Agenda Packets - 2002/08/12 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council July 22, 2002 Regular Meeting Page 21 Assistant City Administrator Reed indicated the Administrative Assistant puts it together and gets it to the printer. Mayor Sonterre asked Ms. Reed, in terms of public information, what could be explained with regard to the BMS process and why the City is still expending legal fees on the matter. Julie Flemming explained that she had, today, filed a motion to compel arbitration of the BMS matters in the Hammerschmidt and Kessel matters because she has been trying since December of 2001 to get them to move forward with arbitration and has been unsuccessful. She then indicated that neither party would agree to an arbitrator, they would not select one and would not give a name or a list of names. She further explained that she has looked into many different avenues to bring the matter to hearing and conclusion and decided this was the only way to do that. Ms. Flemming said that the reason this is going on so long is because Mr. Kessel and Mr. Hammerschmidt would not agree to move forward. Mayor Sonterre asked who initiated the BMS process. Ms. Flemming indicated they did in September of last year. Mayor Sonterre asked what the BMS process is. Ms. Flemming explained that BMS stands for the Bureau of Mediation Service. She then explained that under the Public Employer Labor Relations Act, although she disagrees, a public employee who has a contract of employment can seek review of that contract before BMS. She further commented that the individuals had the opportunity to do so before Council but did not show up and, instead, filed a petition for review at the Bureau of Mediation Services. Ms. Flemming indicated the City originally opposed that because it believed that BMS did not have jurisdiction over non-union employees but, upon determining that appeals had been rejected and the City was not going to win the argument, the City accepted arbitration before BMS and has attempted to move the process along. She then indicated she has not heard from either Mr. Kessel or Mr. Hammerschmidt for 90 days so she made the motion to compel arbitration to compel them to proceed in front of an arbitrator to have the wrongful termination claims heard and terminated on the merits. E. Resolution Approving a Contract with Springsted Inc. for Continuing Disclosure. Finance Director Hansen indicated that there has been a requirement since 1995 to provide certain financial information to a national repository so that investors and bonds could easily and efficiently gain information for issuers of bonds. He then indicated that Springsted issued that for the City in 1996 and Mr. Kessel issued that from 1997 through 1999 but no reports were