Steele, 57, a retired San Antonio Fire Department battalion chief, was picked up Friday in San Marcos on a Bexar County arrest warrant, according to the jail records cited by the TV station. Additional details about the arrest were unavailable at press time due to changes in Bexar's online records system.
Steele was the public face of a protracted and often-ugly contract fight between the city and the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association over a new labor pact. He was known for presiding over chaotic press conferences and engaging in stunts such as his last-minute cancellation of a town hall discussion with Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
After the city balked at the union's call for improved wages and benefits, the union managed to get three charter amendments on the November 2018 ballot. Voters ultimately passed two: one designed to push the union’s negotiations into binding arbitration and another that limited future city managers’ salaries and tenure.
In the wake of the vote, the contact went into arbitration and then-City Manager Sheryl Sculley, known for playing hardball with public-safety unions, exited City Hall.
Friday's arrest isn't Steele's first brush with the law, according to court documents.
In 1994, while Steele was employed by the San Antonio Fire Department, he was indicted by a grand jury for tampering with a Texas ID card with the intent to "harm and defraud" the state, records show. However, that charge was ultimately dropped before it could come to trial.
Steele also faced a 1991 civil suit from the Texas Attorney General's Office, which accused him of selling financial management plans that made false advertising claims, according to court records. Two years later, "without admitting the truth or falsity of this allegation," Steele agreed to stop selling financial products that couldn't deliver on their promoted benefits, documents also show.
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