03-22-1993 CC - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Mounds View City Council Page Folio Regular Meeting March 22, 19 at the last Council Work Session and, if this bill were to pass, it would consolidate municipal prosecution services under the office of the Ramsey County Prosecutor. The action would eliminate a city's ability to contract for prosecution services separately which currently controls costs and ensures accountability and responsiveness to the city's individual and unique legislative needs. Orduno stated that this bill would also increase costs to the .City in that the officers would have to travel to St. Paul for court appearances. Orduno stated that the bill could die in committee. Orduno further reported that each year legislation is introduced that- affects the City. Bills are called to the City's attention that have the potential to be destructive to the City of Mounds View. Resolution No. 4354 would send a message to the legislators that the City would like to be consulted in matters that would negatively impact the City. Orduno stated that the County Attorney, himself, did not have a great deal of input on this bill. If the Council approves Resolution No. 4354 it will be sent to the authors of the bill, Mounds View legislators, and to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Family Law. Councilmember Quick asked who the authors of the bill were and asked ifthey were tied in with the court system in some way or if there . were some type of ulterior motive to why this bill was introduced. Orduno stated that the authors of the bill were Senator Kelly and Representative Farrell. Mary Jo MacGuire was a co-author of the bill. Police Chief Ramacher received a copy of the bill and asked Ms. MacGuire what was trying to be accomplished by having the County Attorney handle all suburban prosecutions. Orduno reported that Mary Jo MacGuire was very receptive in talking with Police Chief Ramacher, but the City was given no clue to the motivation behind it. Councilmember Quick stated that last year there was legislation introduced that was a form of control of services. Orduno explained that the sheriff's department and the St. Paul Police Chief had discussed consolidation of police services. The Local Government Study Committee considered this issue. The press got ahold of the report regarding this subject and the whole report was published with no input from the Committee. Councilmember Rickaby stated that the cost of traveling to St. Paul is not the only affect this legislation would have on the City of Mounds View. The fact that it is farther away adds to the time the officer is pulled off the street and also the officers 0 may be hesitant to make as many arrests because of travel time and time spent off the streets.