Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout09.05.23 Council Minutes City of Farmington Regular Council Meeting Minutes Tuesday, September 5, 2023 The City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, September 5, 2023, at Farmington City Hall, 430 31 Street, Farmington, Minnesota. 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hoyt called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Mayor Joshua Hoyt Councilmembers Holly Bernatz, Nick Lien, and Steve Wilson Members Absent: Councilmember Katie Porter (excused absence) Staff Present: Lynn Gorski, City Administrator Julie Flaten, Asst City Administrator/HR Director Leah Koch, City Attorney Deanna Kuennen, Community Development Director Chris Regis, Finance Director Kellee Omlid, Parks & Recreation Director Tony Wippler, Planning Manager Gary Rutherford, Police Chief John Powell, Public Works Director Shirley Buecksler, City Clerk 4. APPROVE AGENDA City Administrator Gorski asked that Item 7.3, Amendment 1 to the Construction Services Scope and Budget for the Akin Road Improvements, be pulled from the agenda for Staff to look into additional options. Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Lien to approve the agenda, as amended. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS / COMMENDATIONS None. 6. CITIZENS COMMENTS / RESPONSES TO COMMENTS No one addressed the Council. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of September 5,2023 Page I of 5 7. CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 Regular City Council Meeting Minutes for August 21, 2023 7.2 Special Work Session Minutes for August 21, 2023 7.3 Amendment 1 to the Construction Services Scope and Budget for the Akin Road Improvements — Item Pulled 7.4 Federal Aviation Administration Request to Allow Parking on Division Street 7.5 Road and Trail Maintenance Agreement with the City of Empire 7.6 Sewer Agreement with the City of Empire 7.7 Vita Attiva at South Creek Encroachment Agreement 7.8 Bills for August 15 — 29, 2023 7.9 Employee Recognition Program 7.10 Resolution R58-23 Accepting a Donation of Coach Transportation from Marschall Line Inc. to the Parks and Recreation Department Mayor Hoyt suggested that the August 21, 2023, minutes of the Regular City Council Meeting be amended to include the statement provided by David Pritzlaff at that meeting. City Attorney Koch recommended that this be added as Item 12.1 under New Business for Council discussion. Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Lien to approve the Consent Agenda, as amended with Item 7.3 pulled, and add the statement from David Pritzlaff as Item 12.1 . Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 8.1 Consideration of Resolution R58-23 Certifying the 2024 Property Tax Levy Recommendation by the Farmington Economic Development Authority Mayor Hoyt opened the public hearing at 7:02 p.m. Director Kuennen stated that the Economic Development Authority (EDA) has discussed the importance of having a dedicated funding source to support economic development initiatives. The EDA reviewed the process required to establish an EDA levy, directed Staff to prepare a work plan with an associated budget, and discussed the specific recommended levy request for 2024. The EDA is recommending that the City Council include a levy of $150,000 for the EDA as part of the 2024 budget. Per Minnesota Statutes, the City can levy no more than 0.01813% of the City's taxable market value. The $150,000 levy request is considerably less than the maximum allowed $524,687 based on the q Y ( 2023 taxable market value but the amount would significantly enhance the )� 9 Y economic development efforts and momentum currently underway. Mayor Hoyt closed the public hearing at 7:09 p.m. Council asked questions and received answers. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of September-5,2023 Page 2 of 5 Motion was made by Councilmember Bernatz and seconded by Councilmember Wilson to adopt Resolution R58-23, Certifying the 2024 Property Tax Levy Recommended by the Farmington Economic Development Authority, and directed the City Clerk to publish the adopted resolution in the City's official newspaper. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays. 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT None. 10.PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS 10.1 Ordinance Amending Section 10-6-29: Chickens on Urban Residential Lots Planning Manager Wippler presented the ordinance amending section 10-6-29, Chickens on Urban Residential Lots. The substantive changes in the ordinance amendment include the following: • Making the initial permit administrative. • Removing the requirement of a public hearing for the initial permit (the proposed code does provide that the adjacent property owners be notified that an application has been received). • Removing the requirement that the property has to be located within the R- 1 zoning district. Allows for a permit on any property developed for a single- family dwelling within a residential zoning district. • Identifying the exterior finish materials for the coop and run, along with the proposed construction method. • Verbiage added under section (A) of the ordinance adding a #4 under the supporting information/documents required for a permit - verbiage added: "Any other information the Zoning Administrator deems necessary to evaluate the application for compliance with the requirements of this section and this Code." • Changing the time period for approval of an administrative renewal permit from yearly to every two (2) years from the date of the initial approval. • Addition of verbiage that eggs from chickens are for personal use and consumption by the owners of the chickens and may not be offered for sale or sold. The Planning Commission held a public hearing regarding this ordinance amendment at its August 8th regular meeting. The Commission voted 5-0 to recommend approval of the attached ordinance and summary ordinance. Council asked questions and received answers. Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Bernatz to approve and pass Ordinance 023-774, Amending Title 10, Chapter 6, Section 29 of the Farmington City Code as it Relates to Chickens on Residential Lots. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of September 5,2023 Page;3 of 5 11.UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. 12.NEW BUSINESS 12.1 Statement from David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road Motion was made by Councilmember Lien and seconded by Councilmember Bernatz to have Mr. Pritzlaff's comments from the August 21, 2023, Regular City Council Meeting, Citizen Comments portion, added to the official minutes of August 21 , 2023. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays. 13.CITY COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE • Drive safe, school is back in session. The Police Department has shared rules for obeying bus laws. • Ken Lewis retired after 22 years with the City - happy retirement to him. The population was about 9,000 to 10,000 when he started. Fun fact: Ken was asked how close his population estimate was each year as compared to Met Council numbers. He based his estimates on single family construction and said his numbers were almost always spot on. • Huge Kudos to Kellee Omlid for the awesome bus tour last week and lining up a brand new bus and an awesome driver, thank you. • Also thank you, Kellee, and others involved in the facilities study report. It was a good report with a lot of collaboration. Nice job, thank you. • Governor Walz's Commission on Judicial Selection recommended several candidates for two empty seats in Dakota County for the bench. Their bios are available by visiting: Commission on Judicial Selection Recommends First Judicial Candidates. Governor will make the appointments to the bench. • Special thank you to the Dakota County Regional Chamber for being our partner. They helped the City of Farmington host Amy Klobuchar at a recent event held at Aerospace Fabrication. • Thank you to John Moore for his bus chauffeur services that he provided for Parks and Recreation. • Two new Police Officers and our new Building Official were approved tonight and will start in the next two weeks. • September 19th at 1:00 p.m. will be a groundbreaking for The Emery, apartments being constructed by Ebert Construction. • Road activities include work at the apartment building with parking spots blocked off temporarily; short term closure of 3rd Street in the future to connect new utilities in the roadway; Flagstaff and CR 50 -the County is waiting for Frontier to relocate their facilities - turn modification keeps getting pushed back; Spruce Street - this is the FAA, not the city, doing work on their storm sewer all fall; Pilot Knob - County project has the paving done for the turn lane at 206th Street. • We extend our condolences to the family of Tom Kaldunski, former Public Works Director and City Engineer for the City of Farmington. He recently retired as City Engineer from the City of Inver Grove Heights. He passed away last week. Regular City Council Mecting Minutes of September-5,2023 Page 4 of 5 • Friday is the 2nd Annual Fall Food Truck event at Empire, hosted by the Farmington Parks & Recreation Commission and Empire Parks & Recreation Commission. There will be 7 food trucks on Friday night at Stelzel ballfields from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. • Saturday is the last movie in the park for the season: 5:30 p.m. Kidsdance, followed by the movie Hocus Pocus at dusk (approx. 7.30 p.m.). • The City will be going through a financial accounting conversion in 2024. The scheduled live date has been pushed back to September 1, 2024. • Stopping for school bus flashing red lights and stop arms is not just a suggestion or best practice - it is a requirement by law. Cameras on all bus stop arms at Marshall Lines have shown us how pervasive the issue is, so give school buses and students extra room. • Corn looks ready earlier this year than in years past. As we meet every couple of weeks, Mother Nature keeps changing. In addition to our school buses and students and safety, keep in mind — when it's 75 degrees and the sun is setting earlier, look out for motorcycles, kids on bikes, and farmers harvesting. Things change quickly after Labor Day. • The Emery, Ebert Construction building, is slated for preliminary demo day this week. This project brings many things to this community and is a great project for our community and our future. It is in alignment with our downtown redevelopment plan and puts a giant flag in the air to signal to developers that we are a community ready for something that looks a little different, adds more density, helps drive our populus, and create opportunities. This company had options and chose Farmington. • We don't talk often about mental health but it's very real and it's in front of us. Coming out of Covid and with different dynamics in our lives has displaced personal interactions. Please reach out to your network, talk to your family and neighbors and someone you haven't talked to in a while. Check on them and see how they're doing. They may not be in a dire situation, but everyone needs a little pick-me-up and can use more hugs and smiles. Suicide is something we don't want to have to talk about but it's a reality of the world, so check in on everyone that you can and make sure they're doing well. 14.ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Bernatz to adjourn the meeting at 7:37 p.m. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays. Respectfully submitted, irle u cksler U Y City Clerk Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of September 5,2023 Page 5 of 5