On Wednesday, the fire union released a press advisory declaring “big news” and alleging that the city is up to no good.

“The Firefighters sent the city of San Antonio a request for dates for the depositions of Sheryl Sculley, Ivy Taylor and others,” the advisory said. “The city’s response was to was to fire court papers to stop the depositions. What is the city hiding?”

Jeff Coyle, a spokesman for the city, said he believes the city will prevail at the hearing.

“This is nothing but an attempt by the union to harass public officials,” he said. “The fire union needs to get to the bargaining table — which they've refused to do for two years — and negotiate a contract. Firefighters ought to be outraged that the union and its attorneys are wasting their money on this.”

The city appealed its case, but the fire union has yet to complete its countersuit, city officials said. The union is seeking to depose city officials for a district-court level case. City lawyers are expected to argue Thursday that that countersuit should not advance while the city’s suit is being appealed.

“There are some ‘hidden gems’ that Mayor Taylor and Sheryl Sculley don’t want exposed,” Chris Steel with the firefighter’s union said in the news release. “The public has a right to see their spoken answers to the tough questions on video.”

It’s clear from their press advisory that union officials plan on publicly releasing the recorded depositions of city official.

Last week the 4th Court of Appeals ordered the city and San Antonio Police Officers Association to go to nonbinding mediation in attempt to find common ground on the evergreen clause.