TEXAS MUNICIPAL COURTS EDUCATION CENTER FACULTY ROSTER: AUSTIN Regional Clerks Seminar November 18 19, 2013

Transcription

1 TEXAS MUNICIPAL COURTS EDUCATION CENTER FACULTY ROSTER: AUSTIN Regional Clerks Seminar November 18 19, 2013 Mark Goodner Program Attorney & Deputy Counsel TMCEC 2210 Hancock Drive Austin, TX (o) (f) Landra Hudson-Solansky City of Seguin 660 S State Highway 46 Seguin, TX (o) (f) lsolansky@seguintexas.gov David Johnson Deputy Chief Prosecutor City of Arlington 101 S. Mesquite Street, Suite 300 Arlington, TX (o) (f) david.s.johnson@arlingtontx.gov Sue Kennedy Court Manager City of Lewisville 1197 W. Main Street Lewisville, TX (o) (f) skennedy@cityoflewisville.com Ashley Kennedy Van Alstyne PO Box 247 Van Alstyne, TX (o) (f) akennedy@vanalstynepolice.com Victor Lander Judge City of Dallas 2014 Main Street, Ste. 210 Dallas, TX (o) (f) victor.lander@dallascityhall.com Sandra Ma Clerk Dalworthington Gardens 2600 Roosevelt Dr Arlington, TX (o) (f) sandra@cityofdwg.net Kevin Madison Presiding Judge City of Lakeway 740 Polo Club Drive Austin, TX (o) (f) judgekevinmadison@gmail.com Susan McGilberry City of Huntsville 717 FM 2821 West, Suite 200 Huntsville, TX (o) (f) SMcGilberry@huntsvilletx.gov Victoria Medley City of Amarillo P.O. Box 1366 Amarillo, TX (o) (f) victoria.medley@amarillo.gov Lindsey Mena Juvenile Case Coordinator City of San Marcos 630 E. Hopkins Street San Marcos, TX (o) (f) lmena@sanmarcostx.gov Bill Ragsdale Presiding Judge City of Ingram 230 Highway 39 Ingram, TX (o) (f) b_ragsdale@yahoo.com Ken Roberts Judicial Security Inspector, US Marshals, Western District of Texas (o) ken.roberts2@usdoj.gov Kaci Sohrt Director of Court Administration Travis County Juvenile Probation Department (o) kaci.sohrt@co.travis.tx.us Rebecca Stark Court Director City of Austin PO Box 2135 Austin, TX (o) (f) rebecca.stark@austintexas.gov Ryan Kellus Turner General Counsel & Director of Edcuation TMCEC 2210 Hancock Drive Austin, TX (o) (f) rturner@tmcec.com

2 2210 Hancock Drive, Austin, Texas fax MARK GOODNER Mark Goodner serves as the Presiding Judge for the City of Woodcreek and is the Program Attorney and Deputy Counsel for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. Prior to joining the Center, he worked in civil litigation in Austin. Mr. Goodner graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with a juris doctorate and certification in the Graduate Portfolio Program in Dispute Resolution in May of While in law school, he worked in the mediation clinic, was a finalist in the Thad T. Hutcheson Moot Court Competition, and served on the executive board of Assault & Flattery. LANDRA HUDSON-SOLANSKY Landra Hudson-Solansky has been formally recognized in her community for establishing a good working relationship with county law enforcement officials, developing formal magistrate procedures for City cases and implementing new policies and procedures within the Seguin Municipal Court. Landra is a Level II Municipal Court Clerk and Vice-President of the Freedom Trail Chapter of the Texas Court Clerks Association. Landra has been employed with the City of Seguin since September 2008 and currently holds the position of Municipal. DAVID JOHNSON David Johnson is the Deputy Chief Prosecutor for the City of Arlington. He also serves as the lead prosecutor for appeals, code compliance, and civil enforcement matters. Prior to joining the Arlington City Attorney s Office, he worked for Dallas attorney S. George Alfonso. Mr. Johnson obtained his juris doctorate from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law. Mr. Johnson received his Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. Mr. Johnson has been a presenter for the Texas District & County Attorneys Association, the Texas Court Clerks Association, the Texas City Attorneys Association, as well as a past presenter for TMCEC. SUE KENNEDY Sue Kennedy is the Court Manager for the City of Lewisville and has over 18 years of work experience in local government. Ms. Kennedy has attained her Level II certification and is currently working on Level III. She serves on the North Texas Chapter of the Texas Court Clerks Association as Vice-President and has previously served as Treasurer. For the past five years, she has instructed the Level I, Level II Prep Courses, and other court related topics. ASHLEY KENNEDY Ashley Kennedy is currently the for the City of Van Alstyne Municipal Court, the Supervisor of the Dispatch Center, and Custodian of Records for the Police Department. She has worked for the city for seven years and is currently a Level II certified clerk, beginning to work on her Level III Certification. Ms. Kennedy lives in North Texas with her husband and son and is currently a

3 part-time law student at Texas A&M School of Law in downtown Fort Worth. She has received both a distinguished service award and an award of excellence from the Texas Court Clerks Association. C. VICTOR LANDER Victor Lander was born in Georgia and grew up in New York City and Virginia. He received his Bachelor of Arts with honors from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia and his juris doctorate from the University of Texas in Austin. Judge Lander worked for the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., before joining his father, the late Fred L. Lander, III, in the private practice of law in state and federal courts in Dallas. He was appointed an Associate (part-time) Municipal Judge for the City of Dallas in 1991 and has served as a full-time Municipal Judge for Dallas since In August of 2008, he was named Administrative Judge for the Dallas Municipal Court. He was named Outstanding Municipal Judge by the Texas Municipal Courts Association in 2003, and served on the Board of the TMCA from 2005 to SANDRA MA Sandra Ma has been a Municipal Court Clerk for the City of Dalworthington Gardens since December of She grew up in Arlington, Texas and attended the University of Texas at Arlington where she received a Bachelor of Art in Criminology and Criminal Justice in December She went on and attended the Police Academy at Tarrant County College where she graduated in May In February 2005 she was sworn in as a Public Safety Officer for the City of Dalworthington Gardens, Texas. Sandra has been a member of the Texas Court Clerk s Association since She achieved a Level 1 certification in 2004 and her Level II certification in In February 2010 the Institute for Court Management recognized Sandra as a Certified Court Manager KEVIN MADISON Judge Madison graduated from UT-Austin with a B.A. with Honors in Psychology. After college, Judge Madison attended the UT System Police Academy and graduated as the class Valedictorian. Judge Madison earned his law degree from the University of Houston, served as a deputy sheriff after law school, and then was appointed as an Assistant District Attorney for Travis County. Later he served as the Chief of Police in Smithville. Judge Madison has over 26 years experience as a municipal judge and has served as Lakeway s Presiding Judge since Judge Madison received the 2009 Outstanding Municipal Court Judge award from the Texas Municipal Courts Association and his court in Lakeway has been recognized for his traffic safety initiative programs by TMCEC and TxDOT in 2008, 2009, 2012, and Judge Madison proudly serves his community as a volunteer firefighter and EMT. SUSAN MCGILBERRY Susan McGilberry began working for the City of Huntsville on Valentine s Day She started with the Police Department in the Records Division, where she worked for 10.5 years, before transferring to the Property/Evidence department for another 4.5 years. In that time, she also served as secretary to the Fire Department. In 1999, Ms. McGilberry transferred to the Finance Department as the Administrative Assistant, where she gained a good basis of knowledge in fund accounting, just expenses, revenues in general, and how they all work together. In 2003, she transferred to the Utility Billing department as Senior Customer Service Clerk. In June of 2007, she transferred to the Municipal Court, where she has been ever since and is now the. She has told many that this is the hardest job she has ever taken on, as there is so much to know and it is ever-changing! Ms. McGilberry is a Level II certified clerk.

4 Ms. McGilberry is a life-long resident of Walker County and still lives on the property on which she grew up, only living away for three years in her life. She has a dog, Baby, and a cat, Booty. VICTORIA MEDLEY Victoria Jaramillo Medley is currently the for the City of Amarillo. Ms. Medley received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Masters in Public Administration from Northern Arizona University. Ms. Medley has been in her current position as the since Prior to becoming the for the City of Amarillo, Ms. Medley worked for Bernalillo County Juvenile Probation in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Randall County Juvenile Probation in Amarillo, Texas. She was an officer specializing in serious offenders. Ms. Medley was originally hired by the City of Amarillo in 1990 to serve as the first Teen Court Coordinator for the City of Amarillo and was responsible for designing and implementing one of the first Teen Court Programs in Texas. Ms. Medley has completed Level 2 of the Clerk Certification program and is a Certified Court Manager through the Institute of Court Management. LINDSEY MENA Mrs. Mena attended Texas State University- San Marcos, where she studied Applied Sociology with an emphasis in Deviance and Social Control. She graduated in May 2010 and began working as a Juvenile Case Coordinator for the City of San Marcos in July Mrs. Mena is beginning the 3 rd straight year with her outreach program throughout the schools and community and has enjoyed watching it expand each year. She has been married for 2 years and has a one year old son. BILL RAGSDALE Bill Ragsdale is the Municipal Court Judge for the City of Ingram and Justice of the Peace of Precinct Four, Kerr County. He has been a judge for 22 years and has taught clerks for the Justice Court Training Center. He began as a municipal court clerk in KEN ROBERTS Kenneth Roberts serves as a Senior Inspector for the Judicial Security Division of the United States Marshals Service for the Western District of Texas. His duties include personal protection for all 42 members of the federal judiciary in the Western District, security for their residences, and maintaining security systems and equipment in all courthouses throughout his assigned area. Additionally, he instructs Court Security Officer programs at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia. Prior to his current assignment Kenneth held assignments providing personal protection at the United Nations General Assembly for the Crown Prince of Qatar and the Defense Minister of India, as well as, protective assignments for the Israeli Prime Minister at the Mid-East Peace Conference. He has served on warrants task forces in the Pecos Division of the Western District of Texas and served on the Attorney General's Violent Offenders Task Force in New Orleans, LA immediately after Hurricane Katrina. KACI SOHRT Kaci Sohrt is the Director of Court Administration for the Travis County Juvenile Probation Department. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Political Science from Baylor University in 1998 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas School of Law in She began her legal

5 career with the Texas Youth Commission in 2001, where she served as an administrative law judge, appeals attorney, and Chief Administrative Law Judge. She was involved in many of the reform efforts and policy changes at TYC. In early 2011, Ms. Sohrt became a staff attorney for the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, where she provided legal assistance to juvenile justice practitioners throughout the state and conducted analysis and provided training on juvenile justice-related legislative changes. She remained with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department when it was created in December In September 2012, she briefly left the field of juvenile justice when she took a position as the Director of the Criminal Law Division at the Travis County District Clerk s Office, though she did remain active in juvenile issues throughout the 2013 legislative session. In July 2013, she returned to juvenile justice in her current position. She has been a member of the State Bar of Texas Juvenile Law Section Council since REBECCA STARK Ms. Stark has worked in city government since 1978 and has been teaching various classes for TMCEC for several years. She was the city manager of a medium sized city and then of a small city in the Metroplex area. She left city management to become the court clerk for a large city, Fort Worth, and is now the court clerk for the Austin Municipal Court. Ms. Stark has experienced court operations in various sized cities and is here to share her experiences while teaching this seminar today. RYAN KELLUS TURNER Ryan Kellus Turner is General Counsel and Director of Education for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. Prior to joining the Center in 1999, he served as Briefing Attorney for Judge Sharon Keller at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Mr. Turner obtained his juris doctorate from Southern Methodist University School of Law. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Psychology with highest honors from St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, where he now teaches as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences. In 2004 and 2013 he was the recipient of the School s Adjunct Teaching Excellence Award. Mr. Turner is currently Deputy City Attorney for the City of Dripping Springs and previously served as a Special Assistant County Attorney for Kendall County. In 2011, he was an advisory member on the Texas Judicial Council s Juvenile Justice Committee. The Committee was charged with assessing the impact of school discipline and school-based policing on referrals to Texas courts and to make public policy recommendations. In 2012, Mr. Turner was named Co-Chair of the Texas Judicial Council Legislative Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice. A native Texan, Mr. Turner was raised in the north Texas town of Vernon. He is the co-author of the books Lone Star Justice: A Comprehensive Overview of the Texas Criminal Justice System and The Municipal Judges Book.