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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07.01.24 Council MinutesCity of Farmington Regular Council Meeting Minutes Monday, July 1, 2024 The City Council met in regular session on Monday, July 1, 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, Katie Bernhjelm, Nick Lien, and Steve Wilson Members Absent: None 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 Kellee Omlid, Parks & Recreation Director Gary Rutherford, Police Chief John Powell, Public Works Director Shirley Buecksler, City Clerk Also Present: William Lauer, CPA - MMKR 4. APPROVE AGENDA Motion was made by Councilmember Bernhjelm and seconded by Councilmember Wilson to approve the agenda, as presented. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS / COMMENDATIONS 5.1 Parks and Recreation Month Proclamation Mayor Hoyt and City Councilmembers read a proclamation declaring July 2024 as Parks and Recreation Month in Farmington. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of July I, 2024 Page l of 6 6. CITIZENS COMMENTS / RESPONSES TO COMMENTS No comments. 7. CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 Gambling Event Permit Application for Church of St. Michael, September 28-29, 2024; Resolution 2024-56 7.2 Temporary On -Sale Liquor License Application for the Church of St. Michael, September 28-29, 2024 7.3 Minutes of the June 17, 2024 Regular City Council Meeting 7.4 Minutes of the June 17, 2024 Special Work Session 7.5 Resolution 2024-57 Approving a Second Amendment to the Appointments to Council Committees for the Remainder of 2024 7.6 Resolution 2024-59 Amending Resolution 2024-43 Approving and Authorizing Execution of an Abatement Agreement with Apartments Farmington, LLC 7.7 Payment of Claims 7.8 Fire Service Agreement with Eureka Township 7.9 Staff Changes and Recommendations, Including: • Appointment of Kristopher Janke, Justin Kelly, Tabatha Lillie, and Chase Pankow as Paid -on -Call Firefighters; • Appointment of Bradyn Willford as a Police Officer; and • Appointment of Benjamin Humlie as a Natural Resources Specialist. 7.10 Agreement with Rose Music Services for Solo Acoustic Live -Looping Performance 7.11 Donation of Gift Cards and Water Bottles from Twin Cities Running Company to the Dew Run; Resolution 2024-58 7.12 Amendment to the Criminal Justice Network Joint Powers Agreement; Resolution 2024-49 Motion was made by Councilmember Bernatz and seconded by Councilmember Lien to approve the Consent Agenda, as presented. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 8.1 Cannabis Business Moratorium City Attorney Koch presented an interim ordinance prohibiting the operation of cannabis businesses. Mayor Hoyt opened the public hearing at 7:06 pm. Seeing no one wishing to speak, Mayor Hoyt closed the public hearing at 7:08 pm. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of July I, 2024 Page 2 of 6 Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Bernhjelm to pass Ordinance 2024-06, An Interim Ordinance Prohibiting the Operation of Cannabis Businesses. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10.PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS 12.1 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report and Related Audit Reports William Lauer, CPA — MMKR presented the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report and Related Audit Reports. 13. CITY COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Attorney Koch: The Office of Cannabis Management continues to produce resources for local governments. Looking forward to those conversations. Councilmember Lien: Thank you to all the volunteers for Dew Days, it was a lovely weekend. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July. Councilmember Bernatz: If everyone up here says thank you to the Dew Days Committee and the volunteers, and the Staff that were there, I don't think it will be enough. It was a great event, really well run, and I'm looking forward already to next year. It's Fourth of July week and there was something interesting I learned about keeping your little humans safe. If you are swimming in lakes or pools, and also in the market for new swimsuits, get the bright ones. The orange, yellow, and pink ones show up in the water. Councilmember Bernhjelm: Dew Days was an absolute blast, the community did a fantastic job, and it was really fun to see downtown full and buzzing for a few days. Excellent work by that entire team. Councilmember Wilson: People may be wondering why I am wearing an "I Voted" sticker. The Primary is coming up and I got to see Shirley, who can help anyone who wishes to vote early for the upcoming Primary. She and her team will do a great job to help you out, so just wanted to acknowledge her. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of July 1, 2024 Page 3 of 6 I would like to second Kellee's comments about the Parks and Recreation Department and the Team. Our parks and trails are heavily utilized but, thanks to all of you for picking up trash and litter and to the Parks Maintenance crew and everybody for doing such a great job out there, they are attractive. Huge kudos to all of you. Congratulations to Wendy Boos for winning the Kiss the Pig contest. She did a very honorable job serving that new role. Mayor Hoyt encouraged all of us to attend the Coronation a couple weeks ago and it was quite an amazing event. These young women who are representing our community with such enthusiasm, and all the parents that spend so much time driving to parades, I want to give a special shout out to all those ambassadors who are going to be representing our community over the summer and the next year. Congratulations to all of you. Administrator Gorski: City Hall will be closed this Thursday for Independence Day, and we will be back open on Friday at 8 am Director Kuennen: A reminder that on July 16th from 8 to 10:30 am, we will have our Small Business Resource Fair at City Hall. I encourage all small businesses to take advantage of this opportunity to have access to some resources that you may or may not know about and to network with your peers. Director Powell: An important project regionally, and certainly to the City of Farmington, Dakota County received five proposals for a corridor study and preliminary engineering on Denmark Avenue, from County Road 50 down to 220th Street. In partnership with the City, we will be reviewing those proposals. The study would begin immediately, and they'd expect to complete it by about this time next year. Director Omlid: The new playground equipment at Rambling River Park was opened for play early this afternoon, so come join us. The zip line was not open today because they were still missing a part and, hopefully, it will be here tomorrow, so that will be up and running within the next few days. The orange snow fence will stay around the perimeter of park while we let the turf establish. The old playground was also fenced off today in preparation for demolition of that playground equipment. At this time, I want to send a huge thank you to the City Council for your support in making that happen. The vision to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to purchase that equipment and that surfacing and making it an inclusive playground for the community is amazing. It will be a draw for everyone — people from other Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of July I, 2024 Page 4 of 6 communities will come to use this equipment. So thank you for your support for this project. also want to thank Minnesota Energy Resources. If you recall, we had received a grant from them to put towards the purchase of the equipment. Thank you to Nicole and her team at Minnesota Energy. And thank you to the Parks Maintenance Staff. From ripping out the tennis court surface, which we did not expect 12 inches of asphalt, to prepping the site for playground installation, to getting the fill in, the turf, the awesome job they did with the cement pads for the benches and the bike rack, they did great work out there. Thank you to that Team and to the community. We will have a grand opening in July or August, but it is open for play, and we're excited to see the kiddos and the adults on that playground. So enjoy the playground! Director Sommerland: In follow-up to tonight's presentation, I want to give a shout out to the Finance Department and all of the Management Team. I couldn't have completed that audit without them, especially with me only having been here two months of last year. appreciate everyone's help. Chief Rutherford: At the last Council meeting roundtable, I made a plea for everyone to please be safe and be careful with all the extra traffic and activity downtown for Dew Days. I am happy to report it was a largely incident -free weekend. All the way around it was safe, it was fun, and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves and nobody got too carried away. I am a 22-year resident of the city of Farmington, and I spend a fair amount of time in our parks and on our trails. I would like to give a shout out to Kellee and all of her Staff for keeping them in amazing condition. It's a real asset to the community, and I'd like to thank you for that. Mayor Hoyt: Three years ago, there was almost no event to be had for Dew Days. It was on that line, but Holly Shearer and Holly Bernatz showed up and pleaded in March to make it happen. And each year since, it has built in awesomeness and has increased in attendance. To the Chiefs point, it has been mostly incident -free the last few years. The one thing I heard people say most throughout the event was they were surprised at how clean it stayed. Not just how many trash cans were put out, but that people were picking things up and putting them away. It's not a shot at any other city, but when you go to a lot of events, that's just part of the deal and there's stuff everywhere. There's a lot of people eating, drinking, etc., and it's the mess that comes with the large event. We've managed to stay away from that. We've managed to have a very clean event; people respect the community and the Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of July 1, 2024 Page 5 of 6 businesses and they're not damaging stuff. That's a testament to the character of our residents and those that come into our community for events like Dew Days. A huge holiday on Thursday — Independence Day. Be safe and have fun. This is a holiday that is usually welcomed with many aerial explosive devices that we call fireworks and, while certain types are still illegal in the state, you can still be respectful of your neighbors. There is a pretty impressive display put on in any number of neighborhoods across the community not only the night of the fourth, but the weekend that happens to follow after that. Just remember that not everybody has the same holiday schedule and not everybody has the same days off. Some work nights and sleep during the day, or they have dogs, or kiddos, or adults in the home that have sensitivity to sounds. Just be aware of your surroundings. You can have fun and be responsible, but you need to be respectful of your neighbors at the same time. And please, help our Public Works Department by cleaning up your trash. All the debris that's left behind, all the cardboard pieces and stuff, take the time to sweep them up the following morning and dispose of them safely. Please clean it up so it doesn't end up in our storm water ponds. 14.ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Lien to adjourn the meeting at 7:45 pm. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays Respectfully submitted, 4hi ey a sler fA-�- Ci y Clerk Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of July 1, 2024 Page 6 of 6 CITY OF FARMINGTON PROCLAMATION PARKS AND RECREATION MONTH, JULY 2024 WHEREAS, parks and recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country, including Farmington, promoting health and wellness and improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks; and WHEREAS, parks and recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being and alleviating illnesses, such as depression, attention deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's; and WHEREAS, parks and recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports, hiking trails, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles; and WHEREAS, parks and recreation programming and education activities, such as out -of -school time programming, youth sports, and environmental education, are critical to child development; and WHEREAS, parks and recreation increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, the attraction and retention of businesses, and crime reduction; and WHEREAS, parks and recreation is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community and the city's parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of Farmington and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors; and WHEREAS, the U.S. House of Representatives has designated July as Parks and Recreation Month; and WHEREAS, the City of Farmington recognizes the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources. NOW THEREFORE, I, Joshua Hoyt, Mayor, on behalf of the Farmington City Council, do hereby proclaim July 2024 as PARKS AND RECREATION MONTH IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the City of Farmington, Minnesota, to be affixed on this l' day of July 2024. Joshua Hoyt, M or