Minutes - 1999/11/15 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council November 15, 1999 Regular Meeting Page 30 non-retainer questions. He stated they have compiled clerical policies that would be instituted pending approval of the Council, pertaining to the overall retainer of the City Attorney's Office. i City Administrator Whiting provided the Council with an e-mail from Attorney Riggs to himself, as an example of this policy. He stated the second page of the e-mail correspondence indicates the Purchasing Authority Policy staff has drafted and included in the consideration of the entire Personnel Policies Manual. He explained that these policies were intended to provide some direction, in terms of the use of the City Attorney. City Administrator Whiting stated the general conditions of the retainer do not greatly differ from the previous conditions, and basically, they indicate a $3,000 per month retainer for general City work. He pointed out however, some of the questions that have come forward have probably arisen out of what is considered to be non-retainer work. He stated the proposed system, which is currently being practiced, provides that if a certain type of work the City Attorney performs is outside of the retainer, the appropriate member of staff or Council, depending upon the issue, would have to grant approval, prior to taking any action. City Administrator Whiting stated staff indicated by notation that the information provided the Council in their packet was somewhat different from what they have worked on in the interim, however, this information is somewhat substantive, and staff is recommending approval of this amendment. City Attorney Long stated the changes were indicated in two sentences added to the Council's information, which were both good suggestions made after the meeting with staff. He explained that a sentence would be added under the first paragraph in Item B of the Agreement, to indicate "The non-retainer matters will receive prior approval from the City, on the agreed upon e-mail approval form, before work begins on the matter." He advised that this provided a good example of situations in which they were not necessarily focused upon communication. He explained that an issue might come forward regarding the review of an easement, or the review of a survey for a private development, and they would open this up in an a-mail, non-retainer file because of the agreement, and were just doing this automatically. He stated staff raised a good point in that they were uncertain as to when the non-retainer clock started running, and now they have a good system in place, which indicates this. City Attorney Long pointed out the other change, which is also to the City's benefit is the addition of a sentence to Page 3, Item 6, which indicates "If the City has to pay any portion of this cost, the City's portion will be billed at the lower rate." He stated Finance Director Kessel pointed out that if there is a dispute, and they are unable to collect the money from a third party, this policy would promote they collect the money from the private developer, who is causing the legal bills to be incurred. He explained this would be billed at the standard third-party rate. He stated the premise is that all of the costs would be paid for by the third party, however, in an instance where work is performed, and the City for some reason has to pay for that, it would be billed at the lower rate. City Attorney Long stated they have enjoyed working for the City, and there has been much work in the last several years, in terms of the Community Center, the budget, and other such matters, which generate legal bills. He stated they do not like to see the bills be higher than what they have been in the past. He stated it was always enjoyable to be involved with some of the issues such as the golf course and the Airport litigation, and he was personally very happy with