2018-123 Council TOMA TrainingDate: September 7, 2018 Report No. 2018-123
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT
TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT:
Texas Open Meetings Act Training
BACKGROUND:
The City Attorney’s Office (CAO) recently received a request from the City Council for
additional training on the requirements of the Texas Open Meetings Act (“TOMA”). Over the
last few years, the CAO has provided two live trainings for the City Council. The first training
was provided August 8, 2017. The second training was provided on February 7, 2017. For your
convenience, below are direct links to the full video of each TOMA presentation:
1. August 8, 2017 - http://denton-
tx.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=1473&meta_id=158558
2. February 7, 2017 - http://denton-
tx.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=1384 1
In addition to the two TOMA trainings provided this year by the CAO, supplemental guides and
training materials on TOMA are available at the following links:
1. Texas Attorney General’s Office –Video Training on TOMA:
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/og/oma-training
2. Texas Attorney General’s Office - TOMA Handbook (2018):
https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/og/OMA_handbook_2018.pdf
3. Texas Attorney General’s Office - PowerPoint on TOMA (2015):
https://twc.texas.gov/files/partners/2016-conference-transparency-
government%5be2cb8e21%5d.pdf
4. Texas Municipal League - TOMA Made Easy (2017):
https://www.tml.org/p/The%20Texas%20Open%20Meetings%20Act%20Made%20Easy
%202017.pdf
5. Texas City Attorneys Association Conference – Social Media Issues (2018):
https://texascityattorneys.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Lockhart_When-Can-My-
City-Delete-Paper.pdf
6. Riley Fletcher Basic Municipal Law Seminar – Open Meetings Act Basics (2018):
https://texascityattorneys.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Kennard_Texas-Open-
Meetings-Act.pdf
1 The TOMA presentation is item E and begins at 2:41:38.
Date: September 7, 2018 Report No. 2018-123
The Texas Attorney General (“AG”) video training satisfies the statutory requirement imposed
on public officials to complete open meetings act training. Additionally, the AG training allows
public officials to obtain a course completion certificate by following the directions on the
training video2. While we have provided links to a few of the most frequently referenced
resources, please be aware that this is not a comprehensive list of all of the available resources on
TOMA. If any Council Member would prefer we schedule a live TOMA training for City
Council with an outside facilitator please let us know and we can include this as an item for
review and discussion during the September 18 Work Session.
STAFF CONTACT:
Aaron Leal,
City Attorney
2 Direct link to obtain course completion certificate: https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/forms/openrec/og_certificates.php