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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.06.23 City Council MinutesCity of Farmington Regular Council Meeting Minutes Monday, November 6, 2023 The City Council met in regular session on Monday, November 6, 2023, at Farmington City Hall, 430 V Street, Farmington, Minnesota. 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hoyt called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Hoyt led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Mayor Joshua Hoyt Councilmembers Nick Lien, Katie Porter, and Steve Wilson Members Absent: Councilmember Holly Bernatz (excused absence) Staff Present:Lynn Gorski, City Administrator Julie Flaten, Asst City Administrator/HR Director Leah Koch, City Attorney Deanna Kuennen, Community & Economic Development Director Kim Sommerland, Finance Director Matt Price, Deputy Fire Chief Kellee Omlid, Parks & Recreation Director Gary Rutherford, Police Chief John Powell, Public Works Director Shirley Buecksler, City Clerk 4. APPROVE AGENDA Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Porter to approve the agenda, as presented. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS / COMMENDATIONS 5.1 Introduction of New Employees and Swearing in of Paid-on-Call Fire District Chief and Lieutenant The following new employees were introduced to Council: Building Official Josh Lawrenz GIS Specialist Danielle Olson Finance Director Kim Sommerland Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of November 6,2023 Page I of 6 Deputy Fire Chief Scott Mattingly was sworn in and pinned by his father, Ron. His daughters were also in attendance. Fire Lieutenant Jason Graham was sworn in and pinned by his wife, Heather. 6. CITIZENS COMMENTS / RESPONSES TO COMMENTS None 7. CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 Gambling Event Permit, Farmington Volleyball Club, January 10, 2024; Resolution R69-23 7.2 Gambling Premises Permit, K.D.K. Foundation at Longbranch Saloon & Eatery, 309 Third Street, Farmington; Resolution R71-23 7.3 Minutes of the October 16, 2023 Regular City Council Meeting 7.4 Payment of Claims for October 11-31, 2023 in the Amount of$1,246,658.65 7.5 Agreement with International City Management Association Retirement Corporation, doing business as Mission Square Retirement 7.6 Staff Changes and Recommendations Including: Seasonal Warming House Attendants Nathan Bartell, Evrett Bennett, Anna Goodrich, Ava Goodrich, Naomi Heggemeier, Alex Jacobson, Dylan Kaiser, and Gavin Phillips Warming House Supervisor Lauren Fleming Assistant Skating Supervisor Marina Nelson 7.7 2023-24 Farmington High School Hockey Game Ice Rental Agreement 7.8 Agreement with Youth Sports Plus for Video Services at Schmitz-Maki Arena 7.9 Five-Year Farm Lease with Devney Family Farms 7.10 Johnson Controls Fire and Life Safety Systems Planned Service Agreement 7.11 Resolution R70-23 Accepting Donation from Farmington VFW Post 7662 to the Halloween Walk 7.12 Contract with Asplundh Tree Expert LLC for Tree Trimming and Removal Services 7.13 Final Acceptance of Public Streets and Utilities and Release of Securities — Sapphire Lake 4th Addition 7.14 Professional Service Agreement with WSB for Staff Augmentation Motion was made by Councilmember Lien and seconded by Councilmember Wilson to approve the Consent Agenda, as presented. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS None Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of November 6,2023 Page 2 of 6 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT None 10.PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS None 11.UNFINISHED BUSINESS None 12.NEW BUSINESS None 13.CITY COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Lien: Thank you to Chief Rutherford for the invitation to the Police Department banquet. It was a great night. Councilmember Porter: Reminder that Veteran's Day is Saturday so thank a Veteran for their service to our community. Patriotic Day is Thursday, November 9, at Farmington High School at 7:30 p.m. Major Zach Duckworth will be the speaker. It is an honor to have him in our community and serving in our Senate, as well. Councilmember Wilson: Two or three things always stand out to me as a Councilmember that I really enjoy: Swearing in of a Police Officer, swearing in rank of our Fire Department, and new employees. It's really exciting that we have talented new employees and the best Staff in the state of Minnesota. Welcome to our new Staff. Chief Rutherford, thank you for the awards ceremony invitation. It's really quite remarkable the type of situations that you and your team find yourself in when serving the public, things that the average person wouldn't have any awareness of. I appreciate that with a ton of gratitude to be hearing some of the stories, the awards, and the work that your team puts in, I appreciate that. Congratulations to our Farmington Girls Cross Country Team. This girls' team, their Coach Adam Lippold and his wife who is involved with the program, are a remarkable team. They just finished 6th in the state and beat Edina, who finished 7th. That was a huge accomplishment. For the senior girls graduating this year, they participated in the state meet four years in a row, which is a really big deal. Kudos to them, they have won sections seven years in a row. I want to call out the two boys who qualified for state and participated, Mason Roeller and Andrew Crisp, and the girls, Mariah Fenske, Lauren Lansing, Sophia Venning, Mackenzy Lippold, Marianah Scott, Brylee Cavanaugh, and Lindsey Woestehoff. Tiger Kudos to all of you, it was awesome. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of November 6,2023 Page 3 of 6 Attorney Koch: Reminder that elections are tomorrow, and your community may be involved, so be sure to check. City Administrator Gorski: Welcome to our new employees and thank you for choosing Farmington. Every time we have an opening, I am always amazed by the talent pool we have and the opportunities we have to work with the new employees we hire. Also, I want to thank our current employees for continuing to choose Farmington. We appreciate all of our employees who work here. There are many openings out there and people continue to choose us, so we are thankful for that. Friday, City Hall will be closed for observance of Veterans Day. City Clerk Buecksler: On tonight's agenda, Council approved a Gambling Premises Permit for K.D.K. Foundation at the Longbranch Saloon. The applicants are here tonight if Council has any questions for them. Director Flaten: Staff have finished their work on The Currents winter edition, so that should be arriving at homes in about a week and a half. Director Sommerland: have only been here for a week, so I'm working on getting caught up. My Staff is really good about keeping me on task as to what's important. I am truly happy to be here and appreciate working with the amazing team that Lynn has. Director Omlid: It's not too early to sign your house up for the Holiday Lights Tour. We have 12 houses already registered. Look for it on the City of Farmington homepage at https://www.farmingtommn.gov. Houses need to be registered by November 27tb, with lights on by December 4tn and on for the holidays. We will have a map prepared by December 4tn The Halloween Havoc Tour— if you haven't heard the story about Mr. Halloween, encourage you to go on Kare 11 and watch the two stories. Thank you to him for all he did for the Farmington food shelf. Neat publicity for Farmington and the food shelf. Director Powell: Thank you for recognizing new employees. With Dani, whenever we talk about doing something that we've done many times in the past, we take the approach that maybe we can have an app for that. Something as simple as on Snow Day, the plow drivers noting where there are basketball hoops in the street that could be an obstacle, we had an app for that. We asked Dani and she put it together and it's right on their Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of November 6,2023 Page 4 of 6 phones, so we are very appreciate having her on staff. Thank you for your support and making the change from the role in engineering. A few project notes—you may notice that the columns near the Schmitz-Maki Arena are shorter than they used to be. This was done in order to improve the site distance for vehicles exiting the drop-off. Drivers expressed discomfort with the ability to see oncoming traffic, so we lowered a few of those columns. At Meadowview Preserve, they plan on doing some grading this fall and starting utility work in that subdivision in the spring. The mechanics and I will be visiting a couple of other local communities this week to look at fleet management software to see what they are using that might fit our needs. Deputy Chief Price: This Saturday is our 72nd annual Turkey Bingo. Doors open at 5 p.m., first game starts at 6 p.m. We encourage everyone to come down, it's fun for everyone. It will be ran a little differently this year than in years past, with more seating and no silent auction tables. There will be no silent auction this year. Instead of going to the businesses and asking for donations, we're asking for money to offset costs. Those that did, there may be some surprises happening. Chief Rutherford: It's Toys for Town season again. We will start distributing our donation bins to our 50+ donation sites this week. In the meantime, if anyone has new unwrapped toys they would like to donate or financial donations, they can make those in the lobby of the Police Department. Gift wrapping will take place on Saturday, December 161" at 9 a.m. at Farmington High School. MaVor Hoyt: It's that time of year again with Turkey Bingo, Shop with a Cop, Toys for Town, Christmas in the Village, there are a lot of events going on, so follow the Farmington Community Education website at https://farmington.ce.eleVo.com, the School District website at http://www.farmington.kl2.mn.us and the City of Farmington website at https://www.farmingtommn.gov. There is a lot going on between now and the end of the year. As we get into the holiday season, it's a stark reminder of how many people are in need. We have heard great stories about residents stepping up for Halloween, the Food Drive, 360 Communities, the Farmington Food Shelf, Toys for Town, and all of our churches and organizations. There are so many different ways that you can give back and contribute to the community and its residents. Do everything you can to help support your fellow residents and help continue to make Farmington an amazing community to live in. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of November 6,2023 Page 5 of 6 We have Patriotic Day on Thursday, which is a free community meal. Starts at 5 p.m. at the High School, no registration required, and no need to be a Veteran — just come on in. This is a great community event to take part in and pay appreciation to our Veterans. It's always the week of Veterans Day. 14.ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Councilmember Porter and seconded by Councilmember Wilson to adjourn the meeting at 7:25 p.m. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays. Respectfully submitted, lLirleLkecksler City Clerk Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of November 6,2023 Page 6 of 6