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Councilmember Specht referred to some of the legal questions that came up such as if there is a <br />way to save a business the City has to and asked City Attorney Knaak to comment. <br /> <br />City Attorney Knaak replied go right ahead. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht asked if City Attorney Knaak thought the City was legally required to <br />extend it then. <br /> <br />City Attorney Knaak replied he didn’t think they were required to but whether or not that is a good <br />idea in terms of policy is something that could be decided. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht replied if he understood correctly that the law says if there is a way to save <br />a business the City has to so it seemed like there was a legal obligation to extend that to save that. <br /> <br />City Attorney Knaak replied where that can come into play is if the City is taking it and they <br />challenge the taking and say it isn’t necessary the City could lose on the taking issue. He stated <br />usually it is hard to lose on a taking issue when they are dealing with highway related projects in <br />his experience. <br /> <br />Mr. Orcutt commented he doesn’t answer legal questions usually but he stated if they don’t get an <br />agreement they like, the public purpose can be questioned because they can get a road to that <br />location <br /> <br />City Attorney Knaak replied if he were on the other side that would be his tac. <br /> <br />Mr. Orcutt stated he is trying to present this in a way, not to divulge additional information, but he <br />is saying that they need to look at it from protecting the City and County because they are all in <br />this until everything is settled. He stated if they could not make a lot like this work here but the <br />City could make it work somewhere else, they have to make sure there is a reason why and it’s not <br />just the vision. He stated he is just bringing this forward and will go with whatever Council <br />decides. He asked for a relatively timely decision to move forward. <br /> <br />Councilmember Woestehoff commented he could see both sides of it and asked for a non- <br />committal perspective from everyone else. He stated he was leaning towards not extending it but <br />wanted to hear everyone else’s thoughts. He commented it sounded like Councilmember Specht <br />was more in favor of extending it. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht replied he was thinking of both as well especially if EZ Auto doesn’t want <br />to stay, the City may need to do a buy-out either way. He stated he didn’t know how a road would <br />benefit the City then. <br /> <br />Councilmember Woestehoff replied saving $4 million. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht asked if it was correct that the idea was that if the road was extended the <br />City wouldn’t buy EZ Auto, they would have to stay then. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session /July 26, 2022 <br />Page 7 of 19 <br /> <br />