St. Paul officials are defending their decision to award the design and construction work for the new St. Paul Saints ballpark to a Twin Cities firm without putting it out for competitive bids.
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota sued the city last week over the deal, which gave the contract to Ryan Cos. of Minneapolis.
The lawsuit seeks to stop implementation of the contract, and Phil Krinkie, Taxpayer League president, told Finance & Commerce:
“I don’t know who, where or how they dreamt all this up.”
The city initially had no comment on the lawsuit, as officials studied the suit. But now Deputy City Attorney Jerry Hendrickson reports:
"We feel the city has the authority to contract directly. We'll be defending the lawsuit."
So it's off to court they go.