By: OnlytheFacts on 10/23/09
Everyone should stop shopping at the Mayor's store, and let her try to survive on her salary from the city!

By: dapa2 on 10/24/09
It will be interesting to see what the new contracts came in at once approved should be available as public information.

By: jd318us on 10/25/09
I was a police officer in Northfield for over 20 years and Tim Morisette was the city prosecutor for the bulk of the time I was there. Prior to Mr. Morisette's time, the Lampe firm had the contract as well. Not only is he, as Greg Colby said, very good at his job, he has always been very dedicated to helping out the officers at ANY time of the day or night, including calls at 3:00 am when a complicated situation arose. I can't help but think that a law firm in another city just won't be as easy to deal with in those circumstances. Also, the convenience of being able to stop in his office to review a complaint being drafted or to clarify an important point or to go over testimony before trial can never be matched by doing things remotely over the phone or by email.
I can't see how anyone will be the better for this. Remember the adages "Bigger isn't always better" and "If it works, leave it alone."

By: Peter on 10/25/09
As much asI support trying to keep business local, there is one or two elements which should override my previous statement.

Qualification and money. It is not uncommon that governments tend to overpay for services that are farmed out.
Like in everything else our city officials should be striving to get the best value for our tax dollars.

This means getting the right service at the right price.

By: fairandbalanced on 10/26/09
If we all knew the real reason that this firm wasn't rehired, and if it was a good reason...I think people would understand why we didn't shop local. As it is, there's no good reason, so it doesn't make sense.

By: Townie on 10/29/09
Losing Tim could be a big screw-up for the City of Northfield..... I agree whole-heartedly with many of these comments, expecially that of jd318us. Tim Morisette, in particulary has done an awesome job for the City of Northfield; approachable, responsive, etc. And I happen to enjoy exchanging "hello's!' with my city prosecutor when I run in to him at the Quarterback Club, over the lunch-hour. I'm thinking any new "metro attorney's" won't be exchanging hello's with the locals; and what *is* the particular interest in these metro attorney's, anyway? Is there something for a city official to gain buy choosing these two particular people? What *is* the REAL reason behind changing city prosecutors, anyway? Hopefully our City Officials won't make a foolish decision that we will have to bail ourselves out of later down the road....

By: Observer23 on 10/29/09
Residents are consistently encouraged to "Shop Local,", so why then doesn't that apply to our city council? We have many fine professionals available to us in town, use them! And if our elected officials aren't going to shop locally for professional services, then the citizens shouldn't be asked to show any loyalties to the local businesses either -- won't that be a fine outcome.

By: EditorJaci on 10/29/09
Observer, how would the city do that if no other local firms applied for the contract?