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• 0 CITY OF NEW BRIGHTON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM DATE: January 22, 2010 TO: Dean Lotter, City Manager FROM: Grant Fernelius, Community Development Director CW SUBJECT: January 26th Work Session On Tuesday night the City Council plans to discuss the topic of federal lobbying efforts with regard to the Northwest Quadrant. I anticipate the topics will include whether to continue these efforts and if so who should represent the City in this process. The City is currently represented by the firm of Lockridge Grindal Nauen, however there has been some interest in changing lobbyists. As part of this discussion, you asked me to contact other firms to find out whether they might be interested in working with the City. Background Last winter the City made a decision to pursue federal assistance for some of the remaining funding needs in the Northwest Quadrant. These include funding for clean- up/soil correction activities on the former Northwest Refinery site (est. $10.OM); construction of a new pedestrian/bike bridge to Long Lake Regional Park ($800K); reconstruction of the Old Highway 8 bridge over 1-694 ($2.4M); expanded dump removal to allow for additional development on Block E ($3.OM); and construction of a new ring road on the east side ($1.OM). In order to pursue these initiatives, the City hired the firm of Lockridge Grindal Nauen (LGN) to assist with our federal legislation. LGN has offices in both Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. LGN's contract was approved in February 2009 and is based on a flat -rate retainer of $4,000 per month. The contract is scheduled to expire next month, unless the City decides to extend it. A copy of their contract is attached, which describes the services provided. Dennis McGrann runs the Washington, D.C. office for LGN and has provided strategic advice to the City from time to time. Most of the day-to-day consulting work is provided by Andy Burmeister. At times both staff and the City Council have expressed frustration about the relationship, namely: 1) the level of communication by LGN staff on New Brighton related affairs, and 2) availability of the D.C. staff to meet with the City Council.