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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, October 20, 2008 Page 8 Mr. Malinen addressed how firms were identified for solicitation; the process fol- lowed in 1999, 2002, 2005 and continual upgrading of the list of qualified firms, in addition to seeking input from other peer agencies and member affiliations re- lated to municipal government; receipt of four responses for City Attorney ser- vices, and five responses for City Prosecutor services; and interviews held with all responding firms. Mr. Malinen advised that two panels of staff, consisting of Department Heads, had performed one-hour interviews with both sets of attorney firms; with Depart- ment Heads, Police Department Executive staff team; and the Community Devel- opment Director participating in interviews for City Prosecutor services. Mr. Ma- linen advised that, following the interviews, the panel had reviewed each proposal and the interview responses, in addition to reviewing each firm's background in human and labor relations, litigation, land use, and zoning; as well as prosecution background as it related to each service. Mr. Malinen advised that the panels then made their recommendations to him; and he considered the panels' rationale for their recommendations. Mr. Malinen advised that, in the end, the panels were unanimous in their recom- mendations for reappointment of the incumbent firms for both City Attorney and City Prosecutor services. Mr. Malinen advised that, upon ratification by the City Council of his recommen- dations, he would negotiate contracts with each firm and return to the City Coun- cil for final contract approval. Mayor Klausing noted budget-related comments from Councilmember Roe's memorandum related to City Attorney and City Prosecutor legal services and pur- suing the apparent low bidders for those services in 2009; noting that he had sat in on the interviews for City Attorney. Discussion among Councilmembers and City Manager Malinen included cost dif- ferentials from a dollar and/or responsiveness viewpoint; each firm's level of competence and experience; and consideration of overall price in consideration of recommended firms; how each firm' monthly retainer was determined. Councilmember Ihlan concurred with Councilmember Roe's concerns related to bids; noting that the recommendation from staff was to go with the highest bidder for each service. Councilmember Ihlan opined that it would be helpful to have a public sense of the bid range; and noted that if the City Council ratified this rec- ommendation, it would not be following their established and ongoing policy in limiting the number of terms for consulting attorneys and/or other consultant ser- vices, eliminating competitive services. Councilmember Ihlan opined that part of the consideration of incumbent firms should be based on their past advice and performance records for the City during their previous terms.