Agenda - Council - 04/13/2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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stated that right now she is a little short staff to give this process to and reiterated that Ms. Ruehle is so familiar with the process and the people involved. Councilmember Elvig stated that The Tinklenberg Group was brought on board to help with transportation and it made sense at the time. We started looking at Highway #10 — how to build it — what do we need ... The Tinklenberg Group laid that out for us. They brought RALF to us. We heard Ms. Ruehle was wonderful to work with from some of the property owners — even some of the difficult property owners. He expressed concern with staff taking on so much more work. Councilmember Wise stated that the deal with RALF — if we pay twice as much to get twice as much done — we break even. Councilmember McGlone inquired how many years the City has been using The Tinklenberg Group to which Director of Public Works Olson replied roughly six years. Councilmember McGlone stated he would always advocate for hiring a professional. He thought it would have cost us a lot more in the long run to have staff do this process and he felt this is a much better way to handle it. He stated he does not have a problem with The Tinklenberg Group and he feels the value is there — way more than what our staff could have dreamed of bringing us. Councilmember Dehen stated he is advocating for doing this with our own attorney to get equal bargaining. He expressed concern with that we keep hiring these different people and he would rather work with just one. Director of Public Works Olson stated that we have to have an RFP in order to receive federal funds and it takes a long time. One of the reasons we are successful is because we have The Tinklenberg Group talking to the Met Council on our behalf. Mr. Olson inquired of Mayor Ramsey if the Council is seriously considering stopping this process to which Mayor Ramsey stated this needed discussion. Councilmember Wise inquired how many of these property owners are sitting holding their breath for more money down the road. Mayor Ramsey stated that is his point — maybe they want to sell for a little less. ICO is basically a done deal but we need to talk about future properties. Councilmember Look inquired if Councilmember Wise is advocating for paying more than it's worth to which Councilmember Wise replied no. Councilmember Look stated that he is not opposed to using The Tinklenberg Group if they are bringing value to the table and he realized that staff had a lot going on right now. City Attorney Goodrich stated, to address Councilmember Dehen's concerns, Ms. Ruehle is very amiable to working however we want. We could reduce what she does and bring that $10,000 figure down. City Council Work Session — March 2, 2010 Page 6 of11