City professional services contracts are reviewed every three years per City policy established in 2007.  In 2013, the City solicited proposals for attorney services for civil legal services.  The Council selected the law firm of Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A. to serve as city attorney to provide the legal services and authorized a contract between the City and the attorney.  In January of 2021, the City Council voted to extend the current contract with Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A.with the provision that either party may terminate the Agreement upon thirty (30) calendar days with written notice to the other party.   

A case was brought to the April 27, 2021 City Council Work Session requesting Council direction on whether to go out for RFP's for legal services. Council discussed the contract and the consensus was to prepare an RPP for civil legal services only, not prosecuting services.  

The last time the city requested proposals for city attorney was in 2013.  At that time, an RFP (Request for Proposals) was issued by the city for all legal service, both civil services and prosecution.   Previously, the process took approximately 4 months to complete. Below is the current proposed schedule:

Distribute/Advertise RFP’s:           May 26, 2021
RFP Submittals:                          Due: July 9, 2021
Staff Committee Evaluation:          Completed by: August 6, 2021
City Council Interviews:                 Completed by: August 17, 2021
City Council Approval:                   By September 14, 2021

The city will post the RFP in the City's official newspaper (ABC Newspapers, Anoka County), and the League of Minnesota posting site.  Also, we will mail direct solicitations to current city attorneys in Minnesota and attorneys identifying as municipal/government attorneys on the Minnesota Bar Association site.  

The civil attorney is designated and referred to as the City Attorney and is the person/firm that provides legal counsel to the city council and city staff, reviews ordinances, resolutions, and contracts, plus provides advice and counsel on real estate transactions, land use and zoning issues, human resource issues,  and the like. The current City Attorney is Joseph Langel of the firm Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A.

The City policy is to review outside professional contracts on a 3-5 year basis, and has been extended annually beyond that with Council approval,  The current City Attorney contract has been in place since 2013.  The current City Attorney contract may be canceled by either party with a 30-day notice.  The current contract is attached as reference.