Speakers to address federal-local relations on the following issues: immigration reform, medicaid issues (repeal / replacing the affordable care act), tax reform / municipal bonds, WOTUS, changes in policing under the new administration, broadband and infrastructure.
Learn about special issues in applying the FLSA to police and fire employees such as the legal and practical aspects of using an extended work period under Section 207(k) with an emphasis on common pitfalls and the ways to avoid potential liability, FLSA application to small departments, and different ceilings on accrual of compensatory time. The presentation will be applicable to jurisdictions both with and without collective bargaining agreements.
This term’s otherwise lean Supreme Court docket includes many cases of interest to local governments, including a case involving the City of Miami suing big banks over reverse-redlining as well as a number of First Amendment cases. Moderator Lisa Soronen of the State and Local Legal Center will lead a discussion of the current cases and the post-election future of the Supreme Court with Supreme Court specialists Paul Clement, Kirkland & Ellis, Gregory Garre, Latham & Watkins, and Amy Howe, SCOTUSblog reporter.
Recent case law has explored and defined the rights of homeless people who reside in public spaces. The first part of this presentation will discuss how the City of Los Angeles, home to the nation's largest homeless population, has used innovative regulations to comply with recent case law ,defining the rights of homeless persons to dwell and store personal property in the public spaces, while maintaining clean and accessible streets, sidewalks and open space. Los Angeles regulates dwelling in public spaces, dwelling in vehicles on public streets, and storage of personal property on public property. The City's recent amendments to its municipal code decriminalize the fundamental attributes of homelessness, provides alternatives to criminal prosecution for certain violations and opens up certain street segments to homeless vehicle dwellers. The second part of this presentation will discuss one municipality’s experience with a Fair Housing Complaint that arose from a zoning dispute involving a homeless shelter. The presenter will describe the process of proceeding through a mediation and conciliation with the Department of Justice and the efforts to find a suitably zoned location. The City was able to locate the homeless shelter through the sale of a government building. This resolution was agreed to by all parties and the Fair Housing complaint was dismissed.
Suits alleging misconduct by police officers constitute a major liability exposure for the affected jurisdictions; costing hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Additionally, efforts to discharge or otherwise discipline police and fire employees often are unsuccessful, resulting in both substantial back pay awards as well as forcing the reinstatement of problematic employees. This presentation will address ways in which municipalities can reduce their exposure, based on the premise that municipal attorneys need to be proactive in helping their clients (the police and fire departments) avoid costly damages, rather than reactive and simply representing the client whenever a suit is filed. In terms of liability exposure, topics to be addressed include proactive, preventive measures (e.g., rigorous recruit screening) and early intervention systems. In terms of disciplinary exposure, topics to be addressed include the need for specialized, experienced counsel (including outside counsel) in arbitration/civil service proceedings, educating arbitrators/civil service commissioners on the unique disciplinary requirements for public safety employees, the jurisdiction’s stance on punitive damages, and challenging arbitration if feasible. One of the presenters will focus on Baltimore’s experience pre and post Freddie Gray. For the past ten years, the City’s Law Department has taken a proactive role in advising the City’s police and fire departments with the aim of encouraging best practices and reducing civil liability—an approach the City calls “preventive lawyering.” This presenter will discuss the successes and challenges of this approach, the pivotal role of effective police discipline, and the impact of the U.S. Department of Justice consent decree for police reform.
Speakers to address: How will broadband deployment be affected? The latest on controlling wireless facilities, including Mobilitie, and big issues to watch for in Washington (and how you can affect them)
Fitness-for-duty evaluations are a practical tool that can be used to either validate, or disprove, an employer’s contention that an employee may lack the physical and/or mental capacity to perform the essential functions of the job. Such an evaluation is of critical importance in the public-safety sector, particularly with law enforcement officers, because of their constant engagement with citizens, which is both highly visible and heavily scrutinized. While fitness-for-duty exams are a useful preventative measure that can reduce the employer’s exposure and provide a legitimate basis for removing unsuitable employees from the workforce, the benefits coexist with risks in light of 42 U.S.C. § § 12101-12213—the American’s with Disabilities Act, as amended (“ADA”).
This presentation will analyze the interplay between the right of the employer to require fitness-for-duty evaluations and the employer’s obligations under the ADA to refrain from disability discrimination, in the context of litigation.
This presentation will provide an overview of the types of environmental insurance policies and coverages available in the market, key issues to consider when evaluating environmental insurance, “tips and tricks” for enhancing coverages, and a few real world examples of how environmental insurance can “box in” certain risks. The presenter will also touch on the potential benefits of “aligned interest” or “guaranteed fixed-price remediation contracts,” which, together with environmental insurance, can under the right circumstance be used to successfully transfer environmental risks and liabilities to a third-party remediation contractor.
The agenda for the meeting is as follows: I. Introductions & Sign-in Sheet II. Approval of Minutes of Meeting in San Diego, September 28, 2016 III. Sean O’Day, General Counsel, League of Oregon Cities, Speaking on League’s Tax Exempt Status and Its Provision of Legal Services IV. Report from IMLA Board of Directors Meeting – Robert Croom V. Report from IMLA Executive Director and General Counsel – Chuck Thompson VI. Meeting the New Director of NLC Lobbying VII. League Counsels’ Q & A, Hot Topics or Other Issues VIII. Adjourn
The session will discuss the increased regulations of stormwater discharges from MS4 systems, potential impacts of the new administration on stormwater regulation, and compliance and litigation concerns impacting stormwater utilities. The Chesapeake Bay will be used as a case study for the environmental law portion. It represents the largest TMDL ever, and much of the focus in Pennsylvania is on creating and demonstrating sediment and nutrient reduction from small MS4s. The session will also discuss formation of stormwater utilities as a means to fund municipal improvements, including a look at recent legal trends and issues facing municipalities.
The panel will discuss current developments in municipal securities law, including the status of the SEC's MCDC Initiative, other enforcement activities, legislative municipal securities law proposals, and the outlook given the new majority on the Commission. In addition, the panel will discuss MSRB developments important to local governments, including the status of municipal advisor regulation.
This program will assist municipal attorneys to transition from the traditional “low-bid” procurement model to the Qualifications Based Selection [QBS] process that is the hallmark of drafting Public-Private-Partnership [P3] offerings. Practitioners will be introduced to the philosophy, rationale and mechanics of drafting P3 procurement documents, including Requests for Expression of Interest [RFEI’s], Requests for Qualification, [RFQ’S], Requests for Proposals [RFP’s] and Requests for Qualifications and Proposals [RFQP’s]. Each procurement model will be defined, differentiated and matched to the project type that is best suited for the particular project requirements. Instructors will delve into the deep base of knowledge and experience program participants have in government procurement, and translate that experience into successful base of P3 knowledge. Participants will leave the program ready to tackle their first, or next P3.
The future of transportation is operating on our roads today! In conjunction with the release of the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy, more “innovative” grant funding is going towards subsidized ridesharing programs and pilot projects to test connected and automated vehicles. This presentation will provide (1) best practice guidance for ridesharing programs subsidized by public agencies, including procurement and contract issues, and compliance with grant requirements; (2) an overview of pilot projects using ridesharing to test automated vehicles; and (3) an update on the federal regulation of automated and connected vehicles, including a summary of comments to the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy.
Speakers from Germany and the USA will provide an informative comparison of the EU's Data Protection Directive 95/46 EG, the fundamental right of privacy under U.S. Constitutional law, and the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) as applied to government on the local, state and international level. We will explore role of government in protecting the right of privacy while protecting vulnerable local, state and national infrastructure from cyber intrusion. Local government attorneys can gain a balanced perspective on such issues as data protection, restrictions on governmental surveillance, the “smart city” technology market, access to personally identifiable data, and best practices and safeguards to prevent deterioration of personal privacy rights in an increasingly internet-dependent world.
Dealing with the press can be tricky even in the best of times. In the aftermath of a high visibility case or incident, good planning is essential to protecting your client. These and other legal issues encountered in the aftermath of the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. History will be discussed.
This perennial favorite will provide an overview of highlighted Supreme Court and Circuit Court cases from around the country that are relevant to local governments including everything from employment law cases to First Amendment and police misconduct cases.
This presentation will offer two case studies of important ethics lessons for municipal attorneys while also discussing the model rules. Attorneys who represent governmental agencies, particularly police departments, are held to high standards. Not reaching those standards has far-reaching implications for the attorney, the other attorneys in that office, and attorneys in other agencies. The first presentation will focus on one incident in Chicago, and the long-term consequences of that single incident. The presenter will discuss the incident and various rules of professional conduct, including the following: 1) Rule 3.3, Candor toward the Tribunal; Rule 3.4, Fairness to Opposing Party and Counsel; and 3) 4.1, Truthfulness in Statements to Others. The second presentation from a situation every municipal lawyer has asked themselves, “Who is the client?” When the City of Colorado Springs Charter was amended to abandon the Council-Manager form of government (FOG) in favor of a Council-Mayor FOG, the City Attorney was no longer appointed by the City Council, but instead by the Mayor with the consent of the City Council. This presentation will use the model rules to discuss a fresh, in-depth look at the roles and ethical considerations for representing a municipal entity in the context of a change in the FOG and also highlights the need for a clear understanding of the municipal attorney’s role. The presenter will outline the circumstances leading to the promulgation of the “Office of the City Attorney Legal Ethics Guidelines,” and evaluate its effectiveness in restructuring the attorney’s relationship with the municipal client.
