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Lino Lakes City Council <br />Special Work Session <br />Minutes <br />DATE: January 13, 2025 <br />TIME STARTED: 5:30 P.M. <br />TIME ENDED: 6:24 P.M. <br />LOCATION: Community Room <br />MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Rafferty Councilmembers Cavegn, Lyden, Stoesz and <br />Ruhland <br />MEMBERS ABSENT: None <br />Staff Members Present: Interim City Administrator Dave Pecchia, City Clerk Roberta Colotti, and <br />Community Development Director Michael Grochala. <br />Also Attending: Attorney's John Baker and Kate Swenson. <br />1. Call to Order and Roll Call <br />Mayor Rafferty called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. <br />2. Setting the Agenda: Addition or Deletion of Agenda Items <br />The agenda topics were adopted as presented <br />3. Closed Meeting: Attorney -Client Privilege <br />Attorney John Baker stated that litigation is currently pending in a matter entitled Zikar <br />Holdings LLC (and two others) against the City of Lino Lakes (and two others), filed in <br />federal court in September 2024. Last month, the court entered two orders in that case, <br />on December 10 and on December 26, 2024. The course of that litigation should be <br />informed by a confidential briefing of the City Council by Ms. Swenson and me as the <br />City's counsel in that case, under the attorney -client privilege. So, under Minnesota <br />Statutes Section 13D.05, subdivision 3(b), I respectfully request the presiding officer to <br />make a motion to close this meeting to the public. <br />To more clearly describe the subject of that closed meeting: The Zikar Holdings LLC <br />pending matter arises from several publicly made decisions, including the City's <br />adoption of a one-year moratorium last summer, and the response of the City Council <br />and several boards appointed by the Council to a request by Zikar Holdings LLC for <br />concept plan review. The closed meeting I request would not include a decision by the <br />Council on whether to settle or continue the pending litigation, but would be limited to <br />consequences of those publicly made decisions and the court's public orders last month. <br />Absolute confidentiality is necessary so that members of the Council are able to make <br />an informed assessment of the available legal options and to provide guidance to us, as <br />the City's legal counsel in that case, regarding some of those options. The need to have <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />