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COUNCIL MINUTES November 13, 2017 <br />DRAFT <br />1 <br />CITY OF LINO LAKES 1 <br />MINUTES 2 <br /> 3 <br /> 4 <br />DATE : November 13, 2017 5 <br />TIME STARTED : 6:30 p.m. 6 <br />TIME ENDED : 7:30 p.m. 7 <br />MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member Rafferty, Kusterman, Maher, 8 <br /> Manthey, and Mayor Reinert 9 <br />MEMBERS ABSENT : 10 <br /> 11 <br />Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Community Development Director Michael 12 <br />Grochala; Director of Public Safety John Swenson; City Engineer Diane Hankee; Finance Director 13 <br />Sarah Cotton; and City Clerk Julie Bartell 14 <br /> 15 <br />PUBLIC COMMENT 16 <br /> 17 <br />No one was present to address the council regarding a matter not on the agenda. 18 <br /> 19 <br />SETTING THE AGENDA 20 <br /> 21 <br />The agenda was approved as presented. 22 <br /> 23 <br />CONSENT AGENDA 24 <br /> 25 <br />Council Member Kusterman noted an expense relating to a bill of Ratwik, Roszak and Maloney, the 26 <br />city’s attorney. It is a monthly bill received from that contractor. It was clarified that the expense in 27 <br />question relates to a legal opinion sought regarding a resident who filed for city office who also works 28 <br />for the city’s engineering contractor, WSB & Associates; a written legal opinion was received and the 29 <br />cost was roughly $800. Council Member Kusterman questioned why this expenditure would be 30 <br />ordinary and necessary to the workings of the city. He has worked in accounting for many years and 31 <br />he doesn’t feel this would be ordinary. Were there conflict of interest checks on all candidates this 32 <br />year? 33 <br /> 34 <br />Administrator Karlson was asked to respond to the reasoning behind seeking that legal opinion and he 35 <br />explained that a member of the council raised questions about one candidate for city council that 36 <br />works for the city’s contracted engineering firm and he felt it rose to the level that the question should 37 <br />be posed to the City Attorney. He clarified that the question was originally posed to him by the 38 <br />mayor. 39 <br /> 40 <br />Mayor Reinert noted that the situation of having a conflict of interest as a member of the council is 41 <br />taken seriously by the City. 42 <br /> 43 <br />Council Member Rafferty concurred; he works for an architectural firm that could possibly have 44 <br />business with the City. He originally approached the City Administrator with the question and it was 45