Category Archives: Local Governmental Entities
Rolling in the Deep (Sea)
As summer heats up, things show up. Recently, news cycles and Facebook feeds seem to have seen an uptick in the number of reports regarding endangered, odd, or record-breaking species being spotted along the country’s rivers and coastlines. Earlier this month, on the Caney Fork River in Tennessee, two friends fly fishing for striped… Read More »
City Ordinances and Child Safety Zones
Parenting is a hard job, but most parents do their best to protect their children and keep them safe. Cities in Texas are interested in the same thing. Kyle, Texas is in the news because it recently adopted a city ordinance creating child safety zones with an accompanying map of areas prohibiting residency by … Read More »
HB 3143 and Chapter 312 Tax Abatement Agreements
Tax abatement agreements, commonly referred to as 312 agreements, are never easy tasks, and with the recent updates to Chapter 312 of the Texas Tax Code, the job hasn’t gotten any easier. The most notable changes concern notice and public hearing requirements for the 312 agreements and the adoption or updating of the city’s… Read More »
When Texting Crosses the Line
Two Carroll ISD board members charged with violating the Texas Open Meetings Act were indicted by a Tarrant County grand jury for allegedly communicating outside of an authorized meeting. Carroll ISD Board President Michelle Moore and Vice President Todd Carlton face misdemeanor charges of conspiring to circumvent the Texas Open Meetings Act for secret… Read More »
Vaccine Passports? Not in Texas
As we cross the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 stay at home orders and economic shut down, things are slowly returning to normal, or at the very least some sort of new normal. As of the time of this article, approximately half of U.S. adults have received at least the first dose of the… Read More »
A Rumor ‘Bout Procurement
While probably not worthy of a ZZ Top song, a rumor has been spreadin’ a- ‘round that in a Texas town ‘bout . . . how a municipality can avoid the procurement requirements of Section 252.021, Chapter 252, of the Local Government Code when purchasing and contracting for, more often, services paid from revenues… Read More »
Does a Special Right of Access to Public Information Mean Access at No Cost?
In a previous article, I wrote about the costs that may be charged to a requestor for responding to a request for public information. To recap, a requestor generally must pay the cost of personnel time and materials needed to respond to their request for public information, but may not be charged for costs… Read More »
Procurement in the Age of Disaster
While hoping for the best, we should always expect and prepare for the worst. Many governmental entities have experienced emergency management personnel and dedicated procedures in place to react to a disaster. However, these same governmental entities sometimes lack the proactive administrative measures that can be utilized to ensure proper procurement – and more… Read More »
ERCOT & Sovereign Immunity
Texas is 80 degrees this weekend. If not for the dead foliage, brown grass, ruined dry wall and furnishings piled on the side of streets and long lines at home improvement stores I might be able to forget about last week. Texans should not forget. This week lawsuits have been filed against ERCOT for… Read More »
Quorum Quandaries: When Is a Council Member Not a Member?
In previous blog posts, we’ve discussed the requirements of the Texas Open Meetings Act, and various issues related to properly held open meetings and quorum requirements. Though there’s substantial case law and legislative history on these issues, recently a unique question arose in this context. Where a meeting is properly noticed and convened, and… Read More »