ITEM 3.13 Transition Plan for Legal Services44
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DEPARTMENT INFORMATION
Request for
City Council Action
ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT
REQUESTOR:
MEETING DATE:
Legal
Former City Attorney MacArthur
January 13, 2020
PRESENTER(s)
REVIEWED BY:
ITEM #:
Consent
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty
3.13
STRATEGIC VISION
MEETS:
THE CITY OF OTSEGO:
X
Is a strong organization that is committed to leading the community through innovative
communication.
Has proactively expanded infrastructure to responsibly provide core services.
Is committed to delivery of quality emergency service responsive to community needs and
expectations in a cost-effective manner.
Is a social community with diverse housing, service options, and employment opportunities.
Is a distinctive, connected community known for its beauty and natural surroundings.
AGENDA ITEM DETAILS
RECOMMENDATION:
City staff recommends that the City Council approve a Transition Plan for Legal Services.
ARE YOU SEEKING APPROVAL OF A CONTRACT?
IS A PUBLIC HEARING REQUIRED? f
Yes
No
BACKG RO U N D/J USTI F I CATI O N:
Attached is a proposed Transition Plan for Legal Services for Council approval. It is important that there be
a smooth transfer of issues and files. The proposed Transition Plan addresses the transfer of existing files,
completion of some ongoing files, and review of the retained files of the City and Township currently in my
possession. I believe that it be most cost effective for me to review these files as they were produced by
my office and my predecessor office, I have unique knowledge of the file contents and have institutional
knowledge of the relevance of various files and documents. At some point they would have to be reviewed
by the City for data retention purposes.
I believe that the attached Transition Plan for Legal Services is a fair, reasonable and cost effective plan
which will result in a smooth transition of legal services.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the City Council and all City staff for their support over the
years. It has been a pleasure working for the City of Otsego and seeing it develop and grow over the years. I
appreciate being involved in the process and having made some small contribution to the City. Good luck
to all of you!
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
0 Transition Plan for Legal Services
TRANSITION PLAN FOR LEGAL SERVICES
The following proposal is for an orderly procedure for transition of legal files in progress, later identified
files and issues, and review of voluminous existing files to be transferred to the City of Otsego.
As of January 1, 2020, all City Attorney issues will be submitted to the new City Attorney. In order to
create an orderly transition, I will continue working on the following items, most of which have already
been commenced and just need to be finalized.
1. Complete Developer's Agreement and related matters for Parkview Retail (Coborns).
2. Complete Developer's Agreement and related matters for Parrish Meadows.
3. Complete Developers Agreement and related matters for Harvest Run East, as previously
approved or as subsequently amended.
4. Complete transaction with ISD No. 728 for purchase of municipal well site.
5. Complete notices and resolutions for additions to the North Mississippi Storm Water District.
6. Any minor miscellaneous incomplete matters as determined by review of files.
I will consult as needed with City staff or the new City Attorney regarding matters as determined by the
City Administrator. I will complete the following items up to execution of the agreement or completion
of the process. Once I have completed my work all matters related to ongoing enforcement,
modification, interpretation, addendum or further related agreements (such as additional development
phases) will be a matter for the new City Attorney.
I am open to working on additional projects that could benefit from my institutional knowledge at the
discretion of the City.
I also have approximately 100 boxes of files belonging to the City which date from Township days in the
1980s. I have stored these files at a storage facility at my expense over the last eight years. They are City
property and properly should be in the custody of the City.
I propose to review these files in order to determine what material can be destroyed and what should
be retained for City purposes. I will review them for historical significance, legal documents, personnel
issues, essential documents and will determine whether or not the City has copies or originals of the
documents to be preserved. Those documents that are no longer needed will be marked for destruction,
subject to the City retention schedule and other rules and statutes. Those documents to be retained will
be reviewed for duplication, and if not duplicated will be integrated into existing City files.
I will begin review of the files by concentrating on the last five years in order to identify any files that
need immediate attention or need to be transferred to the new City Attorney. I will provide
transmission memos to the new City Attorney for any files that need to be transferred to his attention.
Once the initial review of the previous five years has been completed, I will proceed to review the older
files and work my way forward. It is most likely that the bulk of the work will relate to the files within the
last fifteen years.
I propose to review the files over the next six months. The estimated time to complete the task is 80-
120 hours. This work would be done at $150.00 per hour, to be billed monthly.
The specific items listed above that I will continue to work on or are subsequently identified will be done
at the same rate as the new City Attorney for both general and pass through work, also to be billed
monthly.
The City Council or MacArthur Law Office, LLC may terminate this proposal at any time upon 30 days
written notice to the other party.
PROPOSAL ACCEPTED BY CITY OF OTSEGO
Dated:
Jessica Stockamp, Mayor
Tami Loff, City Clerk
Dated:
MACARTHUR LAW OFFICE
Andrew MacArthur