Agenda - Council Work Session - 05/07/2013

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Couri & Ruppe Legal Services Proposal March 28, 2013 Page 3of13 • Employment/Personnel — We work with our clients on personnel and employment issues, from assisting in hiring to assuring that all legal requirements are followed, including developing or revising personnel policies and assisting with separation from employment issues. We have experience in a variety of employment matters, including: o Successfully defending the City of Albertville's decision to modify the duties of a maintenance employee before a Veteran's Preference panel. o Negotiating employment agreements for the hiring of specific employees as well as negotiating separation agreements for those employees whose positions have been eliminated. o Advising City Councils on the process for terminating employees as a result of disciplinary violations and poor work performance. • Land Use Law — we have over the years developed and refined developer's agreements that protect the City and place the expense and burden of development on the developer, rather than on the City's taxpayers. In addition, we have developed platting checklists for items that need to be addressed through the platting process. As platting has become more complicated in the last few years, we have developed processes under which we coordinate the details of the plat recording process very closely with the City Administrator, including obtaining the letter of credit, ensuring that title is clearly in the name of the developer before recording the plat, obtaining any required subordination agreement from mortgage holders, ensuring that all declarations and covenants are properly signed and recorded, and ensuring that all documents are recorded in the proper order. This is vitally important given today's housing market in which many developers are no longer able to fmancially complete their development projects. Specifically, we have: o Assisted in development of the Albertville Outlet Mall, including negotiations with the developer and preparation of a detailed developer's agreement. o Assisted with the development of 38 acres of City -owned land for commercial/retail purposes located immediately north of the Albertville Outlet Mall. o Assisted in the preparation of hundreds of development agreements for thousands of residential, commercial and industrial lots. These agreements govern the development of various forms of housing, commercial uses and planned unit developments. These agreements are based on a "pattern" agreement approved by the City Council and typically require the Developer to pay all costs related to the installation of sanitary and storm sewer, water, streets curb and gutter.