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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, July 12, 2010 Page 10 Councilmember Roe noted that, if no action was taken tonight, it did not preclude taking action in the future, and allowed the City to reserve the option fora specif- ic project with major contamination, should the City decide to pursue such action. Councilmember Johnson expressed his confidence in the recommendation brought forward by staff; and congratulated staff on the grants received to-date and their cooperative relationship with those granting agencies. Councilmember Johnson opined that he saw potential tax dollars being wasted on attorney fees in attempting to determine responsible parties, noting the multiple users and types of business; and spoke in support of staff's recommendation. Councilmember Ihlan noted the minimal amount of public monies that could be spent on attorney's fees compared to that spent on clean-up; alleging that there may be parties out there that the City didn't want to bring action against, and if so, suggested that this be discussed publically. Mayor Klausing expressed confusion with Councilmember Ihlan's statement, and questioned if she was making allegations of staff and/or individual Councilmemb- ers. Councilmember Ihlan questioned the motivation for the Council majority saying "no," to seeking recovery, at a minimum a legal opinion and investigative report to determine potential liability of those parties, at which time the City Council can decide whether or not to take action; and suggested that it seemed something was blocking the City Council taking such action; and spoke in support of more inves- tigation into the matter. Mayor Klausing briefly reviewed the Request for Council Action (RCA) and staffl s strong and compelling recommendation for not incurring additional ex- penses at this time, using the multiple owners and uses of one parcel as an exam- ple. Mayor Klausing noted that mechanisms were in place to recover costs; and expressed his agreement with Councilmember Ihlan's moral outrage and frustra- tion in not holding those past property owners and users accountable; however, he noted the practicality of the expense and ultimate success of such a process. Councilmember Pust opined that it was critical to be clear with the public that the contamination in the rights-of--way that the City controls has been or will be cleared up and those costs paid back by developers, at a zero net cost to the pub- lic. Councilmember Pust noted that the issue under discussion was that if some- one else legally caused the contamination but no longer in business, how to hold them accountable. Councilmember Pust noted that staffls analysis was that the $110,000 spent of public funds to-date would be paid back through the allocation agreement with future developers, and that the earth would be cleaned up without cost to the public.