HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC RES 01-013 A RESOLUTION TO APPOINT AN AUDITOR FOR THE CITY' S FINANCIAL RECORDS Meeting Sheet
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104682
Box: 31
Folder: RES 2001
Document: CC RES 03-013 A RESOLUTION TO APPOINT AN AUDITOR
FOR THE CITY' S FINANCIAL RECORDS
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CITY OF ST. ANTHONY
RESOLUTION 01-013
A RESOLUTION APPOINTING A CITY
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of St. Anthony that the law firm of
�os�-P,r,U�en-I�elL,�j�g�Qr_�w �yPueY` is hereby appointed as the City Prosecuting
Attorneys for the City of St. Anthony for the year 2001.
Adopted this day of J a.n u-4a-r , 2001.
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ATTEST:
City Clerk
Reviewed by Administration:
City Ma ager
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01/05/2001 10:26 FAX 612 789 2109 F W H B LAW OFFICE Q002
]'®STIES, WENTZlE]LL. 14 EDUACIC & IRR EVER, LLC
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
THOMASN
E. BREVER SUITE 201 ANTHONY PLACE
of HEOBACK 2855 A-wTFNSo
.OE
LANE S .
OSEI'H A. WENTZELL� ST. ANTHONY, MN 55418
1 RosErrr J. FOSTER
PEGGY J. HEOBACK TELEPHONE: (612) 789-1331
LESLIE M. WrrrERsci4E11v FAX: (612) 789-2109
*ALO Anmrrr$o nv TEXAS E-MAIL: fwRb®fowb-1aw.com
OF COUNSEL:
SARAH MARTIN ARENOT January 5, 2001
STEVEN P. CARLSON
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Mr. Michael Mornson, City Manager VIA FAX: 612- 781-9323
City of St. Anthony
3301 Silver Lake Road
St. Anthony, MN 55418
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RE: Prosecution Contract- City of St. Anthony
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Dear Mike:
This will confirm our discussions regarding our proposal for providing prosecution services to the
City of St. Anthony. After meeting with you and representatives of the Police Dept., we have agreed
that we would accept the following as our flat rate monthly fee for those prosecution services:
l. Year 2001 - $4,000.00 per month;
2. Year 2002 - $5,000.00 per month; and
3. Year 2003 - $6,000.00 per month.
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I understand that each appointment,pursuant to this schedule, will be for only one year and the City
would have to continue to be satisfied with the services that we provide l:efore an additional year
appointment will occur.
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If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I would ask that you advise me if you
think it is appropriate that either myself or someone from our staff be at the City Council hearing
scheduled for January 9, 2001.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
S' s,
I
rt J. F sten
RJF:dk
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: January 4, 2001
TO: Mike Mornson, City Manager
FROM: Roger Larson, Finance Director
ITEM: PROSECUTIONS/ATTORNEY COSTS
I reviewed the proposed increase in attorney fees for prosecution services from Foster,
Wentzell, Hedback & Brever. Their proposed fees are is follows:
1) 2001 $4,000 monthly retainer ($48,000 annual)
2) 2002 $5,000 monthly retainer ($60,000 annual)
3) 2003 $6,000 monthly retainer ($72,000 annual)
Upon review of the hours the firm spends on prosecutions (approximately 750 hours
annually) the current compensation of$36,000 equates to $48.00 per hour.
• Since having been appointed prosecutors in 1995 they have implemented several
services not previously provided to the City, such as DWI forfeiture cases, which
increased the time spent on prosecutions by 15%.
It seems fair that the firm receives equitable compensation for their prosecution
services, the increased workload created by new law and the additional services they
provide.
Foster/Brever seem relatively comfortable with an effective hourly rate of$80.00 to
$90.00 per hour. The proposed increase for 2001 equates to an hourly rate of$64.00,
2002, $80.00 and $96.00 in 2003.
Included in the 2001 budget was an appropriation of$37,000 for prosecution services,
which is considerably less than the amount they are asking. Presently, municipal court
fines generate $85,000 to $100,000 annually.
It would be my recommendation that the increase in costs for 2001 be absorbed by the
annual fine revenue that St. Anthony receives. Preparation of the 2002 & 2003 budgets
would reflect the increased costs of prosecution services.
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MEMO
DATE: January 4, 2001
TO: Mike Morrison, City Manager
FROM: Dick Engstrom, Chief of Police 6-Z '
RE: 2001 Appointment for Prosecution Services
The St. Anthony Police Department strongly supports the continuance of the Foster, Wentzell,
Hedback& Brever LLC firm for prosecution services.
Our department has developed a great relationship with the prosecutors over the past several
years, and have found that the city attorney's office has handled all of our cases in an efficient
and expeditious manner.
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F®STEPt, WENTZELL. 14EDUACK PREV ER, LLC
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
• THOMAS E. BREVER SUITE 201 ANTHONY PLACE
JOHN A. EIEDBACK 2855 ANTHONY LANE SO.
JOSEPH A. WENTZELL' ST. ANTHONY, MN 55418
ROBERT J. FOSTER
PEGGY J. MEDBACK TELEPHONE: (612) 789-1331
LESLIE M. WITTERSCHEIN FAX: (612) 789-2109
*A[_So ADMITTED [N TEXAS E-MAIL: fwhbQfowb-law.corn
OF COUNSEL:
SARAH MARTIN ARENOT
STEVEN P. CARLSON
December 14, 2000
The Honorable Dennis Cavanaugh
Mayor of St. Anthony
3301 Silver Lake Road
St. Anthony, Minnesota 55418
Re: 2001 Appointment for Prosecution Services
• Dear Mayor yo Cavanaugh:
This correspondence will serve as confirmation of this firm's continuing interest in
being reappointed the prosecuting attorneys for the City of St. Anthony for 2001. As
you are no doubt aware, we have served as the City's prosecuting attorneys since April
of 1995 and are very proud of our long standing commitment to providing high
quality, reasonably priced prosecution and related services.
Since our having first been appointed city prosecutors, we have implemented several
services not previously provided to the City. Particularly, we are proud of the month
end case summaries, complaint status reports and case disposition reports. These
documents have provided the City with a monthly report of this office's activities. We
are also very proud of the working relationship and open line of communication we
have developed with the Police Department and its dedicated officers and
administrative staff. With the help of the Department, we have developed a level of
professional trust and confidence, not often found in similar relationships.
Since our initial undertaking, several changes in the law have required us to implement
new procedures and undertake additional responsibilities not originally contemplated.
• For example, recent legislation requires our office, as the prosecuting attorneys, to
handle DWI vehicle forfeitures in civil court proceedings. In discussions you may
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• Mayor Cavanaugh
December 14, 2000
Page Two
have had with Police Department administration you have no doubt learned of the
substantial amount of Department resources and additional burdens the DWI forfeiture
law has required of the police. The same is true of our office. Since the new law has
gone into effect, we have spent a great deal of time and energy in the prosecution of
DWI forfeiture, which was not contemplated in our original compensation package. In
addition, there has been a consistent increase in our caseload which requires the
commitment of additional attorney time and resources.
In 1998 this office had 704 calendar appearances on behalf of the City, which resulted
in fines and costs being ordered by the Courts in the amount of $42,071.00. In 1999
these numbers increased to 839 and $55,094.00, respectively. Based on our numbers
to date, we project these numbers to increase in 2000 to 955 and $68,294.00. The
demands on this office to maintain our past level of service have consistency increased
since our initial undertaking and we have no reason to believe these demands will
diminish in the upcoming year.
• It has become apparent that in order to continue to provide the high quality prosecution
and related services the City deserves, we must request an increase in our
compensation package. We are currently compensated at the flat rate of $3,000.00 per
month and have not requested or received an increase in this rate since 1997. When
this figure is broken down against the number of hours our attorneys typically dedicate
to the City each month, our effective hourly billing rate works out to be less than
$50.00 per hour. (For the first seven months of 2000, our effect hourly rate was
$47.57.) Currently, our billing rate for private clients ranges from $150.00 and
$175.00 per hour, depending on the type of case. We recognize that part of our
responsibility in serving as prosecutors for the City is to maintain a reasonable pricing
structure, which helps the City in adhering to its own budget constraints. We submit
that an effective hourly rate in the range of $80.00 to $90.00 provides sufficient
financial incentive to allow us to continue providing high quality services and will still
helps the City with its budgetary concerns. This goal rate is consistent and in line with
other firms in the area that contract for this same type of prosecution services.
Conversely, our current effect billing rate is substantially less than comparable contract
rates.
There are at least two alternatives available to the City. The first, most simple and
most predictable for City budget concerns is to simply increase the flat monthly
• retainer which would cover all prosecution and related services provided by this office.
This is the type of arrangement we currently have with the City. In order to get our
r. LI3o
• Mayor Cavanaugh
December 14, 2000
Page Three
effective hourly rate in line, the City would have to increase the monthly retainer to
somewhere between $5,500.00 to $6,500.00.
The second option would be to combine a monthly retainer with an hourly fee. In the
case of a prior municipal client, we had a flat fee that covered administrative services
(report, complaints, etc.) and arraignment, pretrial appearances and court trials with an
hourly fee for jury trials. With the new legislation on DWI forfeitures, we would
anticipate including these cases on the hourly basis as well. Under this type of
compensation package, our monthly flat fee retainer would have to be increased to the
$4,500.00 range with the hourly rate at $85.00. The main difficulty with this type of
compensation package is the uncertainty it causes with the City's budget. Depending
on the number of jury trials and DWI forfeitures cases that are scheduled in a month,
the actual billing from this office might be as little as the monthly retainer or
substantially higher. We typically have three to four jury trials scheduled in a month
with one or two DWI forfeiture matters. Fortunately, most of these trials are settled by
plea negotiation, which limits the amount of time we have to spend. However, if any
of these go to trial in a month, the fees incurred could reasonably be anticipated to be
in the range of $1,000 to $2,000 per trial. The one advantage of this method, however,
is that the monthly billing would be a more accurate reflection of the amount of time
and resources dedicated by this office on a monthly basis.
We are open and anxious to discuss the options and the precise terms available to both
parties that could be reached upon mutual consent. We recognize that the suggestions
contained herein would represent a significant increase in the City's budget for
prosecution service. We do not approach this subject lightly and have already spent a
great deal of time reviewing these issues internally. It is apparent, however, that
whether from this firm or another, the City will have to experience a substantial
increase in the costs of prosecution services if it wishes to continue to receive the high
level of services it has come to expect and deserves.
Pgak ow when you would like us to be available to discuss the above.
,
arlsonkLeslVieM4itterschein
SPC:amy
• C: Michael Morrison