Agenda - Council Work Session - 05/07/2013

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Couri & Ruppe Legal Services Proposal March 28, 2013 Page 4 of 13 o Assisted in the development of a financing plan, the acquisition of the necessary right of way and the levying of special assessments for the addition of an exit ramp at the intersection of CSAH 19 and Interstate 94 in Albertville. o Assisted with the establishment of sewer and water service in St. Augusta, South Haven, and Blomkest including the acquisition of property through eminent domain and the special assessment of benefiting properties. • Ordinances and Resolutions — We have drafted and reviewed hundreds of ordinances, including zoning and subdivision ordinances, nuisance ordinances, right of way ordinances, housing maintenance ordinances, sign ordinances, adult use ordinances, licensing ordinances, personnel ordinances, administrative fine ordinances, and liquor ordinances, to name a few. In addition, we have assisted in the complete codification of City ordinances. We also routinely draft and review resolutions as requested by clients. • Planning and Zoning — Our firm has processed several hundred variance and conditional use requests for our City and Township clients. In addition, we have written zoning and subdivision ordinances for a City that previously had none and have undertaken comprehensive zoning ordinance reviews and revisions for several clients. We routinely perform legal reviews of zoning and subdivision applications and assist in the drafting of findings of fact to support the decision of the City Council on these applications. • Election Law — We work with our clients to ensure that elections are run in an efficient manner and that all legal requirements are met. We have also worked with our clients when ballot or other problems arise to find solutions within the legal framework provided by the Legislature and the Courts. • Environmental Law — We have assisted several clients in processing AUARs and EAWs accompanying significant development applications related to proposed commercial developments and mining and processing operations. • Ordinance Enforcement — We work with all of our clients to enforce their ordinances. We have clients who enforce only major health and safety issues and other clients who focus a significant amount of their resources on enforcing every aspect of their code. We work with the City Council to determine a policy and strategy for enforcement and then implement that policy as necessary. We follow escalating steps to enforce ordinances with the least cost to the city but have taken enforcement issues to court when warranted and requested by the City.