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TALLEN and BAERTSCHI <br />Attorneys at Law <br />920 Second Avenue South <br />Suite 1540 <br />MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402-2224 <br />STEVEN M.TALLEN <br />FACSIMILE (612) 349-3995 <br />TELEPHONE (612) 349-3900 <br />April 20, 2016 <br />Ms. Jessica Loftus <br />Orono City Administrator <br />P.O. Box 66 <br />Crystal Bay, MN 55323 <br />Re: Proposal for Prosecution Services <br />Dear Ms. Loftus: <br />PAUL D. BAERTSCHI <br />Thank you for inviting me to submit a proposal to provide prosecution legal services to <br />the City of Orono. Enclosed is my proposal. I also want to address items that I believe will be <br />relevant to the City in determining whether or not you wish to engage our services. <br />Tallen & Baertschi is a small law firm devoted primarily to providing prosecution <br />services to our municipal clients. Both Paul Baertschi and I started as prosecuting attorneys with <br />the LeFevere, Lefler, Kennedy, O'Brien and Drawz firm. I joined the firm in 1985 and Paul <br />joined in 1987. As you may know, the LeFevere firm went out of business in 1989. Most of the <br />municipal lawyers, including Paul and myself, moved to Holmes & Graven, where we continued <br />representing the same group of municipalities. In 1993, Paul and I teamed up to form Tallen & <br />Baertschi. Since that time, we have been actively engaged in contract municipal prosecution for <br />our Hennepin County clients. Our billings can fluctuate from year to year, as most of our clients <br />engage our services on an hourly basis, but our billings for the year 2015 were just under <br />$500,000 for municipal prosecution services. Approximately half of that total was for the City <br />of Maple Grove. That amount constitutes about 85% of our total billings. <br />There have been no ethics complaints against either Paul or myself during the time that <br />we have prosecuted. I was recently sued in federal court as a result of prosecuting a person for <br />operating a Segway while under the influence of alcohol. That lawsuit was dismissed by the <br />United States District Court and that dismissal was affirmed by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. <br />There are currently no pending charges or allegations against either Paul or myself for any <br />misconduct. Neither Paul nor myself have any personal or professional relationship with the any <br />city council member, or any member of the community. I do know the Mayor, Ms. McMillan, <br />by virtue of her service as a member of the Board of the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District, <br />