City staff told the council they will place two professional‑services agreements on the consent agenda next week: a proposed contract with Zacher, Stock and Kreps for prosecution services and a two‑year public‑defense contract with Feldman and Lee.

Staff said the prosecutor contract is proposed for Jan.–Dec. 2026 at $204,000 with a 2027 level of $216,000 and an option to extend into 2028 and 2029 with 4% annual increases. The public‑defense contract was described as a two‑year agreement (no automatic extension included in this iteration) at $40,000 per month — roughly $480,000 annually — driven by caseload‑standard changes implemented by the state supreme court earlier this year.

Staff framed the public‑defense figure in context: the city paid about $18,500 per month for prosecution services in 2023, $26,500 per month last year, and is now proposing a $40,000-per-month public‑defense contract in 2026. Staff and council discussed the rough per‑case cost estimate: with an historical case volume around 502 cases, staff noted the per‑case cost implied by the proposed contract is on the order of $10,000 per case.

Council asked about contract exit provisions (staff said both contracts include a 90‑day notice period), screening criteria to confirm indigent-status eligibility, repeat users of public‑defender services, juvenile-case handling and the opportunity for South County cities to collaborate on staffing to realize economies of scale.

Next steps: staff recommended placing both recommended agreements on the Dec. 18 consent agenda; the council will have the opportunity to approve or pull the items for separate consideration.