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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, November 23, 2009 Page 4 Councilmember Ihlan opined that, even if the District was not decertified, the City didn't need to spend the funds, with those funds coming back to General Fund revenues for other public projects. Mayor Klausing suggested that, given varying opinions of the body, they agreed to disagree. By consensus, the grant application update as prepared by staff and detailed in the Request for Council Action dated November 23, 2009 was accepted. b. Approval of Standard Agreement for Professional Services with The Cuningham Group for the Zoning Code Re-write (former Consent Item e) At the request of Mayor Klausing, Mr. Miller briefly reviewed this item, noting previous City Council action on October 26, 2009 approving this consultant to complete the Roseville Zoning Ordinance Re-write; and staff s subsequent nego- tiations with the firm, and the City Attorney's review, of the proposed Standard Agreement for Professional Services in an amount not to exceed $35,000. Councilmember Ihlan requested the item removed from the Consent Agenda to al- low individual vote, in light of the budgeting process and amount of money spent by the City for consulting services; and her desire to rethink her original vote. Councilmember Ihlan opined that the City shouldn't be hiring consultants in tough budget times, and needed to cut back now and in the 2010 budget. Coun- cilmember Ihlan further opined that City staff is capable of doing the re-write in- house; and with no intended reflection on this firm, the City had other options available. Mayor Klausing, while appreciating Councilmember Ihlan's confidence in City staff, questioned the availability of in-house staff in completing this work; noting that it was standard operating procedure to attempt to complete work in-house; but suggested that this may be a staff availability issue, as well as whether staff had the right skill set to complete this time-consuming and challenging review and re-write. Councilmember Johnson concurred with Councilmember Ihlan on the need for caution in the frequency of hiring outside consultants; however, opined that the scope of the rezoning to comply with the Comprehensive Plan warranted addi- tional help; and supported the requested action. Councilmember Pust sought clarification, and Mr. Miller confirmed, that the money was coming from the Community Development Department budget, which was fee-based and not property tax supported.