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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, July 20, 2009 Page 10 monies to pay for clean-up, specifically on Roseville Properties parcels, and that while this may be prudent upfront, she would like those having polluted the land to pay for its clean up. Councilmember Ihlan opined that it was imperative that private parties and landowners be identified and would be well worth the City's investment to research, while taking steps to preserve those claims to avoid any potential future collection from those responsible parties. Councilmember Ihlan recognized that this research would take time and money; however, she opined that the end result would provide a good investment of public dollars to allow re- covery of substantially more monies for environmental remediation. Councilmember Johnson sought clarification on what criteria would be used for those former property owners/users unable to be identified and held accountable compared to those easily identified, and payment by future developers as a cost of the land. Councilmember Ihlan opined that a legal analysis of potential claims was neces- sary; otherwise the City would be spending public monies to recover costs. Councilmember Ihlan suggested use of funds currently being expended in build- ing infrastructure, or using TIF monies for an investigative report. Mayor Klausing concurred to the extent that responsible parties could be identi- fied; however, he noted that the problem appeared to be to hire an environmental consultant to examine available reports to-date; and then an inspection of proper- ties to determine contaminants, then identifying who contributed to that contami- nation. Mayor Klausing asked how Councilmembers proposed to accomplish on- site inspections and soil borings on private properties. Councilmember Johnson suggested that, as property developed, that analysis would seem to be a natural process in development moving forward without City involvement. Mayor Klausing concurred, noting that it would depend on the nature of devel- opment and how much clean up was required. Councilmember Pust noted that the previous Council request for more informa- tion that had been provided by staff via the potential causes of action. Council- member Pust opined that the need remained for an analysis of who the property owners were over time, and that this information was available through title searches on each respective property and whether those previous owners remained viable resources for financial recovery, and could be achieved by requesting pub- licrecords. Councilmember Roe concurred with Councilmember Pust; however, noted that the legal opinion as outlined was for information purposes only, and not pursuing further environmental issues. Councilmember Roe opined that, as a particular de-