HomeMy WebLinkAbout01.02.24 Council Minutes City of Farmington
Regular Council Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
The City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, at Farmington City
Hall, 430 3rd 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 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 & Economic Development Director
Kim Sommerland, Finance Director
Justin Elvestad, Fire Chief
Kellee Omlid, Parks & Recreation Director
John Powell, Public Works Director
Shirley Buecksler, City Clerk
4. APPROVE AGENDA
Motion was made by Councilmember Lien and seconded by Councilmember Bernatz
to approve the agenda, as presented.
Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays
5. ANNOUNCEMENTS / COMMENDATIONS
None.
6. CITIZENS COMMENTS / RESPONSES TO COMMENTS
None.
7. CONSENT AGENDA
7.1 Annual Attendance Report for Boards and Commissions
7.2 City Council By-Laws
Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of January 2,2024 Page I of 6
7.3 Designation of the Dakota County Tribune as the City's Official Newspaper for
2024
7.4 Authorization of Employee Credit Card Use
7.5 Resolution 2024-03 Designating Official Depositories for the City of Farmington,
Minnesota
7.6 Payment of Claims in the Amount of $694,348.97 for the Period of December 12
through December 29, 2023
7.7 Joint Powers Agreement for the City of Farmington Part-Time Utilization of
Southeast Service Cooperative Employee, for Shared Regional Funding
Coordinator Position
7.8 Resolution 2024-01 Accepting a Donation of $5,000 from Finch & Daisy
Consulting to the Rambling River Center
7.9 Resolution 2024-02 Accepting a Donation of Blasting, Priming, and Top Coating
of Handrails to the Parks and Recreation Department
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.
9. AWARD OF CONTRACT
None
10.PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
10.1 Application to Amend the Comprehensive Plan from High Density Residential to
Commercial and Rezone Properties from R-4 (High Density Residential) to B-2
(Downtown Business) — 109 and 113 Elm Street
Motion was made by Councilmember Lien and seconded by Councilmember
Bernatz to adopt Resolution 2024-04 Amending the 2040 Comprehensive Plan
from High Density Residential to Commercial for the Properties Located at 109
and 113 Elm Street.
Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays.
Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember
Lien to pass Ordinance 2024-01 Amending Title 10 of the Farmington City Code,
the Farmington Zoning Ordinance, Rezoning the Properties Located at 109 and
113 Elm Street from R-4 (High Density Residential)to B-2 (Downtown Business).
Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays.
Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of January 2,2024 Page 2 of 6
11.UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None
12.NEW BUSINESS
12.1 Designation of Acting Mayor for 2024
Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember
Bernatz to appoint Councilmember Katie Porter as Acting Mayor for 2024.
Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays.
12.2 Resolution Approving 2024 Council Committee Appointments
Motion was made by Councilmember Bernatz and seconded by Councilmember
Wilson to adopt Resolution 2024-05 Approving Appointments to Council
Committees for 2024 as follows:
PUBLIC AGENCY MEMBERS APPOINTED
Airlake Airport Advisory Commission Holly Bernatz—Primary
Katie Porter—Alternate
ALF Ambulance Steve Wilson—Primary
(Apple Valley/Lakeville/Farmington) Nick Lien—Alternate
Dakota 911 Board of Directors Nick Lien—Primary
Steve Wilson—Alternate
EFPAC Katie Porter—Primary
(Empire/Farmington Planning Advisory Joshua Hoyt—Alternate
Committee
Eureka/Farmington Planning Advisory Holly Bernatz
Committee Joshua Hoyt—Alternate
Farmington/Castle Rock Discussion Group Joshua Hoyt—Primary
Steve Wilson—Alternate
Fire Relief Board Steve Wilson
Nick Lien
Liquor Operations Committee Katie Porter
Holly Bernatz
MUSA Review Committee Holly Bernatz
(Municipal Urban Service Area) Nick Lien
Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays.
12.3 Professional Services Agreement with Kimley-Horn for the 2024 Street
Improvements Final Design and Bidding
Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember
Bernatz to approve the Professional Services Agreement with Kimley-Horn for the
2024 Street Improvements Final Design and Bidding.
Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays.
Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of January 2,2024 Page 3 of 6
13.CITY COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE
Councilmember Wilson: Happy New Year.
Councilmember Lien: Happy New Year. Don't make resolutions, make goals.
Councilmember Bernatz: It is colder but not cold enough for little ones to be around
water. Lakes across Minnesota are not safe to be out on. Whether you are a big ice
enthusiast or a little ice enthusiast, take advantage of the safe spaces that we do have
for skating in the city. Right now, at this moment, it is not safe on the open water
outside.
City Attorney Koch: Governor Walz had a merit selection panel recommend Court of
Appeals candidates for the State of Minnesota's Court of Appeals. They recommended
three candidates, which have not yet been announced.
Administrator Gorski: City Offices will be closed on January 15tn, which is Martin Luther
King Jr. Day, so our next Council meeting will be on Tuesday, January 16tn
Clerk Buecksler: On the Consent Agenda tonight, Council approved the Dakota County
Tribune as the City's official newspaper for 2024. Their Staff is very responsive, and I
look forward to working with them again this year.
Director Flaten: Legislative changes — Earned Safe and Sick Time, while it doesn't
affect us so much for our full-time employees, it will be a little challenging now that we
will need to be offering paid time off to paid-on-call Firefighters, seasonal, and
temporary employees.
Director Kuennen: One of the things I encourage the Council, as well as the community,
to do is check out the Community Development Project Update page. Currently, we
have drone footage of the Emery project, which will be updated on a regular basis. And
we hope to be able to use this page and highlight future projects, as well as a place
where the community can go and check out the various things happening and coming
out of the Community Development Department.
Director Powell: Over the weekend, crews were in both Saturday and Sunday salting
(only) because of icy conditions that developed Saturday during the day. We are in the
process of trying to wrap up last year's projects and get as close to final payments as
we can. At the same time, looking ahead to the 2024 projects and meetings related to
those.
Director Omlid: Unfortunately, the weather hasn't quite cooperated with us yet for our
skating rinks. Temperatures next week look good to start flooding, so our plan is to
start making ice early next week. We hope to open outdoor ice rinks in the next week
or so. We will have it on our homepage at Farmington MN.gov and also on Facebook
when we are opening. We have staff trained and ready to go. City Staff has been
Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of January 2,2024 Page 4 of 6
working with County Staff and Bolton and Menk to work on preliminary design for the
trail gap study on Pilot Knob Road. We met in December and are waiting for word from
Dakota County for when they are available for an open house in January. We will have
it on the City's website and will let Council know, as well.
Director Sommerland: With 2023 coming to a close, the Finance team will begin
preparations for the annual financial audit. The auditors will be onsite this month to
begin their preliminary field work.
Fire Chief Elvestad: Normally at this meeting, I'm reminding residents to shovel around
their hydrants, but obviously that hasn't happened. With the 10-day forecast, if we get
some snow, help us out this winter and keep those fire hydrants clear.
Mayor Hoyt: 2023 was a huge year for this city. I don't think it can be stated with enough
emphasis what we actually accomplished. It's not all new buildings. It's difficult
sometimes to explain the things you don't see. Our team collectively, Council, boards
and commissions, the entire team across the city, our senior leadership, we spent a lot
of time analyzing, planning, really digging deep, getting our guiding documents in place
so we are making the best decisions we can in every area we can. Comp plan updates,
pavement management studies, there is so much that goes into being a highly effective
organization and I feel like 2023 is easily the best year that we've had thus far. We
have an incredible team, top to bottom, left to right. Words aren't enough sometimes.
Residents, you often hear, they don't see it. You pick up the phone and call 911,
somebody shows up. But they don't think about the training that goes behind that, they
don't think about the commitment that goes behind it. The average person doesn't see
what goes on underneath the road. They just know when I flush my toilet or turn my
water on, it's there. They don't know that when we had, in the previous year, six water
main breaks in a very short period of time, that those are major problems that we can
plan and get out in front of. And when we look back over 2023, we were running all
year long. New teammates, new leadership, a handful of retirements, there was a
transfer of experience and knowledge, and that's not often seen from the average
person's seat. To watch your services increase in quality, to increase in frequency, not
have a disruption in service, is a testament to the totality of the work and everything
we've put into it. I'm not one to pat myself on the back and will defer credit where credit
is due. 2023 was an amazing year for this city and I hope our residents will continue to
see that in the months to come and the work that we have, that they will get to see this
year. The road reconstruction projects are a huge portion of that. The Emery is in full
swing. We have a couple other properties that are in process, being worked on, that
have been newly acquired. We're on some partnerships with our adjacent townships.
Community events, there's so much stuff on the calendar year. I hope people take time
to really look into what it takes to make this happen. At the end of the day, it's people.
If you don't have people, you can't do the work. And we have amazing people. We
have an incredible team, and I couldn't be more proud. I look forward to everything we
do this year. The benefit that our residents will receive as an output of our work — call
that a resolution or a goal, this year is going to be better than 2023 was. Thank you to
everyone and thank you to our residents for continuing to support us.
Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of January 2,2024 Page 5 of 6
14.ADJOURNMENT
Motion was made by Councilmember Bernatz and seconded by Councilmember Lien
to adjourn the meeting at 7:38 p.m.
Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays.
Respectfully submitted,
4SrIey 4ecksl&er
City Clerk
Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of January 2,2024 Page 6 of 6