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lls1Spvq+-J� <br />REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION <br />Department Approval <br />Date.- 10/20/08 <br />Item No..- 13.b <br />City Manager Approval <br />Item Description.- Appointment and Authorization to Negotiate Contracts for Legal Services <br />I BACKGROUND <br />2 The current contracts for legal services were approved three years ago. Pursuant to the City's <br />3 Professional Services Policy, the City sought proposals from law firms to provide contracted <br />4 legal services as City Attorney and/or City Prosecutor. <br />6 Following the City Council's most recent (August 18) discussion of the Professional Services <br />"7 Policy, City staff issued a Request for Statement of Qualifications and Proposals (RFQ) for <br />8 Legal Services. This document outlined the City's required response details that would provide <br />9 information for evaluation of firms. The document was posted on our City website, advertised on <br />I ('-) the League of Minnesota Cities website, published in the City's legal newspaper, and mailed <br />"I'll directly to 44 law firms in the Twin Cities area. The deadline for submittal of a Proposal was <br />th <br />12 September 17 <br />13 <br />14 The City received four submittals for Civil Attorney services and five submittals for Prosecuting <br />I Attorney services. All firms who responded were interviewed by panels (one each for the two <br />16 types of legal services) consisting of City staff, and each panel member evaluated the quality of <br />I 7 each law firm's responses to the RFQ, as well as to the structured interview questions. The <br />I panels each recommended selection of a firm for City legal services, consistent with the <br />19 Professional Services Policy. <br />Z::), DISCUSSION <br />2 1 The RFQ process utilized for the solicitation and evaluation of statements of qualifications and <br />22 proposals for services was consistent with the approach used in 1999, 2002 and 2005. In <br />23 addition to satisfaction of the RFQ, the process included evaluating firms in the following areas <br />24 through interview questioning.- <br />25 <br />26 Assigned personnel & experience,, Cost savings techniques, preventive law, depth of experience <br />27 in a number of categories (human resources, labor relations, litigation, real estate, land use & <br />2, zoning, etc), development & redevelopment, retainer, communication & conflict of interest. <br />29 <br />3�,,:-) The panelists scored the firms and those results were tabulated for comparison purposes. Each <br />3 1 panel also held a debriefing with the City Manager focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of <br />32 each firm,, their ultimate recommendation and their rationale. <br />34 The interview committees unanimously selected the following firms for legal services.- <br />Page I of 2 <br />