The City Attorneys office provides legal counsel and representation for the City Council, City Manager, all City Departments and Commissions. Services provided include preparation and review of ordinances, resolutions, contracts, deeds, liens and other legal documents. Formal and informal opinions are given on questions of law pertaining to City operations.
The Legal Department is responsible for prosecuting cases in Beaumont Municipal Court and representing the City in eminent domain proceedings, damage suits, injunction suits, injury claims, arbitration and other litigation. Representation is also provided in hearings conducted by federal and state agencies.
The Department also provides legal services relating to code enforcement, zoning and land use regulations, traffic and parking control, utility rates, railroads, bond sales and other matters requiring legislative action or involving interpretation and application of laws. In addition, the Department is involved in claims administration under the City’s self-funded program for general liability and fleet liability.
MEET YOUR CITY ATTORNEY
Sharae Bassett Reed
City Attorney | City of Beaumont, Texas
January 2022 – Present
First Assistant City Attorney | City of Beaumont, Texas
December 2016 – January 2022
Senior Assistant City Attorney | City of Beaumont, Texas
March 2014 – December 2016
Assistant City Attorney | City of Beaumont, Texas
January 2011 – March 2014
Sharae Reed joined the City of Beaumont legal team in 2011 as an Assistant City Attorney. She was promoted to Senior Assistant in 2014, and shortly after to First Assistant in 2017. December of 2021, Reed was appointed the first female City Attorney for the City of Beaumont. She assumed the position on January 10, 2022, on her 11thAnniversary with the City. Reed’s legal experience ranges from Municipal Court prosecution to advocating at the Federal, Texas and United States Supreme Court level. Before its closure, Reed was also a Criminal Justice instructor at Brightwood College for several years.
Ms. Reed was elected to the board of directors of the Texas City Attorneys Association (TCAA). She is also a 2014 Southeast Texas Forty Under Forty recipient, a 2016 Leadership Beaumont graduate, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., The Golden Triangle Chapter of the Links Inc., and belongs to several other civic and professional organizations, where she holds leadership positions. She is member of Cathedral of Faith Baptist Church, a retired “Basketball Mom,” and in her spare time, enjoys traveling, eating good food, and shopping with her daughter, Madison.