Resolution - #96-02-039 - 02/27/1996

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Councilmember Beyer introduced the following resolution and moved for its adoption: RESOLUTION 096-02-039 RESOLUTION APPROVING ALLOCATION AUTHORIZING PAYMENT THEREOF OF DAMAGES AND NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RAMSEY, ANOKA COUNTY, STATE OF MINNESOTA, as follows: Section 1. ]3.ac, kgI.o, ll~. 1.1. That the City of Ramsey is a defendant in the cases of Starks v. Minneapolis Police Recruitment System, et al.; Hennepin County District Court File No. EM93-219, and Fields v. Minnesota Police Recruitment system, et al.; District Court File No. EM93-218. 1.2. That the Court has concluded in said actions that the defendants violated Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 363, the Minnesota Human Rights Act, in the administration of the Minnesota Police Recruitment System (MPRS) testing process for entry level police officers employment screening and that defendants are obligated to pay certain damages and penalties. 1.3. That in its order dated November 6, 1995, the Court determined that the defendant cities are obligated to pay $156,688 in damages for lost wages and emotional distress. 1.4. That the Court has also determined that the MPRS, a joint powers organization of which the City is a member, or was a member at the time the actions were commenced, is obligated to pay each of the two plaintiffs punitive damages in the amount of $8,500. 1.5o That the Court has not yet made a determination as to the award of plaintiffs' costs, disbursements, and attorneys' fees. 1.6. That the Court also determined that the unlawful discrimination by the defendants can reasonably be remedied in part by paying a statutory penalty in the amount of $300,000 to the State of Minnesota, or in lieu of such penalty establishing a reasonable minority race hiring commitment satisfactory to the Court. In the event a hiring commitment is submitted to the Court which is found to be satisfactory, it may be that the payment of a statutory penalty will not be required. 1.7. That the MPRS has proposed that the payment of monetary damages to the plaintiffs described above in paragraph 1.3, punitive damages described above in paragraph 1.4 and plaintiffs' costs, disbursements and attorneys' fees be allocated among the parties on the following basis. 20% of such costs would be divided equally among the 36 city defendants. 80% of such damages would be divided pro rata on the basis of the population served by the cities police departments as of the time the actions were commenced in January of 1993. Such population would be determined on the basis of Metropolitan Council estimates for cities in the metropolitan area. For communities outside of the metropolitan area the population would be determined by the State Demographer's estimates. For communities with service contracts under which police service is provided to other municipalities, the populations of such other municipalities would be included in the computation of population served.