(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch.
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Court upholds ruling on Des Moines’ million-dollar, no-bid contracts for animal control

['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- September']

Date: 2021-09-23 00:00:00


The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court decision favoring the City of Des Moines’ decision to award million-dollar, no-bid contracts for animal control.

The ruling springs from a 2018 lawsuit Erich Riesenberg filed against the Des Moines City Council and the city manager, alleging they violated state law by having the city enter into a contract with a private company, the Animal Rescue League, for animal control services.

Riesenberg alleged the contract was illegal because it was exempted from competitive bidding without good cause, it eliminated public oversight and it subsidized the operations of the ARL.

The district court dismissed or issued a summary judgment in favor of the city with regard to all of Riesenberg’s claims, which led to his appeal.

With regard to the lack of open bidding, Riesenberg had argued the city had entered into contracts, or extended existing contracts, with the ARL eight times since 2005, at a cost to taxpayers of $18 million, all without any sort of competitive bidding.

Under city ordinances, the council can exempt contracts from the competitive bidding process “for good cause.”

Riesenberg argued the city’s claim of good cause to avoid bidding was not supported by any specific factual findings. The Court of Appeals did not dispute that, but noted the city’s ordinance does not require the council to make such findings before claiming there’s “good cause” to bypass the bidding process.

Two of the remaining claims by Riesenbeg had been dismissed by the district court judge related to his lack of standing to sue, suggesting he lacked any specific personal or legal interest in the litigation and was not adversely affected by the city’s actions.

Riesenberg had argued that the contract inhibited public oversight through a provision stating that “any inquiries from the media” made to the city about the Animal Rescue League had to be “immediately directed” to the ARL. The appeals court found that Riesenberg was not adversely affected by that provision of the contract and that he had no specific interest in the matter as he was not a member of the media.

With regard to the claim that the city was illegally subsidizing the ARL’s business operations through the contract, Riesenberg had argued the city was allowing the ARL to use city property to sell animals for profit. The district court had addressed that claim as an allegation of a constitutional violation since the Iowa Constitution says “no public money or property shall be appropriated for … private purposes” without legislative approval.

But to succeed on such a constitutional claim, Riesenberg had to show “an absence of all public interest” in the purpose for which the money was spent, the appeals court said, and it agreed with the district court’s finding that the contract was for animal control, which is a legitimate exercise of police power for which there is a public purpose.

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