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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999 10-13 SpecialMERIDIAN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING OCTOBER 13, 1999 The special meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m. on October 13, 1999 by Mayor Robert Corrie. MEMBERS PRESENT: Robert Corrie, Charlie Rountree, Ron Anderson, Glenn Bentley, Keith Bird. OTHERS PRESENT: Bill Gordon, Will Berg. Corrie: I hear the clock out in the hallway chiming seven chimes, so it's 7:00. I'll open the special meeting for Wednesday, October 13, 1999 at 7:00 p.m., the Meridian City Council to hear presentations from applicants wish and provide legal services for the City of Meridian. Mr. Clerk, would you give us roll -call who's here today. (At which time Mr. Berg called roll) Corrie: Okay. Council, you have received in your box the request for proposal legal representation from the law firm of Hamilton, Michaelson and Hilty, LLP requesting that they be withdrawn from the decision to be one of the applicants for the City Council, excuse me, City Attorney's position, so you will have tonight, hearing from two firms for the law, I think, one of them's here anyway tonight. Before we go into this meeting, I want to make a statement that the law firm of Freeman and Foley is the law firm which I have as a personal attorney, business attorney and family attorney, and due to the conflict of interest, I'm going to step down from this hearing tonight. I think there could be a possible conflict of interest, and I think the rest of you can handle the program without any problem. So with that, any other comments from Council? Rountree: Mr. Mayor. Corrie: Mr. Rountree. Rountree: Since I would succeed you in line for running the meeting, I also have to declare a conflict of interest with one of the firms applying for consideration for City Attorney and would step down also. There's Mr. Bentley. The meeting's yours. Bentley: Mr. Mayor — Corrie: So with that, Mr. Bentley, let you run the meeting. Charlie and I will leave and go into my office (inaudible). Bentley: Okay. Well hot damn. I've always wanted to do this. Now I'd like to ask the attorneys to do something that I always hear you talk about but I have never seen one of you do it, and that's brief. I guess we should go over the Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 2 procedure we're going to follow tonight. We'll have each of the two firms give a presentation, and at the end of that, Council will do some discussion and should make a recommendation to the Mayor as it is the Mayor's job to appoint the City Clerk, the Treasurer and the City Attorney. So with that, I will open up and have you gentlemen make your presentation. Rossman: Thank you Mr. Interim Mayor, City Council. We've — and I will try to be brief. You know, there's a few things we'd like to cover, and I will certainly try to do that as quickly as possible. You have received a full, thorough presentation from Mr. Gigray and I think Mr. Rutherford during a workshop previously. It was made of public record; they did discuss everything that we've done for the City and everything that we intend to do; discussed how much we intend to do it for, and I certainly won't rehash all of those items that were raised in that presentation, and I would ask they be incorporated into this presentation that we have before you. What I'd like to do is, basically, focus on the main points as to why we submit that the best interest of the City of Meridian is to continue with its current legal representation. Before I do that, I would like to sincerely express on behalf of my firm our sincere appreciation to you and to the City of Meridian and everyone involved for the enjoyment that we've had over the last year in representing the City. We really have enjoyed it. We've enjoyed the challenge of representing the City of Meridian, a very fast-growing city, and we've enjoyed the relationships that we've established with each of you and other members of the city and everybody we've come into involvement with in our representation. So once again, I'd certainly like to express appreciation for that. As the fastest growing city in the State of Idaho at this point in time, such rapid growth has presented and will continue to present many challenges to the City of Meridian in the coming years. Obviously, you've addressed many of those challenges over the previous years getting to this point. It's important that Meridian recognize the knowledgeable and — receive knowledgeable and experienced legal counsel to address the issues presented by such growth and the challenges presented by such growth. We understand what the best interest of the City of Meridian is the abiding concern by which you'll make your determination on this issue, and we certainly would submit continuing with the current representation the City has is the best interest of the City of Meridian. I will focus on the reasons, and they are certainly presented within our proposal as to why we submit that that is the best interest for Meridian. First of all, knowledge and experience of Municipal law. I don't — I would submit that I'm unaware of any law firm in the State of Idaho with more municipal experience than our law firm; collectively, we have over 100 years of combined municipal law experience. We have three attorneys who have had over 15 years continuous municipal representation. We've represented the City of Nampa for over 25 years, and as you know, it's also a very fast-growing city. Almost as fast a growing city as Meridian. We have an attorney in our office that has represented three different cities in the state of Oregon; Nyssa, Jordan Valley and Adrian, Oregon for over 15 years. Bill Gigray has, as you well know, has, in his years of practice, continuously represented municipal entities, political subdivisions of the State of Idaho and has as much knowledge and experience Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 3 as anyone in the state, as any intricacies of municipal law. In the 25 years that we've represented the City of Nampa, we were integral in assisting the City in its day-to-day civil representation. We defended it in all of its lawsuits and its zoning appeals, and we were integral in their development of numerous public facilities including the Nampa Recreation Center, the Nampa Civic Center, the Ridgecrest Golf Course, the North Nampa Urban Renewal Agency and the Idaho Center. We certainly are ready, willing and prepared to assist the City of Meridian in any of its structural improvements that it may desire to accomplish in the coming years. From our experience, it's also — we're also well informed of the requirements of Idaho municipal law, the Idaho Municipal Code, of the Local Land Use Planning Act, of the Subdivision Act, of the Government and Ethics Act and of equal importance, we're also very familiar with the requirements of the Meridian City Code and the Planning and Zoning Ordinance. On the criminal side, we submit that we've presented representation that's been more — that's more than addressed the challenges presented to the City of Meridian in the criminal arena. We've submitted to you previously, and I will submit some updated memoranda that were prepared by Kathy and Steve in our office that I think thoroughly indicate what they've been doing and what kind of challenges have been presented to the City of Meridian in the criminal arena. I'll submit those to Mr. Berg to remain a part of the record. You can certainly review those if you like. We have presented them; they're primarily just an update of what we've previously presented you. From those memoranda, you — they indicate that from last fall when we began on this contract, comparing this year to the previous year when we worked on the contract, the misdemeanor/infraction filings that have been prosecuted have increased over 200 percent in one year. The fines collected through our efforts in the criminal prosecution have averaged approximately $28,000 a month, approximately a 40 percent increase from last year. And that doesn't include approximately $70,000 in over -due fines which we are actively enforcing collection which was never done — which was not done before we took the role of City Counsel for the City of Meridian. We are now filing probation violation and contempt proceedings at the rate of approximately 20 per month which provides income in addition to that already discussed with you that also was not being actively collected prior to our representation of the City. In approximately the one year that we have represented the City of Meridian, we have collected, or the City — the fine collections have exceeded approximately $200,000 over what the City was collecting the previous year. Over $200,000. And we certainly expect that that rate of growth is going to continue, and we will certainly expect to continue our diligent prosecution of the fine enforcement to ensure that that revenue is obtained. Approximately one year ago, we were contacted by the City of Meridian to provide representation to the City based — as a result of an overlogged legal department at that time and as a result of some changes that had been going on with the City. We welcomed the request by the City, by redirecting several attorneys to the project and feel that we provided an excellent legal representation to the City in that critical period of time. We truly believe that you — subsequently, when we were asked to submit a proposal to the City of Meridian regarding the representation of Meridian Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 4 and all of its needs in which we did submit that proposal, and we made a presentation to you approximately a year ago, we truly believe that you did last year make your determination to retain our law firm as City Attorneys for Meridian based upon what you believe was in the best interest of the City of Meridian, and we submit that nothing has occurred over the last year that would have changed that determination. Over the past year, we have not been presented with critical comments, or we have not been presented with anything that would indicate that our representation has been less than acceptable, and, in fact, it's been the opposite. Every indication we've received from the Police Department, from the department heads, from the City Council, from the representatives of the City of Meridian have been that we have provided a very thorough and adequate representation for the City, and we have anticipated and addressed any of the issues that have arisen in that representation. Whether our proposal we presented the proposal to you today, we've also presented the written proposal, we've presented some feedback from some of the departments that encompass the City of Meridian. We presented a petition signed by the Meridian Police Department fully supporting the quality of representation that we've provided, and, in fact, asserting the statement that they believe it is in the best interest of the City to not change attorneys at this time. They have been very satisfied; we have heard nothing but exceedingly positive comments from the Police Department regarding the quality of prosecution that we've provided. With a letter dated September 20, 1999, Keith Borup, the Chairman of the Meridian Planning and Zoning Commission also expressed support, the support of the Planning and Zoning Commission for the representation we have provided, and, in fact, making the comment that he believed that he was in full support of Meridian's current legal representation and felt that it is in the best interest of the City to continue with such representation. We've also received substantial positive feedback from various department heads, and we believe some of them have even submitted written correspondence to you demonstrating that support. Plain and simple, we believe that our representation is that which is within the best interest of the City of Meridian, and we are committed to continue doing so. When we received the contract last year, we knew that Meridian needed accessibility to its legal counsel. We could not provide the accessibility it needed from the City of Nampa, so we endeavor to create an office in Meridian, become a part of Meridian, which we did and we now have a fully functioning and operational office. We also have four full-time employees, employed solely for the purpose of serving the City of Meridian that do not work on any other account other than the City of Meridian, and certainly will continue to serve the interests of Meridian should this contract continue. We have an office in Meridian, it's fully operational, and we have, to date, invested well over $100,000 in financial investment in representing the City of Meridian, and that is absolutely necessary for anyone who would want to represent a city of this size. You have to hire employees. You have to have an office. You have to have facilities. You have to have furnishings, and you have to have computers, and there was no escaping that, and we certainly did that, and we're committed to continuing that investment with the support of the City. We only need your support in making the Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 5 determination that is, in fact, in the best interest of the City of Meridian. I am open to any questions. I brought with me Mr. Gigray, and he certainly is going to offer any additional comments that he thinks I haven't covered at this point. Mr. Bill Nichols I've also brought with us. He's a new attorney with our office. I've introduced him. He has represented several cities in Oregon as I indicated earlier, and we expect him to assume a much larger role in the representation of the City of Meridian in the coming year. We also have Steve Rutherford and Kathy Edwards here to answer any questions that you may have on the criminal prosecution. Thank you for hearing this again. Bentley: Thank you. Bird: Thank you. Bentley: Any questions from Council? Anderson: I have none. Bird: I have none, but I would like to state that they have done a very fine job, and that certainly, I think, is felt by all the Council, Mayor; they have done a very fine job. Bentley: And I, too, echo those sentiments. Mr. Bill Gordon, could you ask the Mayor if — Bird: If the other ones were notified. Bentley: -- Foley and Freeman are coming? Bird: Or if they were told of a time. Berg: Yes. 7:30. Bird: We timed this so that it was going to be public. Berg: Yes. It was going to be public, but we asked them not to come until 7:30. Bird: Then are you going to ask these guys to leave? Rossman: We'll leave. That's fine. Bird: No. It's a public hearing. You don't have to leave. Berg: They understood that. Bird: Who did? Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 6 Gigray: Foley and Freeman and White and Peterson. They've called — knew that it was a public meeting, but we set times up for their presentation. Bird: And you guys certainly don't have to leave. It's a public hearing. Bentley: Yes, Bill. Gigray: I just wanted to, depending on your decision, at least, echo my thoughts and that is I have really enjoyed working with this Council and with the Mayor and with the department heads. When we started last year, it was, it seemed, a kind of a disheveled situation because there had been approximately two changes in the City Attorney's office within a month, and it takes a while when you're working in an organization as large as this to understand how people operate, how they communicate, when and where things need to go, who needs to know what, and how things need to move through. I've made a delivered effort working with my staff to try to fully communicate with all the department heads to respect their authority and their responsibilities in their areas and try to work with them to provide legal services that are necessary to the City and also to try to provide some expertise with regards to what might be appropriate from a legal perspective to do the things that the City needs to do. I would like to tell you that I have enjoyed working with all those department heads, and I appreciate the kind of talent that you have in the City with Will Berg's office, Gary Smith and Public Works, Shari Stiles in Planning and Zoning, with Pauline Skeggs in Human Resources, and Leslie with MUBS, and Janice Smith as the Treasurer, and all of the other departments. It has been a pleasure to work with them, and I want to say thank you for that opportunity. Bentley: Thank you. Bird: Thanks, Bill. Bentley: (inaudible) question. Bill, maybe you could address for me, because it has come up, last year after we agreed to your firm providing legal services, and I don't know why it didn't come about, but we don't have a written contract. Was there a discussion, is there a reason why we never put that in writing? Was that desirable by both sides, or was there any conversation even given to that? Gigray: The best of my knowledge, there was never any follow-up conversation of completing a written contract. We would have been more than happy to do so, and we have, I think, submitted one with our proposal so that that issue doesn't become an issue in the future if you should choose to opt for us in the future or whoever else. I know I wasn't here at the time that the decision was made because I was on that pastoral search for our minister in the Wind River Range, and I was never directed at that point to draft a contract and follow-up, and I can tell you what my practice has been and our firm's practice has been with the Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 7 other cities. I don't have a written contract with any of the cities that I've represented over the years, and some of them go back as far as 25 years, and I have always felt that at the point that the Council and Mayor ever tires of my representation that they will tell me so, and then we develop an orderly process of which we conclude that representation, and we go on down the road because I think it's quintessential to this relationship that we have the trust of the Council and the Mayor, that we're here to provide the legal representation that the City needs, to not be on somebody's side or whatever because you have to have trust that you can come back to us about these matters. We do have to respect administrative authority of the administrative supervisor. And we do have to work with the Mayor because that, by law, is what their position is. So we haven't formalized that, and maybe I'm an old dog because I've been around for awhile, you know, and when I started practice in '72, we just didn't do that with our clients. Now it is en vogue and probably a better choice to do that, and we don't have any problem with it whatsoever. So I'd say inertia (sic) may be the answer to your question. It just didn't happen. Bentley: Any further questions? Bird: Yeah. I have one for you, Bill. It's on this deal, and let's be front about it. I'm the one that thinks we need a contract. The reason I think we need a contract is because you're not an employee. You're a contract. Gigray: Correct. Bird: You sit right here and advise us — Gigray: Correct. Bird: -- for $25,000 a year or $25,000 we sign a contract; right? Gigray: Right. Bird: Okay. This is a lot more — Gigray: And I'm not arguing — Bird: And as far as the contract not being here, that's our fault, not you guys' fault. Gigray: Well, we hear you. Bird: Okay. Bentley: Any further questions? Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 8 Bird: I have none. Gigray: Thank you, gentlemen. Bentley: Yes, Chief. Gordon: Foley and Freeman was advised to be here at 7:30. Bentley: Thank you. We'll take a five-minute break until they show up. Bird: So moved. Anderson: Second. Bentley: All in favor? MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES (At which time the meeting was in recess at 7:25 p.m.) Bentley: Okay. We'll reconvene the public hearing. I see that the firm of Foley Freeman has arrived. I wish to inform you that the firm of Hamilton, Michaelson and Hilty has withdrawn for various reasons, and so we have had the presentation of White Peterson and we're prepared for yours and also to inform you that Mayor Corrie and Councilman Rountree have stepped down due to conflicts of interest. So you're stuck looking at the three of us. With further due, we're ready for you. Freeman: I was going to say good evening, Mayor and Council, but instead I'll say good evening, Council. We appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight and submit our proposal to provide representation to the City of Meridian. First off, although you may all know my colleagues, I thought I'd like to introduce them to you. Howard Foley is my partner, and this is Frances Stern, an attorney in our office, and Joseph Borton. Joe's also an attorney in our office. It (inaudible) for a number of years to have an opportunity to submit a bid to represent the City of Meridian. You've received our proposal. We know you've had an opportunity to review it, so we're not going to rehash that. We're not going to have a long presentation tonight. Howard and I will each address a few points. I'll start and go through and then Howard — if you have questions, you can ask them. We'll definitely have time at the end if you have any further questions. As you can tell by our proposal, we're confident that Foley and Freeman is the best firm to provide legal representation to the City of Meridian. We have the experience and qualifications to satisfy the City's needs in their legal department. As you can see, our proposal identifies myself as the primary attorney for civil matters representing the Council at board meetings or Council meetings, P & Z, drafting ordinances, regulations, written findings. I hope that you can see this from our Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 9 resume I attached to the proposal, and I have the experience to represent the City. You'll note that I have served three years as an assistant city attorney, actually, technically, a township attorney for the chartered township of Michigan, and as the assistant, that's a township of approximately, at that time, 80,000 residents, and my duties were very similar in some ways identical to what our duties would be in representing the City of Meridian. In addition to my work for Clinton Township, while I was in Michigan, I was the co -counsel for the Gross Points Clinton Refuse Disposal Authority. It's a long name for a group of five cities of Michigan, suburbs of Detroit, actually, that formed an authority of governmental entity to operate an incinerator and refuse disposal authority. I did that along with my representation of Clinton Township, and these municipalities had residents of approximately 160- or 170,000 people, and my duties were, again, similar. Representing the board at public meetings, drafting contracts and regulations and similar representation. In addition to that, sometimes when you make a pitch to a prospective client, you forget to tell them what you do now. I'm an attorney. I've been practicing in Idaho, if I exclude my Michigan stint, if you call it that, for over 13 years. Do a lot of business law, commercial litigation involved, representing clients in a number of different areas. Many of these areas would be of assistance to our representation of the City of Meridian. I have some knowledge of extensive real estate matters, zoning, and some other issues that have come up through my representation of individual and business clients. In addition to my experience and ability to serve as the primary attorney for the City, I have access to resources through my memberships in the International News for Lawyers Association and as a member of the state and local government section of the American Bar Association which provide resources that are available to our firm and to myself to assist in serving the City's needs. An example of the type of resources that are available through these organizations: understanding the drafting ordinances is an important part, and there's still a need for that to be addressed in sort of a substantial fashion, believe, as far as the City of Meridian is concerned. These organizations provide model ordinances, samples and other drafting aids that are from different areas of the country, access to ordinances to different municipalities that are sometimes — they're not boiler -plate, and they don't always fit our situation, but it's a resource that I have available, and our firm does through me, as a member of these organizations. We also have experience, even though we're currently not representing a city or municipality, we do represent the Meridian School District, Joint School District No. 2. As residents of the town, I'm sure you know a lot about them. Sometimes people are surprised to see that they have over 2500 employees, that they have a budget of about 90 million dollars, and that they have 30 different schools and facilities located in the second largest school district in the State of Idaho. Along with the growth of Meridian, the Meridian School District is growing at the same pace, obviously, and they're just about ready, on a side note, to overtake the City of Boise as the largest school district in the state. Surprisingly to some people, the representation that we provide to the City of — excuse me, to the Meridian School District is very similar to a number of the things that we would do for the City of Meridian if we were Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 10 selected as your attorneys; for instance, we represent the Board, provide advice to the Board, to administration and staff; we provide them advice on statutes and other requirements, legal requirements, actually, in a number of situations are identical to what the City of Meridian, the same statute. For instance, we advise them on open meetings, public records, I provide advice and review in competitive bidding situations. These are the same exact statutes that the City is called upon to review when they do some of these same areas. Another important similarity between our work for the Meridian School District and what would be our work for the City of Meridian is that we have represented the District in judicial review proceedings in the Fourth District, Ada County similar to what the City periodically goes through. The point I'm trying to make is that municipal representation is not new to the members of our firm. We have the experience to do it, we have the capabilities. We wouldn't be here if we didn't go through a thoughtful analysis of whether the City of Meridian was the type of client that we could serve, and we could satisfy the needs of the City and make it beneficial to our firm. We've done that analysis, and we're confident that our representation will be first-rate and we'll provide the City with the needs they — that will serve their needs. While I'm on the subject of the Meridian School District, I want to address an issue that's come up periodically. I'm not sure it really is an issue; at least, we don't believe it is. But it's been discussed with various Council members this conflict of interest issue that's come up. We've addressed it in our proposal. We don't believe it's significant issue and would place any significant limitations on our ability to represent the City, but as I understand it, the concern that has been raised is that because we have practiced in the city limits of Meridian for a number of years and most of our clients are located in this general area that that would increase the likelihood that there would be issues where we would be conflicted, have a conflict of interest because our clients may have issues that are adverse to things the City is doing. Again, I mentioned the School District because our experience is that we haven't had similar conflicts as a result of our representation of the Meridian School District. I've explained to you the size of the District, some of the duties that we do. The District even is larger in a geographical sense and also has patrons that — most of our clients, not all of our clients, but a number of our clients are patrons of the Meridian School District like some of our clients are residents of the City of Meridian. In the past eight or nine years that we've been representing the Meridian School District, I'm not sure, and I though quite a bit about this, I'm not sure if I can think of an instance where we have had to withdraw as the attorney for the School District on that issue. I believe that's important. That's how we judge conflicts. That's one example of a municipal client, and we don't see that as an issue. We don't believe it'd be an issue for the City of Meridian. Again, as we said in our proposal, it's common for all successful law firms to have conflicts issues. It's something that all lawyers have to deal with, and I've cited in the proposal that a couple of the model rules of professional responsibility that lawyers are bound to adhere to, and we do well adhere — everybody submitting a proposal is of the utmost ethical standard and adheres to those rules. Just because we know people or we have friends that live in the city, and we have a Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 11 lot, doesn't mean that we're conflicted. And just because we represented someone who has an issue come before the City doesn't mean that's a conflict of interest. As set forth in those rules in our proposal, it's only in a situation where our prior representation is on the same or similar issue. It has to be that close before it's a conflict. If that occurs, what we do is similar in a way to what you do if you had a conflict. You recuse yourself from the decision, you can't provide the advice. On some occasions, that necessitates the City of Meridian going out and maybe the other client, because we can't represent either. We can't pick and choose. If we have a conflict, it's with both parties. Sometimes if it's an issue that requires the assistance of counsel, then the City would need to replace us for that issue with substitute counsel. I'm not sure — I don't — actually, I know that I don't think that any of you are on the board, but I've done that, actually, for the City. There has been an occasion where the prior attorney had a conflict, and I came in and presented a Planning and Zoning matter or something, and it happens occasionally, but we don't believe it's a very common occurrence. Finally, I don't want to beat this conflicts issue to death, but it's really the same issue for both firms submitting proposals. As you know, I assume you know, that White Peterson's firm represents the City of Nampa, and like our firm, their practice is not strictly limited to municipal law. They do divorce law, they do contract law, real estate, probate, estate planning and other matters for their clients located in Meridian just like we do for our clients located in — excuse me, for their clients located in Nampa just like we do for our clients in Boise — Meridian. Now I'm getting my areas mixed up. If you can make any sense out of my comments, my point is that if it was a problem for us, it would have been a problem for White Peterson, and I'm sure that they could indicate to you that it's not a problem for them, it shouldn't be a problem or an issue to be considered in our representation. Another issue I'd like to address is whether our firm is large enough and has the resources to serve the City's needs. As we look at it, the issue is not really the size of — the number of attorneys in the firm, it's who are the attorneys and what is the number of the attorneys that are providing services to the City. So the fact that one firm might be larger than another, in and of itself, is not a significant factor. After the contract was awarded last year for representation, White Peterson went out and hired two, at least two of the attorneys that are now providing services to Meridian. We'd do the same thing if we were successful and obtained the contract. I believe your — we would do the same thing, and as a matter of fact, we started that. We've been interviewing attorneys and support staff with the anticipation that we might be successful, and we're prepared to make the hires and to — we commit to the City that we will have the attorneys on staff. We're not coming in and trying to run this proposal with — we can do it with what we have, but we have other clients to serve, and we'll lose some, and we'll get some new clients. But we're going to hire attorneys to come in and assist us with the representation of the City and also assist us in providing representation to some of our clients that maybe previously were represented by us folks who are going to do work for the City of Meridian. The point I want to make is we're willing to make a commitment. We wouldn't be here if we weren't. We're willing to make a commitment to the City of Meridian that we'll provide all Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 12 the staffing and resources that are needed, and we have the ability to start that immediately. Now, one of the other issues that I like to talk about, then I'm going to turn this over to Howard is the fact that we're a Meridian law firm, and I was going to make a joke about all the 2C license plates out there, and I guess I just did, but I didn't really intend to do that. It's not the only issue that should be decided, but we think it's a factor. You may know this, but we've been in Meridian practicing, lawyers in our firm, for 21 years or over 21 years. Howard, my partner, I wasn't his partner then. I wasn't even practicing law way back when Howard was first (inaudible), but Howard did practice in a house that is pretty close to about where I'm standing now. It was actually condemned — purchased for the construction of the City Hall. So we have a history of being involved and working in the City of Meridian. Our employees are all involved in some sort of community service. About half of our employees and their families live in the city limits of Meridian, and the ones that don't live in the City of Meridian, because they're in our firm find themselves on numerous occasions flipping pancakes or supporting the Chamber through various functions. It's really a requirement of our job, and it isn't that we require it as much as we enjoy it and we feel that it's important. Bentley: None of them have 2C plates, do they? Freeman: I think one of them does (inaudible). But you know, in addition to the examples that you've seen in the materials that we've submitted, we're real active in the Chamber of Commerce. We believe that's real important to the vitality of the City of Meridian. I've been the president, Howard's been the president, Joe is currently on the Board, and if he gets elected in two weeks, he's going to be the second Vice President. We're all involved in the civic — the rotary and the suroptimists (sic) and all of these different organizations, but also we're involved in other activities that aren't — that we don't do for credit, we do for fun. You know, I coach PAL soccer. Joe is a coach for Meridian Optimist Football. We have one of our secretary's husbands, Marcy Burrow's (sic) husband, Jeff, he's a coach. I volunteer at the senior center. Because I live here, because we work here, we give a lot back to the city. You might be asking yourself, okay, they give a lot back to the city. How does that distinguish them other than it's a great thing, how does that distinguish this firm from the other firm being considered? We think there's a real benefit to the legal services that we can provide because we're actively, you know, we are Meridian. We live here. We're ears, we're eyes, we know what's going on in the community. This is the local knowledge that we'd like to talk about. And we use it, and we have used it for the benefit of our other clients. And we see the same benefit to the City of Meridian if our proposal is selected. We have — because we live, work and play here, we have information about the city and always come into contact and obtain information about the city that you really can't get from a business or a firm that is not located in the city. And we think that that is a benefit that really will flow through to the city; allow us to provide better representation than a non -Meridian firm. Again, are we asking you to select the City of Meridian — excuse me. Are Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 13 we asking you to select our proposal just because we're the good of boys that are next door and we live in Meridian? No. No, we're not. That's not the reason. We think that when you weigh the various qualifications and issues and you look seriously, like you will, that it gets to a situation where we believe that local knowledge, that local involvement, that Meridian attitude should tip the scales in our favor, and that's our position, and we think it's important. Unless you have any questions about the specific matters that I've raised, I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Foley and let him make a few comments. Bentley: Any questions for Mark? Freeman: And I'll still be here after (inaudible). Bird: No, I don't. Freeman: Thank you. Bentley: You need some help (inaudible). Bird: (inaudible). Foley: I was wondering if I might get a little extra time getting to the podium because of my advanced age. Bird: You're younger than I am, so — Foley: Like Mark, I appreciate your consideration of our proposal and presentation. We know that you have the opportunity to sit through lots of meetings and we understand that this is one more of them. As the proposal that we presented to you indicates, my role as City Attorney will be to supervise the prosecuting attorneys. I think I bring to that experience that I gathered when I served in the military. I was an army JAG officer for four years and did a — had a steady diet of criminal work. I ultimately became what was entitled as the Chief of the Criminal Law Division. (inaudible) to being a prosecuting attorney, and I supervised up to eight attorneys who worked in court marshal system both on the defense and prosecution side of criminal matters. We tried anything in U.S. Army Alaska from AWOL to rape to murder. We tried serious matters and we tried some that weren't so serious. I want to inform you or tell you, too, that our firm is a litigation firm. That's been our history. We're members of the American Bar Association, and we're members of the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association. I think what that means to you is that we are litigators, and that's what we do. We litigate complex cases, and we bring that experience to the prosecution of matters of criminal defendants who are being charged by the City of Meridian. Frances Stern, before she joined our firm, worked for the State of Oregon and Department of Justice in their criminal branch. Joe Borton who has been with us for three years has been our criminal attorney and represents defendants. He Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 14 has extensive representation and trial practice in the criminal area and realm. I can assure you, having done that, that there's no better experience to prosecuting the defending. You get to defend against all types of styles and personalities and techniques, and I think it just makes you better. I think in some what I'm saying to you is we sincerely believe that we have the experience and the ability to do the criminal prosecution work for the City of Meridian. I want to talk with you also, just briefly if I can, about an area that I think should be and is important to the City of Meridian. Our firm is an Ada County firm. We practice before Ada County judges, the Ada County judicial system; we're members of the Fourth Judicial District and a member of that Bar Association. White Peterson, as is the custom, are members of the Third Judicial District and the Canyon County court system. Certainly there are other counties within those districts, but that's where they principally practice. I can assure you that the Ada County system, court system, if I can say it that way and the Canyon County court system operate separate and apart from each other. They have their own court administrators, they have their own judges, they don't interchange, they have their own local practices, and the City of Meridian, because its municipality in Ada County, will have its judicial matters heard before Ada County judges and Ada County courts before Ada County judicial systems. What we bring to the table in terms of that is our relationship with the judges and with the court administrator and with Ada County prosecuting attorneys and with Boise City prosecuting attorneys. You might ask, well, so that's wonderful, but what does that mean? And here's what I think it means, and here's what I think is going on now for your prosecutors: when the City of Meridian's prosecutors go to Barrister to the Ada County, Boise City complex to try their cases, they don't have a desk. They don't have a chair. They don't have a telephone. They do their practicing on the benches, out with public. Boise City has desks and chairs and tables and telephones, and so does Ada County. The City of Meridian does not have access to the criminal records check system, the AAS 400 that's in your material. They do that record check on criminal backgrounds at a public terminal right along with the public. I can assure you that the City of Boise attorneys have access and their own individual access to that system as does the Ada County prosecutors. As you can well imagine, that's important. When you're trying to decide what kind of a stance or how aggressive you should prosecute a case, you need to know who you're dealing with. Is this somebody that's a first-time offender that made a mistake and probably deserves some consideration for that or is it somebody who has visited the court system again and again and equally deserves some consideration for that? If you don't have access to that background check, you won't know. You're left with hearing from the defense counsel or the defendant what kind of a background they've got. And I think all that translates into a second-class citizenry for Meridian's prosecutors. And think that second-class standing means that by just virtue of that, without speaking to the quality of the attorneys, and I don't mean to disparage them, and that's not my intent, but you just simply have to be less efficient if you don't have a desk that you can go to pick up phone messages, to check on background checks, to do other work that you can do while you're waiting for the next hearing Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 15 and those kinds of things. What I suggest to you is that because we have been members of the Ada County court system, the Fourth Judicial District and because of our relationship with judges and trial court administrators and Ada County prosecutors — I went to school with Greg Bower. I know Greg Bower personally. I've gone to school with some of the Boise City attorneys who deal in this area. We all know Grant Kingsford now is an Ada County Commissioner, and those are the people that make decisions about facilities and access. It would be similar to suggesting to you that you might need some help and assistance from the Elmore County Commissioners. And, certainly, they would be polite and, certainly, they would listen to you, but they're not going to give you the same regard as an Ada County Commissioner, as an Ada County Highway District Commissioner, as the same people dealing in Ada County and dependent upon cooperation back and forth and being sensitive to the issues that are important to that common constituency. And that's what you have with a firm that deals principally out of this county and out of this judicial district. And the impact that it has is that you don't have the same efficiencies and access that you're entitled to. This is the second largest city in Ada County. It's the second largest city in the Fourth Judicial District. And your prosecutors are prosecuting out of their briefcase. If they're doing a good job, God bless them because they're working real hard to do it that way. It's tough to do it that way. We think that our access would allow us to hopefully correct those deficiencies and those problems, and we think if — along with those efficiencies comes a greater savings to the City of Meridian, and we all know and understand that if we're not efficient, it just simply costs more money. That's just the nature of life. We believe there are other areas we can add some efficiency. I can tell you that our prosecutors would be equipped with laptop computers so that they're able to do research, so that they're able to connect with the main office so that they're able to do work at hearings. That would be true. Both of our prosecutors and the counsel that — *** End of Tape 1 *** during City Council and Planning and Zoning meetings. The access that we have with the CD ROM technology now and laptop computers is to have access to court rules, to criminal statutes, to cases that have been decided, to the statutes that affect the items that Mark addressed in terms of open -meeting laws and competitive bidding and those things that are important to the City Council. You don't find yourself just with people taking it to our recess to hopefully to go try to find out something that ought to be readily accessible in the statutes or in prior precedents. We would be excited to work with the City and department heads and establishing an e-mail communication. Do that in our office. We do that with other agencies that we do work for; by way of example, we're contracted attorneys with the Department of Health and Welfare. We prosecute hundreds of cases for the Department, and we do most of that by electronic communication. We would think that that would bring efficiencies so you don't have a situation where you have people, staff over here, saying, well, I just haven't been able to talk with the City Attorney or get a message. Everybody's Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 16 busy. We understand that. But, certainly, in our experience, e-mail and those type of technologies are of great assistance. And, quite frankly, if the laptop and the CD ROM won't do it, we're about 200 feet away from our main library. We don't operate out of a satellite office over here. In our proposal, we've made every attempt to do a careful analysis, not only of our resources, but our skills and abilities. We believe we presently have or have planned attorneys and legal assistants to provide quality legal service to the City of Meridian. We are ready and have the ability to expand within our present facilities, to add those personnel. We simply need to acquire the hardware and the software and run cabling down from our servers and network to other attorneys in our building. I can tell you that we pride ourselves on our organizational abilities and the people that we have work for us. We think in part that's why we were selected as Meridian's Small Business of the year. That and the involvement that Mark made reference to that we have had in this community. We believe that our proposal is cost-effective and competitive, and we believe that we can perform these services at the highest level because of our organizational ability, the advanced technology that we have in our office and because of our staff. I can, in closing, assure you that you will never find a law firm more committed to this community or its citizens; you will in our attorneys and the staff at Foley and Freeman. We are confident that we can provide our city with the quality representation that is both effective and efficient. With this proposal and this presentation, we would stake our resources and our reputation on those statements. Thank you. Bentley: Thank you. Any questions for — Anderson: Yes. I had one. Bentley: Mr. Anderson. Anderson: Howard, maybe you could clarify for me because I've never been a prosecutor. I'm not sure how that works down there, but you indicated that Boise City attorneys would have access to a desk and a telephone and then you indicated that you are members. How does this membership work and how does that get you access to a desk and telephone and not the attorneys for the other law firms? I'm not understanding that correlation. Foley: I think it's a matter of having access to the trial court administrator; by way of example, I think it seems to me that that's one of the places you go first and say, "Listen. We need these type of facilities in order to be effective." I think in addition to that, some of it's political, certainly. The facilities are jointly owned and operated by Ada County in the City of Boise. But, we're a constituent of Ada County. That's where we practice, and I don't want to go back too much in history or I'm going to get tagged again with this old -guy deal, but, you know, there used to be the time when cases were heard here in Meridian. We had our own jail, we had our own judge, we had all of that sort of things. But with the construction of the public safety building as it's called, then the idea was we Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 17 would consolidate, all of those things and everybody would get a piece of the action. Somewhere in the process, Meridian didn't have a piece of the action anymore. I'm not trying to convince you or tell you that it's only a matter of us belonging to the Fourth Judicial District and that somehow or another only a judge or a trial court administrator will make that decision. It's not that simple. But they certainly have a say in it because they are charged with the responsibility of administrating the court system in that facility. It may take a combination of the trial court administrator, the judges who are there as well as the political individuals, the county commissioners who own a part of that facility. I'm simply suggesting that when you try and effectuate that change in a county where you're not a citizen, where you don't work and the people you don't know, it's just infinitely more difficult. Bird: Okay. Mr. (inaudible). Howard, expanding on that, you have a desk and stuff, your firm? These guys — Peterson, White — they don't have — when the represent us, they don't have — when they go before the Fourth Judicial? Foley: The people that occupy the office space — maybe that's the best way for me to say that, are the prosecuting attorneys because it's a public building and, you know, the defense counsel don't have those, and private firms don't have those, but prosecuting attorneys or the representatives of the City do. The only ones that do are Ada County and City of Boise. And they have office space down there, and, of course, they use it. Bird: And you feel that your firm could get that office space for Meridian? Foley: I think we stand a lot better chance of getting it than — you know, if you said to me, "Do you think you can go over to Canyon County and get some office space over there?" I don't think I stand a snowball's chance. I'm not a member of that judicial district. I, you know, don't live there. I don't work there. I don't practice in front of those judges. 1, you know, a lot of the judges unfortunately are district judges now or were magistrates when I — you know, I've seen them grow up and those kinds of things. I think that's a matter of going in and saying, you know, "Listen, Judge. This is pretty difficult to do out here. What can you do to help me?" What can you say to the trial court administrator about this? What are we going to do? We're about to build a new courthouse. Not demographically or geographically located in the center of the county, I might mention, but nonetheless, you know, those are issues that we need to address at that time, too, you know. If we're going to be called upon, we want access to those facilities if we're going to practice down there and represent the City of Meridian. I guess that's the point I'm trying to make. Bentley: Howard, wouldn't you think that anybody that went down, as long as they were representing the City of Meridian would still have that same right? Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 18 Foley: No. I just think it's a political reality that that just doesn't happen. I think people would be very polite and I think they would listen intently, and I think they would say it just doesn't matter because somebody has to give up something in that process, you know. City of Boise's got to give up a desk. They've got to go find a desk someplace else. But they will do that for us because, I think, because we're part of their constituency. White Peterson isn't. Bentley: Maybe it's time that we got our own judge and resurrected Judge Roy Bean or something, you know. Foley: See? And quite frankly, you know, that's another alternative. It sure strikes me -- if somebody said, if everybody says, "Gosh. There's just not a thing we can do for you, Meridian. It's just too darn bad, but pull up that same old bench and practice out there." Then, I think you say, well, why don't you send somebody out here? Bentley: Well, we could surely turn this chamber into one. Bird: I think we'd need a bigger one than that, but that's something we can look into. Mr. Vice President, can I — Bentley: Yes. Bird: Howard, how do you feel on a written contract if you were selected? Foley: I think we absolutely have to have a written contract. Bird: Do you have one with the School District? Foley: We surely do. Bird: Okay. So we were just told by the (inaudible) firm that they represent all kinds of cities and municipalities and never had a written contract. Freeman: We submitted a written proposal that was only accepted by the Board and formed the basis of the contract that we operate under with the Meridian School District. Bird: And you are under a year-to-year contract with the Meridian School District? And it's a written contract? Thank you. Bentley: Anything further? Bird: I have none. Anderson: Not for Howard, no. But I have one for Mark. Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 19 Bird: You're in trouble, Mark. Freeman: Mr. Anderson. Anderson: This is a local firm question. I heard you mention that several times. I guess I'm confused on what the definition of a local firm is. McDonald's corporation — we have a McDonald's in Meridian. Are they a local firm? Their corporate headquarters, obviously, is not here. The current law firm that we have has a Meridian office, so, I guess, describe for me what would be the real advantages or how is the other firm disadvantaged, what gives your firm the advantage by being a local firm versus them? Is it just a law library in the office or what are some of the advantages of what you're talking about with the differences? Freeman: Councilman, I apologize. When I used locally, you're right. You ask different people, they're going to give you a different — there's no definition of local firm. I bring it up because, and we acknowledge, I believe that White Peterson as lawyers that live maybe in the city limits or close to the city, we're not making them carpetbaggers. We just think this is another way to distinguish our firm, and we think it's a favorable distinction. There's a number of ways that this local knowledge, I mean, just from a numbers standpoint; we have eight people, eight lawyers, eight staff currently, four of which — I'm not done. Thanks, Frank. I'm an old guy to her, too. Four of which do live in the city limits and their families do. We have — we're here all day every day and our involvement, we don't just come in — there's an advantage that Howard mentioned, just from a financial standpoint, but we don't know what the proposals are, the other proposal, the numbers, but we think we're competitive. One of the reasons is we don't have to rent an office and set up one here. And they do have an office here, and I acknowledge that, and they have — like I mentioned, they have people that live here. But it's not the same impact. I think you can look at it and they do a great job with a lot of the things they do, and if you compare their involvement in the City of Nampa, which is extensive with their involvement with the City of Meridian, I think you'll see the distinction there. There's a difference. There's more ears, there's more eyes, we've been here a long time. We didn't just come in here last year, and that's the knowledge and the information. It's not — it's sort of like Howard said. I mean, we can't come in here and say we're going to — Howard's not guaranteeing we're going to get a desk in there. But we think this is another area where this influence will help. We're not the most influential people in the world, but sometimes when we're in town, we can help in a lot of different ways. We can help the Council, we can help the mayor, we can help the department heads. We'll hear things and see things because we're all around here. That — not off the record things, but things that will really be of benefit, and I think that's a whole separate benefit that really doesn't necessarily isn't directly related to the legal services we provide, but it really is a benefit that think the City would pass up if they pick another firm. You know, if White Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 20 Peterson stays the city attorneys for the City of Meridian long enough, you know, they might have a bigger office and they may have more people over here, and acknowledge that could happen, but we still believe we're in a position, the best — you know, we put our pulse out. We know the pulse of Meridian. Just like you do. You live here and we think that's really a benefit to us. And that benefit can be passed on directly to the City. I hope I answered your question. Bentley: Anything further? Bird: I got one question for you guys. I've only called our existing law firm once. It went to Nampa. Is Nampa —is their office over there answering their phones? That's what I thought. They don't even answer to Meridian until they have to transfer it back over? Okay. You answered my question. I thought I was right, but I had only made one phone call over there. Bentley: Anything further? Bird: I'd have nothing. Bentley: Thank you. Foley: Thank you again for the opportunity. We do truly appreciate it. Bentley: Thank you. Council, what is your pleasure? Do you want to have open discussion at this time? Bird: Seeing how there's only three of us, we're going to, I understand, according to the State Code here, we're going to make a recommendation for the Bentley: That's correct. Bird: -- Mayor to make the — how's this going to work with him and the Council President eliminating themselves? Bentley: They can still make the recommendations, or — Bird: We make the recommendations and act upon our recommendations. Bentley: So if you're prepared to have a discussion on this, I think we should bring the other group in and the Mayor and Council President in, too. Anderson: Did the other group stay or did they go home? Bentley: No. They're in the conference room. Would you get them for us, Chief. Thank you. Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 21 Anderson: Take a five-minute break while we're doing that? Bird: Yeah. Bentley: Yes. Bird: It'll take them longer than five minutes to get in here anyway. Bentley: Motion — Anderson: Second. Bentley: All in favor? MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES (At which time the meeting was in recess at 8:10 p.m.) Bentley: Okay. We'll call the meeting to order. Are we prepared to have open discussions? Bird: Yep. Bentley: Mr. Anderson, do you want to start? Anderson: Yeah. I will start this off with some open discussion and basically my feelings of a little bit about this issue. I've read both the proposals, I think both the firms that have presented proposals to the City for legal services are very qualified and seem very capable of doing the job for the City. I think from my view, one stands a little bit ahead of the other one in the sense that the firm that we currently have has been doing a very good job which is very — has been reflected to the Council through several of our department heads telling us that those folks do a good job, we haven't had any complaints, in fact, we've seen just the opposite. We've seen praise on several occasions for the job that they do. I also think that changing a law firm at any point, whether you've been doing it for a year or one month or ten years, would create considerable confusion and disarray in a number of things; everything from cases that are being prosecuted to lawsuits that you may be in the middle of to ordinances that are being drafted. Just a multitude of things, and so I don't think change for the sake of changing is necessarily a good thing to do. Kind of liking this if I've got a mechanic that's — that works on my car and is doing a good job, even though there's another qualified mechanic on the road, I wouldn't change to that mechanic just because I wanted to be changing. I think if we had a reason to be changing, that would be something else. I think the fact that we didn't have a signed contract with the law firm was simply an oversight, and I consider that like Keith said, more our fault Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 22 than anybody else's. I, too, would like to see with whatever firm we go with, I would like to see a signed contract with whoever it is in this case. So, I guess, that's kind of summary — my view is at this point is I don't see a reason to change. I'm happy with the services we've been providing. Nothing against the other firm. I think they would be very capable and do a very good job, but I can't see changing just for the sake of change. Being a Meridian company, I think they're both Meridian companies in my mind. They're both local companies. Both have qualified staff. I think it would just be an interruption in legal services that would slow things up and add confusion. Bentley: Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Mr. Bird. Bird: Do you want to go or do you want to wait? I agree with Ron. Both firms are very qualified. The firm we've had has been very, very good this year. I do not believe that we give it the thought, nor did we advertise it and do it right last year. I believe that if we'd done this last year, we'd probably been a little different. I don't disagree that either one of them — I think you got to have a contract, evidently the one firm's the only one that works for municipalities without a contract after checking with everybody, a written contract. I would — I am in favor of Foley Freeman presentation. Bentley: Who's next? Anderson: That'd be you. Bentley: I have to agree in principal with Councilman Anderson. Both groups provided very good responses to what we've asked for. I also feel that having the change for the sake of change is a little rough. We all know what turmoil we went through when we made the change last year. The fact that the staff has come forward and given us favorable reviews on both the prosecution side and on the rest of the in-house services we received, it's pretty hard to make a change against that. I will agree that it was an oversight on our part that we didn't have a contract. I, in fact, thought we had, but as it was pointed out, we did not. So I would be in favor of retaining the current firm of White Peterson. With that, I'll entertain a motion for recommendation to the Mayor. Anderson: Mr. Second Vice or whatever you're called — Bentley: Mr. Anderson. Anderson: I would make a motion that Council recommend to the Mayor the appointment of or continued appointment of the law firm of White, Peterson, Pruss, Morrow & Gigray to continue with the City of Meridian's legal services. Bentley: Is there a second? Then I'll second it. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 23 MOTION CARRIED: TWO TO ONE WITH ONE ABSTENTION. Bentley: With that, we will close this portion of the meeting. Thank you both for coming, and both firms for coming and all your staff for coming and clients for — we lost a couple of them there. Thank you all. Bird: Before we get off that subject, I didn't agree with the thing — I didn't hear anything in the motion about a signed contract. Bentley: I was going to bring that up. Bird: So we're just going to go on with the verbal contract? If we're going to go on with a verbal contract for that amount of money, then some of these contracts that come forward we don't need a contract on. Bentley: That's not my intent, Keith. I indicated that in my discussion, but not in my motion. Bird: Yeah, but that's the problem what happened last year is that we didn't have it in the motion so we don't get it. Bentley: Okay. Point of order here. Do you want to make a subsequent motion or do you just want to amend your motion to include contract? Anderson: I'll just make a subsequent motion that we firm this agreement up and have this contract in writing and signed by the Mayor and authorized by the Clerk. Bentley: I'll second that. All in favor of the motion? MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES Bentley: Thank you. I will now request the Mayor and Mr. Rountree to assume their chairs, please. Mr. Mayor, I'll return the meeting to you with a request that we go into Executive Session. Corrie: Okay. Did we — Bentley: Personal matters — Bird: Here. I got that. You guys are never going to not let me have one again. Corrie: Since I can't make a motion, I guess you can. Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 24 Bentley: Mr. Mayor, I move that we go into Executive Session according to Idaho Code 67-2345 for Item A and Item C. Bird: I second it. Corrie: Motion's been made and seconded that we go into Executive Session according to State Code 67-2345, Subsection A and C. Any further discussion? Roll -call vote. Mr. Bird. Bird: Aye. Corrie: Mr. Bentley. Bentley: Aye. Corrie: Mr. Anderson. Anderson: Aye. Corrie: Mr. Rountree. Rountree: Aye. Corrie: All ayes, motion's carried. We'll move into Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES Bentley: Mr. Mayor, I move we come out of Executive Session. Bird: Second. Corrie: Motion made and seconded to come out of the Executive Session. All those in favor of the motion say aye. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES Bentley: Mr. Mayor. Corrie: Mr. Bentley. Bentley: I move we approve the bids for the tiling of Davis Drain which borders the future five acre Chateau Park. The low bidder was Summer's Construction with the price of $59,976. Bird: Second. Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 25 Corrie: Motion made and seconded for the Chateau Summer's Construction with the price of $59,976. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of the motion say aye. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES Bentley: Mr. Mayor. Corrie: Mr. Bentley. Bentley: Do we need to authorize a contract on that or — Bird: Yes, we do. The Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest. Bentley: Mr. Mayor. Corrie: Mr. Bentley. Bentley: I move that we authorize the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest in entering in the contract, the Summer's Construction for the tiling of Davis Drain at Chateau Park for the price not to exceed $59,976. Rountree: Second. Corrie: Motion made and seconded to award the contract, the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of the motion say aye. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES Corrie: Okay. Seeing if there's anything else, I'll entertain a motion — Bird: Mr. Mayor. Corrie: Mr. Bird. Bird: Could we discuss this insurance thing next Tuesday? Just in a matter of — in our room, department reports, everybody had a chance to read it. The motion, Mr. President in light of the (inaudible) that we had (inaudible) I think we go with the recommendation the insurance committee, I think in all fairness a good -faith effort put forth by both the insurance providers and Blue Shield offered the best policies for the money, and what we had asked them for was a quote, and I would recommend that we go with Blue Shield. Bentley seconded it, I don't see where it said the two-year contract. Corrie: Yeah. We can put -- Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 26 Bird: We just need it and I just want to clarify it. I'm getting tired of these things being — Bentley: Mr. Mayor. Corrie: Mr. Bentley. Bentley: Did we enter into a contract? Corrie: We even have a contract — Bentley: With them? Corrie: Yeah. Bird: You bet you do. Bentley: Okay. Can we get a copy of that to see what it reflects? Bird: Clerk, you got that in your office? You should. All contracts are in the City Clerk's office. Corrie: Get it from the — (inaudible) Bird: You should have the original. Bentley: If you would, Mayor, I'd be particularly interested to see how that reads. Thank you. Berg: How what reads? Bentley: The contract. That's all I have. Bird: I move we adjourn. Corrie: Motion is made. Do I hear second? Anderson: Second. Corrie: We adjourn. All those in favor of the motion say aye. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:55 P.M. (TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) Meridian City Council Special Meeting October 13, 1999 Page 27 APPROVED: ROBERT D. CORRIE, MAYOR ATTEST: WILLIAM G. BERG, JR., CITY CLERK