6.1. SR 01-16-1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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r I ---\) ( ); ~l~ ITEM 6.1. MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor & City Council FROM: Pat Klaers, City Ad~!~tr January 16, 1995 .~ DATE: SUBJECT: Review Municipal Utilities Legal Bill During the review of the legal bills in December, 1994, the Council requested that one bill be forwarded to the Utilities Commission for their consideration. At the January 9, 1995, City Council meeting, a request was made to reconsider this action and the Council asked for additional information on this issue. e In order to clear up any misunderstandings, it should be noted that the Utilities have not paid for any City legal expenses for work on the employment contract for the General Manager. However, I understand that there were questions this past summer regarding a Larkin, Hoffman bill for services associated with the electrocution lawsuit. In this regard, it was requested that the City Attorney be in attendance at the deposition from the General Manager, and, subsequently, the Utilities were billed for the services related to this activity. Additionally, it should be noted that the City has paid approximately $2,700 for legal services to address the employment agreement legal compliance question. This opinion was requested by the Finance Director for the City Audit. At that time, it was assumed that this would be almost all of the expenses that the City would have regarding this employment contract issue and the City simply paid this bill as a general fund legal expenditure. Unfortunately this was not the last bill for legal services related to this issue, and when I reviewed the most recent bill for activities that took place shortly before the 11/14/94 joint Utilities/City Council meeting, I requested that the Finance Director log this expenditure as a self insurance fund activity. The thinking was that this expense for legal services was a pro-active expenditure to keep the City out of a potential future lawsuit. Attached for your review is the most recent bill from Larkin, Hoffman regarding activity on the General Manager's employment contract. Employment law is a very technical, time consuming, and ever changing legal issue. I hope the above information helps the City Council come to a consensus on this issue. If you have any questions on this topic, please feel free to contact me. e council: legalbil 13065 Orono Parkway. P.O. Box 490. Elk River, MN 55330. (612) 441-7420. Fax: (612) 441-7425