Notices and Announcements

 Volume 14, Issue 3

Call For Award Nominations: Galen Sparks and Susan Rocha Awards for Outstanding Public Service by an Assistant City Attorney

Galen Sparks served as an assistant city attorney and dedicated public servant for the City of Dallas for over 27 years. He distinguished himself in a variety of areas of municipal law and generously shared his time and expertise in a way that substantially enhanced the professionalism of his fellow municipal lawyers. The TCAA “Galen Sparks Award for Outstanding Public Service by an Assistant City Attorney” is intended to recognize and honor a current or former assistant city attorney for significant and distinguished career achievements in the field of municipal law.

The TCAA board grants one award each year for an assistant city attorney from Texas’ eight largest cities (Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, or San Antonio).

Susan Rocha served as an assistant city attorney for the City of San Antonio early in her career, and went on to be a trailblazer in municipal law. She served as president of both the Texas City Attorneys Association and the International Municipal Lawyers Association, and was a mentor and role model for many attorneys in the field due to her hard work, many achievements, and – of course – irrepressible personality. The TCAA “Susan Rocha Award for Outstanding Public Service by an Assistant City Attorney” is intended to recognize and honor a current or former assistant city attorney for significant and distinguished career achievements in the field of municipal law. Because of her work with smaller cities, the TCAA board grants one award each year for an assistant city attorney from any city other than Texas’ eight largest cities (Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, or San Antonio).

The recipients of these awards will be honored at the TCAA Summer Conference at the Hyatt Regency Riverwalk in San Antonio. In addition, TCAA will provide complimentary registration and two nights of lodging for the meeting. The deadline to apply to receive the award at the 2019 Summer Conference on June 19-21 in San Antonio is April 19, 2019. Downloadable criteria and the nomination form are available HERE.

 

Call For Award Nominations: TCAA Outstanding Mentor Award

Just about every lawyer has a mentor who guided his or her career. In an effort to recognize the efforts of a special municipal law mentor, the TCAA Board of Directors created the TCAA “Outstanding Mentor Award.” The award is intended to recognize and honor a municipal attorney for his or her significant and distinguished mentoring achievements related to young attorneys and their practice in the field of municipal law.

The nominee must have demonstrated the qualities of a mentor to one or more young municipal attorneys by: (1) serving as a role model to young municipal lawyers in his or her community; (2) fostering the development of young municipal lawyers; and (3) significantly contributing to the profession and/or the community.

The recipient of this award will be honored at the TCAA Summer Conference at the Hyatt Regency Riverwalk in San Antonio. In addition, TCAA will provide complimentary registration and two nights of lodging for the meeting. The deadline to apply to receive the award at the 2019 Summer Conference on June 19-21 in San Antonio is April 19, 2019. Downloadable criteria and the nomination form are available HERE.

 

2019 TCAA Summer Conference!

The 2019 Summer Conference at the Hyatt Regency Riverwalk, San Antonio, will take place on June 19-21.

The TCAA Summer Conference is the best CLE program created specifically for municipal lawyers. Earn up to 13 hours MCLE credit (including 2.00 ethics hours)! Bring the family to experience everything San Antonio has to offer and join us as we continue the TCAA tradition of excellence.

For more information, including housing, and to register for this conference, please go to: https://www.tcaasummerconference.org/.

Hotel Information: The online hotel reservation portal is under the “General Information” tab.

Conference Topics Include:

Legislative Update
Constitutional Employment Law Claims
Dockless Mobility Regulation
Responding to First Amendment Audits
Short Term Rentals
Substandard Buildings
And More!

Conference Events:

  • Wednesday, June 19 – Welcome Reception hosted by Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta, LLP
  • Thursday, June 20 – Evening Reception hosted by Taylor Olson Adkins Sralla & Elam, LLP

 

Susan C. Rocha Memorial Scholarship

TCAA, in conjunction with the International Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA), is proud to continue the Susan C. Rocha Memorial Scholarships for the 2019 IMLA Annual Conference.

In Susan’s memory, TCAA will provide four scholarships to in-house city or assistant city attorneys to the 2019 IMLA Annual Conference. Two will be from the eight largest cities (Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, or San Antonio), and two will be from the remaining cities. The conference will be in Atlanta, Georgia September 18-22, 2019. For more details about the conference, go to:
http://www.imla.org/events/conferences#news.

The winners will receive up to a $2,000 reimbursement for expenses that your city would have otherwise provided for attendance at the conference, including registration, travel, meals, and lodging at the conference hotel. The winners will be drawn from lots. There can be only one winner per city, and winners from previous years are not eligible.

To apply, send an email indicating your interest along with your full name and contact information to ford@tml.org. The deadline to apply for the drawing is 5:00 p.m. on May 10, 2019.

 

SAVE THE DATE – UPCOMING TCAA EVENTS!

The 2019 TCAA Fall Conference will take place on October 10 in San Antonio, and will be held in conjunction with the TML Annual Conference.

 

86th Legislative Session  

The 2019 legislative session began on January 8. Stay informed by checking TML’s Legislative Update weekly for summaries of city-related bills and associated articles.

 

2019 TMCEC Fines & Fees Exposition and Showcase

The Texas Municipal Courts Education Center’s 2019 Fines and Fees Exposition and Showcase is May 28-30 at the Austin Omni Southpark. Registration and other details are available here.

 

TCAA Online Membership Directory

Looking to find the contact information for a fellow TCAA member? You can find it using the TCAA membership directory, available here:

http://members.tml.org/Web/Online/Directories/TCAA_Directory.aspx

 

IMLA Membership

Membership with IMLA doesn’t just mean discounts to their events. It’s much more than that. Click here to view a quick video about IMLA membership.

 

Continuing Legal Education

Riley Fletcher Basic Municipal Law Seminar

TCAA is proud to present the February 2018 Riley Fletcher Basic Municipal Law Seminar as an online course! The seminar is designed for attorneys who are new to municipal law or for those who want to brush up on the basics. For more information, or to purchase the course, go to https://tcaarileyfletcherseminar.org/registration/. For $149, you can access this seminar online at a time and place that works best for you.  Up to eight hours of CLE credit hours (including 0.75 ethics hour) are available for this course.

2018 TCAA Summer and Fall Conferences

These TCAA online seminars are FREE, allowing TCAA members who are city attorneys, assistant city attorneys, or attorneys who regularly practice municipal law to view the video of these conferences in a singlesession format. Viewing of the session allows attorneys to receive participatory CLE credit with the State Bar. To view available seminars, please visit www.tcaaonlineseminars.org. (Use the case-sensitive password “FreeCLE” to gain access to the sessions.)

 

If you would like to have an article considered for publication in the TCAA newsletter, please send your request to Christy Drake-Adams at christy@tml.org.