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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP May 4, 1978 . . ANDOVER ~ 01 SPSGIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING - MAY 4, 1978 I!I'IUTES A Special I!eeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by I!ayor Jerry ll,Tindschitl on Hay 4, 1978, 7:30 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW for the plrpose of interviewing applicants for appointment as City Attorney. Counciluersons ~resent: Lachinski, McClure, Orttel, Vanderlaan Council-persons absent: None Also present: City Clerk, p. K. Lindquist The following lawfirms were scheduled for interviews commencing at 7:30 p.m., and allowing 30 minutes per interview: Babcock, Locher, Nßilson, Manella Burke & Hawkins Dorn & Berglund Darrell A. Jensen & Associates (Patrick Kelly) Steffen, I!unstenteiger, Bearse, Beans, Parta, Peterson Mayor Windschitl explained the procédure for the interviews would be to allow the applicants the first five minutes for any comments they wish to make; then to rotate questions from Council members, and finally allow the applicants a few minu tes for summation. Babcock. Locher. Neilson. Manella (7:30 p.m.) 8d Babcock and Landall Locher represented the firm giving a brief background of the firm's experience, individual experiences of the lawyers within the firm and the specialization of each member of the firm. Afterwards the Council asked questions relating to which member of the firm would be present at the Council meetings, the policy of charging for phone calls from public officials and from residents, experience with comprehensive planning as it relates to the Metropolitan Land Use Planning Act, if the firm is involved in anything that would give rise to a conflict of interest while working for the City of Andover, the rate charged by the firm for services rendered, the training of their associates, and their opinion of the junkyard situation within the City of Andover. · Babcock, Locher is presently a 10-man office with locations in Anoka and Northtown. I!r. Babcock has been practicing in Anoka since 1953 with emphasis in municipal representation (specifically in 8 municipalities and 3 school districts at present), real estate work, and trial work. The law firm works as a team with emphasis on specialization within the firm, and Mr. Babcock reviewed the members of the lawfirm and the speciality of each lawyer. In addition, they employ two law clerks and three legal assistants. The office procedure is to have the work done by the person who bills at the lowest rate who is competent to do the work. }~. Locher is handling the prosecutions for the City of Andover at this time, and he gave a brief background of his experiences and the procedures for prosecutions. Mr. Locher also stated there was quite a backlog at the time he started prosectuions the middle of January, but it is now caught up. · Hr. Babcock stated he would handle the City of Andover business and be in attendance at the Council meetings. Tom Durke would be the person backing him up if he is unavailable, although he has not had any active municipal experience at this time. · !~. Babcock stated billing for public official phone calls has been done at the hourly rate of $40 an hour. He encourages this kind of consultation and said consideration might be given to going on an annual or a monthly retainer, which would take care of that problem and would result in an over-all lower fee. - SÞecial City Council Meetin~ }~a:v 4, lQ71'\ - Minutes P""e 2 (Babcock, Locher, Continued) * Concerning resident calls, 11r. Babcock stated they have not carried on any extensive ne~otiations without first clearing it with the Clerk, and they will continue to do so. Mr. Locher stated he will not acceþt a resident complaint until it has been investigated by the Sheriff's Department first. * Mr. Babcock stated the firm is abreast of what is going on relative to the Metropoli- tan~Council; they are familiar with the stat'utes; they attend seminars; and they have had some experience relative to the Metropolitan Council with other municipalities. * They knew of nothing that would create a conflict of interest and stated when representing a municipality, it is number one at all times. * Associates will do the work when they have had enough experience to satisfactorily handle a "iven situation. * ~~. Locher stated when he took over there had been 20 to 30 complaints that were backed up for better than 6 months that hadn't been drafted for the City of Andover, which exþlains the increase in attorneys fees. Twice a month he has to go to arraignments. The City of Andover happens to be on the same day as that for Oak Grove, and while there are waitin~ periods, he does do other work. * 11r. Babcock stated with vigorous prosectuion, the City can enforce the Ordinance relative to junkyards and that the City will be able to hold the line on them. He felt if there were enforcement and conformity to the Ordinance there would not be the problem. And if that were the case, it would be entirely possible that there might not be applicants. Bur ke & Ha wkins (8:05 p.m.) John Burke and Bill Hawkins represented the firm giving a brief background of their experiences and thei~ sµecializations. Afterwards the Council asked questions relating to their experience in real estate, the policy of charging for phone calls from public officials and from residents, the workload of the attorneys and the office staff they have, if the firm is involved in anything that would give rise to a conflict of interest if working for the City of Andover, the number of prosecutions from the City of Andover left when they left their previous firm in January, 1978, their opinion of the junkyard situation within the City of Andover, the relationship of the time and dollars spent on prosecutions to the recoveries, and the courtroom experiences of each. * Three months ago they opened their own office in Blaine. 11r. Hawkins noted his municipal experience both while working for Babcock, Locher, and the three municipalities the firm presently represents. !~. Burke has attended municipal meetings while with his former firm and has also gone into the litigation area. If a City's matters would go to litigation, he would handle it in the courts; whereas Mr. Hawkins would continue to do the criminal prosecutions. Since they have formed their firm, they have divided some of the duties among themselves, so they are not quite as specialized as the larger firms. * Currently ~æ. Hawkins is the attorney for several firms and handles their real estate matters, and he handled all of the real estate matters for Andover while he was the attorney with the exception of the title opinions on the plats. At this point, the ir firm would do the title opinion work and felt capable of handling all those matters for the City of Andover. Hr. Burke has done examin: a tion of titles prior to specializing in 11 tip-a tin". !~. Hawkins also stated that in any area' of lavl, he would have no hesitancy in conferring with friends for further information. * !~. Hawkins stated he has always taken the position of not charging for public officials' phone calls. Generally he will not charge for resident calls either; although before talking extensively with them, he tells them he must receive the Clerk's or the Council's approval. Speci al City Council Heetinl', l~ay 4, lq78 - !1inutes Page 3 (Burke & Hawkins, Continued) * At this point, they felt there would be no problem with the workload of handling Andover's municipal work, as the other communities they represent are relatively small. They have an individual who is goinl', to do lel',al research for the firm and whose time will be billed on a law clerk's basis. Both of the secretaries are from the former firm and have been involved with City work. * At this point, they do not represent any developers and know of no clients that would create a conflict of interest if working for the City of Andover. * ~~. Hawkins stated there were no prosecutions left that he knew of when he left his former firm in January. Vfuen an individual does not make an appearance in response to a citation, the City Attorney is required to file a formal complaint, and there may have been a couple that had come in at tbe time he was leaving that he didn't get done. Everything else for Andover was cleared for prosecution. * !~. Hawkins felt that until the GB zoning is changed, the City is always going to be faced with junkyard expansion. Concerning the existing junkyards, the City can require them to get cleaned up, fenced, and to meet the requirements of the Ordinance. * Mr. Hawkins stated he has been handling all prosecutions for municipalities and found the more cities you can put together to get all of the matters scheduled on the same day, the more efficient it is, which also lowers the costs to the communities. He cautioned that one must be careful in looking at prosecutions as a business because sometimes the amount it takes to enforce the law exceeds the amount returned. * }~. Burke reviewed his background in court trials, notinp, his experience is largely in the civil litigation in the injury field including criminal felony actions which are all district court matters and a number of general litigation matters both in county court and district court. Municipal experience has been in the zoning-type suits as well as all the appellate work from district court and up to the Supreme Court over the past 6 years. He also noted that not all cases handled are tried as the majority are settled prior to actual trial. Darn & Berglund (8:35 p.m.) 3ill Dorn represented the firm giving a brief background of his experiences and that of the firm. Afterwards the Council asked questions relating to his experience in real estate, the policy of charging for phone calls from public officials and from residents, municipal eX'Derie:Ice, the functions }~. Dorn perfor~ed as a planner and how it can be used in work for the City of Andover relative to coordination with the Hetropolitan Council, the work- load of the attorneys, if the firm is involved in anything that would give rise to a conflict of interest if working for the City of Andover, and the litigation background of the attorneys within the firm. * !T. Dorn started the practice in Anolœ in 1973 and John Berglund has been with him since 1974. In carrying out the ~unicipal work for the City of Ham Lake, they divide the responsibilities in that !~. Dorn attends Council meetings and ~~. Berglund does the prose- cutions. Their practice is e,eneral in nature, with e~phasis in corporate work and business planning. rT. Dorn has had 5 years' experience in municipal planning prior to practicine, law. Up until this spring they operated a branch office in Han Lak~ and in the fall of 1978 plans are to put a per~anent office in the new Cedar Bank which will be located on Highway 65 in Ham Lake. * Both partners practice in the real estate area. !IT. Berglund spent several years working for a title insurance company. Their policy with regard to any public dedication is to require the abstract and title to be furnished at the early stages of the planning process. Either or both partners would do the work; however, !~. Dorn would be responsible for reporting back to the Council with any information. Special City Council Meeting May 4, 1978 - Hinutes Page 4 (Dorn & Berglund, Continued) * They don't like to discourage phone calls from pUblic officials. Hr. Dorn stated he has never billed the City of Ham Lake for such calls and has an agreement with them to that effect for calls of less than 10 minutes. They do not accept calls from private citizens unless they have previously obtained permission from a Council member or staff member. * }~. Dorn has had experience with street assessments in the City of Ham Lake. He used to plan feasibility reports for the City of Maplewood on some rather large-scale pUblic improvement projects, carrying it through to the public hearings. * The firm does not nor has it ever represented any other municipalitiE other than the City of Ham Lake. * As a planner, }~. Dorn assembled data designed to project the transportation needs of certain areas of a community, which requires a thorough knowledge of land-use planning. * He assumed the City has a comprehensive planner and felt that generally the coordination with the Metropolitan Council is performed by him. He has had little opportun- ity to deal with the Metropolitan Council. If there were a conflict with the Met Council, in certain areas his planning background would be a benefit in coordinating, especially if it dealt with transportation problems or in the area of land use. * For the past year they have been wanting to add another municipality to their practice, as he would like to get out of the area of domestic relations. It is their int~tion to hire a law graduate to take over some of the things that ~T. Berglund and ~~. Dcrn are not wanting to do any more; therefore, there will be more time to devote to municipal matters. Attending the Tuesday night Council meetings should not present a con- flict for him. * }~. Dorn didn't think he represented any clients that would present a conflict of interest if working for the City of Andover. If a potential conflict were to arise, he would represent the City first to the exclusion of all others. * !~. Berglund is the primarly person in the office to handle litigation. 1·~. Darn estimated that }~. Berglund has had a dozen jury trials in Anoka County Court and his district court activities have been confined largely to real estate actions. r·lr. Darn· s courtroom activities have been confined to family law cases in county court. He has also taken academic-type litigation and has argued a tax case before the Supreme Court. Darrell A. Jensen & Associates (9 p.m.) Patrick Kelly reuresented the firm and gave a background of his experiences and that of the firm. Afterwards the Council asked questions relating to the suggested hourly rate structure, the policy of charging for phone calls from public officials and from resident~ who would be responsible to the City of Andover as City Attorney, if the firm is involved in anything that would give rise to a conflict of interest if working for the City of Andover, experience in real estate, familiarity with the requirements and relationship of the }!etropoli tan Council to the City, his experience which would be of assistance in that area, and the litigation experience of the attorneys. * !~. Kelly explained he is new to Anoka but was the prosecutor for Sterns County in St. Cloud where he assisted the County Attorney doing some juvenile work, work for the Planning Co~mission, criminal work, and welfare depart~ent work. He has been with }~. Jensen doing Drivate civil work since October, 1977. He presently does Some civil work, some defense work for criminal cases, and 80rne juvenile cases. ." Special City Council Meeting Hay 4, 1978 - Hinutes Page 5 (Jensen & Associates/Kelly, Continued) * The hourly rate would be ~40 for official meetings and 530 for all other work, as he felt that driving to the meeting and the more intense-type work at the meeting would warrant the extra charr,e. Their normal hourly rate at the office is 545. * His policy would be to charge the regular hourly rate of ~30 an hour for phone calls from þublic officials and from residents. On resident call~ he would screen them to be sure it was official City business. * They do not represent a municipality at the present time; however, ~~. Kelly would specialize in municipalitiE as ~æ. Jensen is ~ore in personal injury insurance defense. Mr. Jensen would substitute for fIT. Kelly if it was needed. * }~. Kelly knew of no clients that would be a potential conflict of interest with the City of Andover. * lIT, Kelly would be doing the title opinions, although ~æ. Jensen would be of assistance to him. 1'~. Kelly has done title opinions, closings, deeds, etc. * I·T. Kelly has had no recent experience with the Hetropolitan Council; however, in law school he did some work for the Attorney General's Office compiling literature on the J1etropolitan Council. *The Subdivision Ordinance for Sterns County did provide !.~. Kelly with some experience with St. Cloud's zoning ordinance; but the County did not have any zoning. He worked with the City Attorney on a certain case in St. Cloud, but not with the City Council. * ~T. Kelly has had experience with everything from felonies in district court to misdemeanors in county court but has been mainly in municipal and county court levels sinae cornin~ to Anoka. !~r. Jensen is much more experienced with personal injury and defense work for insurance cornþanies. Recess at 9:15; reconvene at 9:30 p.m. Steffen. }funstenteip,er. Bearse. Beans. Parta. Peterson (9:30 p.m.) Steve Hunstenteiger and Ron Peterson represented the firm giving a brief background of the firm's experience, individual experiences of the lavryers within the firm and the specialization of each member of the firm. Afterwards the Council asked questions relating to how they would handle potential conflicts of interest, background in municipal represen- tation, the policy of charging for phone calls from public officials and from residents, the problem of absorbing the extra workload into the firm, how they would handle the case in which they are presently handling the prosecution against the City of Andover if the firm were hired to be the City Attorney this evening, the possibility of negotiation on the rate structure, the possibility of conflict with Judicare, their experience with 429 proceedings, and whether others in the firm would be called on for assistance. * They reviewed the history of the firm, which was originally started in January, 1975, by Munstenteiger and Bearse explaining how the firm grew adding new attorneys and what special area of law each member of the firm performs. Along with the 6 partners, they employ one associate. Their firm is appointed by the chief judge of the district court as the public defenders for felony criminal defense. Other areas covered are business real estate, li tiga tion, labor negotiation, and some lobbying for the attorneys council to reuresent the interests of County attorneys in reviewing legislation regarding pending chanr,es in the criminal code, etc. }~. Bearse used to be the chief prosecutor with the County Attorney's office. ... Special City Council Heetinp; l!ay 4, 1078 - Hinutes Page 6 (Steffen, Hunstenteiger, Bearse, Beens, Parta, Peterson, Continued) * As public defenders, the bud~et for their office is developed on a district-wide basis on their case load, average cost per case, etc. Assuming they were hired to represent the City of Andover, they would not handle both sides of a case. The jurisdiction they have as public defenders is in felony work, and they didn't feel the potential for conflict Was that p;reat. If it did occur, they would have to be responsible for making the arrange- ments for prosecution of the case with another lawfirm. This is also how they handle situations when conflicts arise within the firm itself. Their firm is appointed to the public defenders position and they have a budget that is approved by the court; beyond that there is no contract. HO\'18Ver, they have the responsibility to see that the defense is covered. * Hr. Eunstenteiger has never represented a City as a lawyer and his only government background is vlith the County in which he was responsible in the tax appeal process, petitions filed, conder.ma tions, general contracts, etc. He is also familiar with the ~rocess of ~ublic hearings format. Presently the firm represents the twnticello/Big Lake Hospital District. On various occasions, }~. Steffen has consulted with the City of P~rnsey on personnel ~anagernent, etc. * The firm's policy for pho~e calls is $5 per call; however, Council and Staff policy ~lus common sense would lay the ßrounds for differentiating resident phone cslls. A n0rtion of what an attorney does involves phone calls, and it should be billed. They would want a feel from the Council as to what policy would be on phone calls. Gener al ph<re calls from residents probably would not be billed; however, if the City directed them not to accept resident calls and they received a complaint, he would expect to bill that. ITenerally genUine business conducted over the phone should be billed. * They don't feel the additional workload would be a problem for them to ha~dle, because there are several people to cover the various specialties in law. Also, there is somebody in the office at all ti~es to handle situations. * Hr. Peterson noted that it is likely the Caswell case they are representing, which directly involves the City, is not going to present a problem. They would want to be fair to both sides and ethically would have to withdraw from handling either side. This particular case is set for trial May 16, which could probably mean the case would be over before the firm would assume responsibility for the City's business should it be chosen to do so,. If the City is the firm's client, their interests are paramount. In the Caswell case, making the assumption that the City won, he would have an opportunity to appeal. If the firm was appointed to City Attorney, it would not be handling that appeal on either side, and this has been discussed with ~~. Caswell. If the firm was appointed to re~re$ent Andover this evening, they would not represent Caswell in this case; however, being this close to trial, it would be al~ost fundamentally unfair to I~. Caswell to bail out, and they would feel obligated to talk to him. * If the City wants to layout direction as to how to utilize their time, they are vrillin~ to ne!!;otiate the way costs are broken down; however, the basic legal work that they do is at 140 an hour. They felt there should be a basic rate for meetings but were willing to hear Council direction on phone calls. The degree of specialization in the firm and the ability to refer cases to an individual who specializes also reduces cost. * ~~. Munstenteiger is the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Judicare, which is an organization which has contracts with private lav~ers on an individual basis rather than on a firm basis. About 80 percent of the members of the practicing bar in the County are participants, so they all handle Judicare cases. The firm has the optioo of not accepting a case; Nr. Hunstenteiger cannot accept them. because he is on the board of directors. ." Special City Council Meetin~ . Hay II, 1978 - I!inutes Pap,e 7 (Steffe, lfunstenteiger, Bearse, Beans, Parta, Peterson, Continued) . l!r , Beens is the only person in the fir~ who has ever represented a City, I!r , 11unstenteiger has been on the other side of the table relative to 429 assessment pro- ceedings and felt that every member of the firm at one time or another has represented someone contesting the adoption of an assessment, He has not gone into the bonding aspect on any regular basis, but he does expect to get involved with that with the Hospital District, Study and review is part of any practice and they do not intend to bill for the preparatory work needed to handle a particular case, Anyone within the firm would be available to the City for work; I!r, Munstenteiger and Yœ, PeteTIDn would carry the primary responsibility, If the City really wanted !1r, Beens to attend 429 proceedings, he wou Id be available, l!r, Beens is still on the Waste Control Commission, Council Discussion There was a lengthy discussion relative to the pros and cons of the law fir~$ interviewed and on the qualifications and policies most desirable for the City Attorney position, It was agreed the obvious disparity between the Babcock, Locher fir~ and Burke & Hawkins relative to the backlog of prosecutions in January when I-!r, Hawkins left Babcock, Locher must be resolved. Open Council discussion was on the desirability and advantages of having public officials being able to phone the attorney for information, on com~ring costs of the firms interviewed, on how the firms were rated by Council members relative to general rnunici~al experience, Andover municipal experience, municipal service time, expertise available or support personnel of the firms, quality of municipal experience, and overall appraisal of the firm, In checking the Babcock, Locher billing, the Clerk testified that to date only 11 complaints have been filed since the middle of January, of which 6 were dismissed, In comparing that with the co~plaints filed last year, it appears to be about the same, So there doesn't seem to be a large increase in prosecutions aince Mr. Locher took ovor. Discussion was that the statement about the backlog of complaints should be investigated further and clarified. HOTIO') by Lachinski, Seconded by HCC1ure, requesting the Administrator to request from the 3abcock, Locher firm the documentation supporting the statement made by I!r, Locher about the 20 to 30 backlog prosecution cases including the date of arrest, the date of filing of complaint, and completion, if completed, Motion carried unanimously_ Discussion continued on the 1awfir~s interviewed, It was the Council's desire to analyze the Babcock, Locher billing for the last two months prior to making a decision on the lawfir~ to represent the City, as it was the Clerk's opinion that the costs from Babcock, Locher these last two months are exceedingly high, noting some ite~s that have been higher than usual, It was agreed that a decision should not be made this evening, Because there is only o~e interview scheduled for City Administrator/Engineer on Honday, the discussion is to be co~tinued to I~y 8, 1978, 7 p.m. W1TT()'¡ by J.!cClure, Seconded by Orttel, to adjourn, All in favor said aye, ¡·!eeting adjourned at 11:05 p,m, Respectfully submitted, r <=~ --------- \\~~}U-'~S{'L CÂ_ ~L Xarce la A, Peach Recording Secretary