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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday, April 21, 2014 <br /> Page 2 <br /> 3. Public Comment <br /> Mayor Roe called for public comment by members of the audience on any non-agenda <br /> items. <br /> a. Ron Bowen, Representative of Prairie Restorations, Princeton, MN (with five <br /> other locations around the state) <br /> Mr. Bowen stated that his had been one of the firms requested to bid through a <br /> Request for Proposals (RFP) process on a project for the City of Roseville to <br /> manage its natural resources. Mr. Bowen advised hat his concern was that the <br /> City may not get good value from the apparent selected contractor, Stantec, a Ro- <br /> seville firm. While often competing with this firm, Mr. Bowen advised that they <br /> typically were involved in general consultant work, while his firm was the con- <br /> tractors for projects. Mr. Bowen opined that the selected firm didn't have the <br /> wherewithal to do the work requested by the City; and expressed concern that <br /> they had even been allowed to bid; and further opined that he found the entire <br /> process subject to criticism and review. Further, Mr. Bowen stated that the bid <br /> results and information, all public information, had not been made available to the <br /> public or other contractors, making them unable to know the scores and the bid- <br /> ding process followed. Even though repeated attempts have been made to obtain <br /> the data, Mr. Bowen stated that it had been denied. Mr. Bowen also expressed his <br /> frustration in the notice or lack thereof of the information meeting held following <br /> the process and concern that their firm had not been invited to attend. Mr. Bowen <br /> recognized that the City Council retained up to two weeks to accept the contract; <br /> and if they do so, Mr. Bowen opined that it would be an unfortunate decision by <br /> the City Council in awarding a bid to a firm not sufficiently qualified to do this <br /> substantial job. <br /> Mayor Roe thanked Mr. Bowen for his comments; and asked that City Manager <br /> Trudgeon and Parks & Recreation Director Lonnie Brokke follow-up with him <br /> tonight to get his contact and other pertinent information. <br /> b. Tim Callaghan, 3062 Shorewood Lane <br /> Mr. Callaghan provided a history of the lane built in front of his home 10-15 years <br /> ago, at which time the City apparently found a number of driveways that didn't <br /> meet code at that time, and required variances. Mr. Callaghan opined that he had <br /> seen this same occurrence throughout Roseville a lot; and then four weeks ago, <br /> when the University of Northwestern presented their plan to add lights and rebuild <br /> their athletic field stadium, including rebuilding their sound system, they were not <br /> required to have a variance, with the excuse that they were "grandfathered in." <br /> Mr. Callaghan alleged that the City was therefore illegally treating one party dif- <br /> ferently than another, and had made a mistake. However, Mr. Callaghan stated <br /> that he was willing to go with that, since none of the City's zoning regulations any <br /> longer applied to him anymore, as his property was also "grandfathered in." Mr. <br /> Callaghan advised that he intended to restart his well, and would not pursue a <br /> permitting process, as he was "grandfathered in;" and if the City disagreed with <br />