Agenda - Council - 04/13/2010 - Special

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CASE # • CONSIDER BID PROTEST RELATING TO THE EAST MEANDERING PARK PROJECT By: William K. Goodrich, City Attorney Background: Council will recall that on March 30, 2010, it accepted the apparent low responsible bid of Gohman's Construction Co. for consideration of the East Meandering Park Project. Gohman's base bid was accepted together with alternate bids A, B, C, D and N for a total contract price of $2,226,708.51. At the time of the bid acceptance, Council discussed with staff certain alleged bid irregularities raised by the second low bidder, Peterson Companies, Inc. The City sent a Notice of Award to Gohman on March 31, 2010. On April 1, 2010, the City received a letter from Peterson's legal counsel detailing what they believe to be significant bid irregularities and stating that the City "...may not execute the Project contract with Gohman, but must instead accept Peterson's bid as the lowest responsive, responsible bidder. If the City does not do this, Peterson will take remediate legal action to enforce the Minnesota procurement laws." We have referred this letter to the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust (LMCIT) who has agreed to represent/defend the City relating to this matter. LMCIT has assigned the case to the Kennedy and Graven law firm who will have an attorney at the City Council meeting to discuss and give legal advice to the Council. Because there may be privileged attorney/client communications from the City's legal counsel on the Peterson allegations, the Council may be asked to consider closing portions of the meeting. Enclosure: April 1, 20101etter from the Fabyanske law firm Funding Source: N/A Council Action: Based on discussion with legal counsel Reviewed by: City Attorney City Administrator Special CC: 04/13/10