10-05-2015 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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We were the first city prosecutor in Anoka County to implement the Driving Diversion Program (DDP), which offers repeat driving offenders without a license or insurance the opportunity to enter into a program requiring class work and a monitored payment plan, and then they can obtain a valid license immediately. We believe that having drivers with valid licenses and insurance on their vehicles benefits the entire community. We appear in Anoka County District Court for all Arraignments (first appearance), Pretrials, Court Trials (contested traffic ticket), and contested evidentiary hearings, along with other miscellaneous appearances for probation violations, setting of bail, etc. Once a month we have a four-day jury trial calendar for unresolved cases; on average we conduct two full jury trials per year, and one contested evidentiary hearing with officer testimony per month. We also handle in -custody arraignment calendars for defendants that were arrested and are in custody for domestic assault, gross misdemeanor DWIs, and other offenses. We process all legal paperwork and attend hearings regarding forfeiture of motor vehicles by repeat DWI offenders. We received a flat fee of $8,250 per month for our prosecution work for fiscal years 2014 and 2015. For the 2016-2020 fiscal years, we propose charging a flat fee of $8,500 per month for all prosecution services. Unlike our previous bid that budgeted $3,000 for copying costs, there will be no charge for copying costs due to our office going virtually paperless with our prosecution work through the use of Microsoft Surface tablets in court. As a result of no charge for copying costs, our proposed monthly flat fee reflects no increase from our previous proposal. We are willing to commit to this amount with no additional increase for the entire five-year period, even though Lino Lakes is a rapidly growing community, and traffic and DWI arrests and enforcement have substantially increased as a result of the additional full-time officer position made possible by grant money. We are proposing that the limited time spent by us on forfeiture work would be charged at $105.00 per hour for attorney time, up slightly from the current $103.00 per hour. As before, we will advance and obtain additional reimbursement from the City for any out- of-pocket costs, such as filing fees, witness fees, service of process fees, couriers, and appeal costs (with prior approval), although these costs are incurred on a very infrequent basis. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you may have regarding our ongoing relationship with the City. Respectfully submitted, September 25, 2015 Geck Duea & Olson, PLLC obb L. Olson (#160775) 4770 White Bear Parkway, Suite 100 White Bear Lake, MN 55110 651-426-1533