temporary restraining order - Finance & Commerce

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Minn. Stat. § 473.756 subd. 12. That statutory subdivision also conferred on the construction manager selected by the Minnesota Ballpark Authority certain contracting powers. That statutory subdivision states in relevant part: The construction manager may enter into contracts with contractors for labor, materials, supplies, and equipment for the construction of the ballpark and related public infrastructure through the process of public bidding, except that the construction manager may, with the consent of the authority or the team: (1) narrow the listing of eligible bidders to those which the construction manager determines to possess sufficient expertise to perform the intended functions; (2) award contracts to the contractors that the construction manager determines provide the best value under a request for proposals as described in section 16C.28, subdivision 1, paragraph (a), clause (2), and paragraph (c), which are not required to be the lowest responsible bidder; and (3) for work the construction manager determines to be critical to the completion schedule, award contracts on the basis of competitive proposals or perform work with its own forces without soliciting competitive bids if the construction manager provides evidence of competitive pricing. Although those statutory provisions are referred to in the bonding statute, they do not exempt the City from common law and statutory provisions requiring sealed bidding or best-value competitive procurement processes for contracts in excess of $100,000. Compare Minn. Stat. § 471.345 subds. 3 and 3a with Minn. Stat. § 473.756 subd. 12. On or about June 25, 2012, the City submitted an application to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development for a $27 million Capital Project Grant. See Affidavit of Jeffrey Wieland Supporting Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (“Wieland Aff.”) at Exhibit A. The City’s grant application states that the Lowertown Ballpark project is expected to cost $54 million and that $38,600,000 of that amount is for construction activities. See id. The grant application did not state how much of the total project cost was related to design. See id. N:\PL\85155\85155-001\1607234.docx 4
On September 13, 2012, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development announced that it was awarding St. Paul a $25 million Capital Project Grant for the Lowertown Ballpark Project. See Wieland Aff. at Ex. B and Ex. C. The next day, September 14, 2012, the City awarded Ryan a design-build contract for the Lowertown Ballpark Project. See Wieland Aff. at Exhibit D. The value of that design-build contract is not yet known to Plaintiffs, but it is believed to be far in excess of $100,000 because the City has already disclosed that the construction cost alone is projected to be $38.6 million. See Wieland Aff. at Exhibit A. The City awarded the design-build contract for the Project to Ryan without soliciting for bids or proposals through an advertisement as required by St. Paul Ordinance 82.02 1 , Minn. Stat. § 412.311, and Minn. Stat. § 471.345. In fact, the City awarded the design-build contract to Ryan without engaging in any kind of competitive bidding or best-value process. See Wieland Aff. at Exhibits E, F, and G (newspaper articles reporting events related to the Project and the City’s public position on the contract award to Ryan). The City has publicly taken the position that the bonding bill authorizing the Capital Project Grants exempts the City from competitive procurement process requirements. See Wieland Aff. at Exhibits E, F, and G. Plaintiffs, suing as a taxpayer and as private attorneys general, dispute the City’s statutory interpretation and are seeking injunctive and declaratory relief. III. ARGUMENT A. All five factors of the Dahlberg test support granting Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order. A temporary restraining order, such as the one sought by Plaintiffs, operates to prevent immediate, irreparable injury until a hearing can be conducted to determine the need for a 1 A copy of St. Paul Ordinance 82.02 is attached as Exhibit H to the Affidavit of Jeffrey Wieland as a convenience for the Court. N:\PL\85155\85155-001\1607234.docx 5
Page 1 and 2: STATE OF MINNESOTA DISTRICT COURT C
Page 3: Stat. § 116J.433, governing those
Page 7 and 8: consideration and the other three f
Page 9 and 10: Aff. Exhibit H). The legislature de
Page 11 and 12: perform one or more or all of the f
Page 13 and 14: was not authorized to give a multi-
Page 15 and 16: City failed to test that assumption
Page 17 and 18: “proper challenges to the bid-let
Page 19 and 20: St. Paul chose to violate well-esta

temporary restraining order - Finance & Commerce

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