Volume 9, Issue 3
TCAA 2014 Summer Conference in South Padre Island – Registration and Hotel Information
The TCAA 2014 Summer Conference at the Isla Grand Resort in South Padre Island will be held on June 18-20, 2014. To register, go to www.texascityattorneys.org and click on the banner on the front page.
Hotel Information: The TCAA room block at the Isla Grand Beach Resort (formerly the Radisson Resort) will open at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. At that time, rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. To make your reservations, please call the Isla Grand Beach Resort directly at 800-292-7704 or 956-761-6511. (Refer to the “TCAA Summer Conference room block” to receive the conference rate.) TCAA has also secured several “overflow” hotels and will open those reservations at 9:00 a.m. on the same day. For details on those hotels, please go to the conference registration link.
Schlitterbahn Tickets: TCAA has negotiated discount admission for attendees and their families to the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in South Padre Island during the week of June 15-21, 2014. The rate is $32.99 per person. If you are interested in purchasing tickets, please email JJ Rocha at jj@tml.org with your name, contact information, and number of tickets by May 9. (TCAA will not be able to secure discounted tickets after May 9.) TCAA will invoice you at a later date.
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 in South Padre Island. In addition, TCAA will waive the recipients’ seminar registration fee and reimburse the recipients up to $500 for transportation and lodging for the meeting. The deadline to apply to receive the award at the 2014 summer meeting in South Padre Island on June 18-20 is April 4, 2014.
For downloadable criteria and a nomination form, please click 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 recently 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, for example: (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 Semi-Annual Meeting in South Padre. In addition, TCAA will waive the recipient’s seminar registration fee and reimburse the recipient up to $500 for transportation and lodging for the meeting. The deadline to apply to receive the award at the 2014 summer meeting in South Padre Island on June 18-20 is April 4, 2014. For downloadable criteria and an application form, click here.
2014 TCAA Fall Conference: Call for Speakers
The Texas City Attorneys Association invites all attorneys interested in presenting at the 2014 TCAA Fall Conference to submit your ideas to Scott Houston at shouston@tml.org by May 23, 2014. This year’s conference will be held in Houston on October 2, 2014. Questions? Contact Scott at shouston@tml.org or 512-231-7400.
IMLA Annual Conference Scholarships
TCAA, in conjunction with the International Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA), is proud to continue the Susan C. Rocha Memorial Scholarships for the 2014 IMLA Annual Conference.
In Susan’s memory, TCAA will provide four $2,000 scholarships to the 2014 IMLA Annual Conference for in-house city or assistant city attorneys only. 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 Baltimore, MD, on September 10-14, 2012. (For more information on the conference, go to www.imla.org.)
The winners will be drawn from lots. There can be only one winner per city, and winners from previous years are not eligible.
The deadline to apply for the drawing is 5:00 p.m. on June 6, 2014.
If you wish to submit your name for the drawing, please send an email to JJ Rocha at jj@tml.org. Include your name, position, city, address, phone number, and email address.
FREE CLE! The 2013 TCAA Fall Conference is Available Online
The TCAA Online Seminars are FREE, allowing TCAA members who are city attorneys, assistant city attorneys, or attorneys who regularly practice municipal law to view videos of past seminars in a single–session 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.)
2014 TMCEC Prosecutor Conference
The Texas Municipal Courts Education Center will hold it annual prosecutors conference in San Marcos March 24-26 and in Houston June 23-15. The conference covers procedural and substantive law issues that are essential to prosecuting in municipal court. More information about the conference is available here: http://www.tmcec.com/public/files/File/Prosecutors/ProsecutorsBrochure-March2014.pdf