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Imagine the San Antonio city council is set to vote on a new zoning regulation that is anticipated to raise the property value of small businesses along the River Walk. Ray Smith is a city councilman who is considering voting in favor of the new regulation. While...
In 1973, the legislature passed the Texas Public Information Act after state officials were involved in a stock fraud scandal. The Act promotes transparency by requiring all governmental bodies to release information to the public upon request.A variety of bodies are...
Blaring sirens that alert the public to emergencies remain foundational in many communities for reaching the people about need-to-know news. Social media serves as an adjunct method for quick dissemination of information to large populations. But many cities...
How's your city's infrastructure? Is it something you are proud of, or is it something of a sore spot aesthetically and financially? Do you even know what we're talking about when we refer to infrastructure? According to at least one city planning educator, the word...
Someone once said, "All politics is local." And nothing hits so close to home as municipal level politics. The normal cycle of things has elections, initiatives and referendums occurring on a regular schedule in compliance with applicable laws. On occasion, however,...
Readers unfamiliar with our firm might be a bit surprised by our claim that we practice "rampage law." It's an understandable reaction; the definition of rampage being, according to Webster's, an outbreak of violent, raging behavior. That is not what we practice....
Most of the people working for Texas government offices are solid employees, fulfilling their duties as effectively as they can or the system allows. Every once in a while, however, a worker fails to hit appropriate metrics. If it happens once, civil service policies...
In previous posts, we focused on requirements of the Texas Open Meeting Act (OMA), and the attention to detail required to ensure that processes and procedures are in place to ensure that government activities are conducted legally and transparently. In this post, we...
Fostering the rights of the public to hold elected and other public officials accountable is crucial for the ongoing success of society. Because of that, all the states in the U.S. have adopted laws dictating the actions of government bodies regarding the formation of...
Nepotism has ancient roots, and so does criticism of the practice. Texts going back eons disparage as unethical the grant of favors to close relatives by those in positions of power. Despite that long-standing disapproval, nepotism remains such a major concern that...