Agenda - Council Work Session - 04/27/2021

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CC Work Session 2.2. Meeting Date: 04/27/2021 By: Colleen Lasher, Administrative Services Information Title: Discuss Seeking Proposals for City Attorney Purpose/Background: Council Members Howell and Musgrove have requested council consideration of seeking proposals for city attorney. The last time the city requested proposals for city attorney was in 2013. At that time, an RFP (Request for Proposals) was issued by the city for all legal service, both civil services and prosecution. In the previous process, the City Council interviewed seven of the law firms who had submitted proposals in answer to the City's RFP for City Attorney - Civil and Prosecution Services. Following the interviews, the City Council chose to keep the prosecutor, and selected a new civil attorney. Retainer proposals were requested from the final two civil firms and staff conducted telephone interviews with each of their references, prior to the selection of a finalist. The process took approximately 4 months to complete. The civil attorney is commonly referred to as the City Attorney and is the person/firm that provides legal counsel to the city council and city staff, reviews ordinances, resolutions, and contracts, plus provides advice and counsel on real estate transactions, land use and zoning issues, human resource issues, and the like. The city prosecuting attorney works almost exclusively with the Police Department on the prosecution of criminal cases. The current City Attorney is Joseph Langel of the firm Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A., and prosecution services are provided by Eckberg, Lammers Attorneys at Law. The City policy is to review outside professional contracts on a 3-5 year basis, and has been extended annually beyond that with Council approval, The current City Attorney contract has been in place since 2013. The current City Attorney contract may be canceled by either party with a 30-day notice. The current contract is attached as reference. Observations/Alternatives: The RFP process is used both to check market pricing for services and to consider options for different representation. Contracts with professional services are generally in -place for a minimum of five years (and often longer) due to the time required for the RFP process, the advantage of accumulated history with the organization, and the inefficiencies of transition. Recommendation: Consider an RFP for legal services, civil and/or prosecution, based on Council discussion. Action: Based upon discussion. Attachments 2013 RFP