Zorrilla, Jennifer

Charles E. Zech is a Partner/Shareholder in the Firm and in charge of the Firm’s City Attorney practice focusing on municipal, contract, and local government law. Prior to his joining Denton, Navarro, Rocha and Bernal P.C., Mr. Zech represented the City of New Braunfels as its sole in-house City Attorney.  In addition to his experience with the wide variety of complex issues facing cities today, Mr. Zech continues to handle the day-to-day questions that arise for our city clients including purchasing, bidding, open meetings, open records, discipline, termination and other employment issues, contract review, drafting and negotiating with telecommunication companies, developers, and builders and their attorneys, and all the other myriad of issues which city staff, governmental bodies and appointed representatives face every single day.

As general counsel for 4B corporations and in concert with his representation of municipalities, he has helped negotiate and draft numerous incentive agreements, industrial district agreements, tax abatements and other economic development packages which are so vital to the support of a municipality’s tax base. In this context, he is well versed in the areas of tax increment financing, tax abatements, reinvestment zones, development agreements, industrial districts, Chapter 380 agreements, and other alternative urban renewal and economic development laws.

While still maintaining his responsibilities as City Attorney for the City of New Braunfels, Mr. Zech was promoted to the position of Deputy City Manager. As Deputy City Manager, his duties included supervisory responsibility over the offices of Finance, Human Resources, Municipal Court, Information Technology, and the City Secretary’s Office.  This unique dual position of City Attorney and Deputy City Manager gave Mr. Zech a unique perspective into the issues that city employees have to face when interacting with other employees, citizens, and elected and appointed officials.

Mr. Zech is Past President of the Board of Directors of the Texas City Attorneys Association (TCAA). He is a 2007 International Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA) Local Government Fellow and previously served as Chair of its Ethics Section and is a member of the San Antonio Bar Association, Austin Bar Association, Texas City Managers Association, The College of the State Bar Association, and has served as Faculty speaker to the Suing and Defending Governmental Entities State Bar Program and the University of Texas Land Use Seminar.  He is the 2011 recipient of State Bar of Texas Governmental Section Outstanding Government Lawyer Award. Mr. Zech is an Adjunct Professor at Texas State University where he teaches Problems in Public Law.

In connection with his work on his Masters in Public Administration, Mr. Zech completed an update of Terrell Blodgett's 1994 monograph on Texas Home Rule Charters. That research resulted in a comprehensive review of the content and policies of Home Rule Charters in Texas and may be found here: An Analysis of Texas Home Rule Charters.

Mr. Zech is a proud veteran of the U.S. Navy and the Gulf War.