A week after the Star Tribune first inquired about why an unlicensed auctioneer was conducting the auction of vehicles at the Minneapolis impound lot, city officials still haven't provided a substantive response for how that happened.

"Certainly there are some questions around here and we're working through those questions," Robin Hutcheson said. She's the new director of the Department of Public Works, which contracted for the auctioneer.

The Star Tribune reported last week that Mark Friederichs of Golden Valley auctioned impounded cars for the city without a current Hennepin County for about one year starting in 2015. The state requires auctioneers to hold a license from the county in which they live. Friederichs said the lapse in his license was inadvertent.

The city's contract with Friederichs also required that he be licensed and that he present a license for his oft-extended contract to remain in effect. The city so far has not explained why that apparently didn't happen, nor whether Friederichs still has a contract with the city..

Meanwhile, Ramsey County said that Friederichs has conducted tax-forfeit auctions for it since 2011. The county said that Freiderichs was not required to be licensed for that contract because state law grants an exemption for sales made by collectors of taxes. The county's five-year contract for up to $25,000 with Friederichs does not require that he be licensed.

Hennepin County requires that its auctioneer for tax-forfeit land auctions be licensed.

(Photo: Mark Friederichs auctioned impounded cars for Ramsey County in 2006.)