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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.21.24 Council MinutesRegular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 21, 2024 Page 1 of 7 City of Farmington Regular Council Meeting Minutes Monday, October 21, 2024 The City Council met in regular session on Monday, October 21, 2024, at Farmington City Hall, 430 Third 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 Katie Bernhjelm, Holly Bernatz, Nick Lien, and Steve Wilson Members Absent: None Staff Present: Lynn Gorski, City Administrator Leah Koch, City Attorney Deanna Kuennen, Community & Economic Development Director Kim Sommerland, Finance Director Matt Price, 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 Bernatz to approve the agenda, as presented. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS / COMMENDATIONS 6. CITIZENS COMMENTS / RESPONSES TO COMMENTS The following citizens addressed the Council: • Dave Akin, resident of Farmington • Terry Pearson, 2475 225th Street West, Castle Rock Township • Kathy Johnson, 22280 Berring Avenue, Castle Rock Township Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 21, 2024 Page 2 of 7 • Nate Ryan, 22390 Cambrian Way, Farmington • Drea Doffing, 2255 225th Street West, Castle Rock Township • Jeff Schottler, 22420 Calico Court, Farmington • Lacey, Business Owner • Piper Nelson, 5505 113th Street, Lonsdale • Citizen (did not state name or address) 7. CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 Gambling Exempt Permit Application from Ducks Unlimited Northfield Golf Chapter MN-0113, December 22, 2024; Resolution 2024-90 7.2 Lawful Gambling Permit Application from Farmington Area Education Foundation, November 15, 2024; Resolution 2024-91 7.3 Minutes of the September 16, 2024 Regular City Council Meeting 7.4 Third Quarter 2024 New Construction Report 7.5 Payment of Claims 7.6 Staff Recommendations, including: • Hailey Kerr hired as Seasonal Skate Instructor 7.7 2024 Mill & Overlay – Final Payment and Change Order No. 2 7.8 Receive Bids and Award a Contract for the 2024 Shade Tree Bond Grant Ash Removals to Castle Rock Contracting & Tree LLC 7.9 Receive Quotes and Award a Contract for the 2024 Winter EAB Removal Phase 2 to Northwoods Tree Service 7.10 Grant Contract with State of Minnesota for Intensive Comprehensive Police Officer Education and Training (ICPOET) Motion was made by Councilmember Bernatz and seconded by Councilmember Bernhjelm to approve the Consent Agenda, as presented. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 8.1 Public Hearing and Certification of Delinquent Municipal Services to 2025 Property Taxes Director Sommerland presented. Council asked questions and received answers. Mayor Hoyt opened the public hearing at 7:33 pm. Seeing no one wishing to speak, the public hearing was closed at 7:34 pm. Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Bernhjelm to adopt Resolution 2024-92 Certifying Delinquent Municipal Service Accounts to Dakota County Treasurer-Auditor, as an addition to the 2025 real estate taxes for the appropriate properties. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 21, 2024 Page 3 of 7 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS 13. CITY COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Attorney Koch: Two judges were appointed today for Dakota County, and both are chambered in Hastings. One is Christopher Bates and the other is Matthew Schmidt. Eventually, they’ll have their investiture ceremony, and we will have two new judges. Councilmember Lien: Have a safe and happy Halloween and watch out for kids running around. Councilmember Bernatz There are several Halloween events in and outside of the community, including the Parks and Recreation Halloween Havoc Tour, which was fantastic and had great displays. Also, Farmington Lutheran and Dodge Middle School both have Trunk or Treat opportunities, and Trinity Care Center is looking for kids and people dressed up to make their way through there on Halloween and brighten the residents’ day. My family does the All Hallows Gala, which supports military families past and present. It’s run by the Farmington Area Veterans Committee, and it’s called the Support Our Troops Haunted House Organization. They used to run haunted house at the Dakota County fairgrounds for almost 20 years. They do a haunted house party with a costume component to it. The money spent to attend goes to a very good cause. The event will take place on Saturday, October 26th, in Northfield. Councilmember Bernhjelm: On Thursday, the Twin Cities Film Festival will be featuring our My Town episode of Farmington. I’m excited to see the full episode of this when we have the ability to share it more broadly with the rest of the community because I think it’s a really great way to highlight the things we’re doing here in town and excited to see this full project come to light. Councilmember Wilson: Thank you to Kellee and Missie and all the volunteers at the Rambling River Center who put on another great fundraiser. Administrator Gorski: On December 7th at 7 pm, the Farmington downtown will hopefully be full of participants of the First Annual Lighted Holiday Parade. Homestead Community Church, Farmington Rotary Club, and the City of Farmington have collaborated to Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 21, 2024 Page 4 of 7 plan the event. It’s a fun full day with lots of activities downtown. The Christmas Village in Dakota Village which will also be happening prior to our holiday parade. Director Kuennen: Thank you to everyone for coming to The Emery’s grand opening. It’s a beautiful facility, and it was really to be able to walk through it and see some of the units. For me, it was really fun to walk through with our Building Inspections Team. T hey’re very proud of that project, and it’s neat to walk through something that they’ve had to regulate and monitor and inspect every step along the way and see the pride in their eyes. That’s the kind of Team that we have as a part of Farmington, and it was really fun to be able to experience that with them. I also want to let everyone know that The Rye is underway. This is the Yellow Tree apartment project off of Dushane Parkway. We will be updating some drone footage throughout that project, as well, to watch it come to life. There is some drone footage that already exists, and it’s fascinating to see how quickly things can change. This will be 176 units of market rate apartments that we will be welcoming into this community. Thank you, Councilmember Bernhjelm, for bringing up the docuseries My Town. This was a great project for us to be involved in. We get to attend and see the episode for the first time on Thursday. It has been selected to be part of the Twin Cities Film Festival. We will also have a public event in January, with the date yet to be determined. We will have Cory Hepola, the brains behind this project, coming to our community, answering questions, and having a celebration to share this with the community. The episode will actually air publicly on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, but we also want to have that celebration where we can invite the community to really appreciate and enjoy this project. Director Powell: Public Works has completed hydrant flushing, so now we’re starting street sweeping. One of the contracts awarded this evening is related to our $500,000 DNR shade tree grant. We’re very excited because, not only did we get $300,000 to remove trees and the cost per tree in the bid came in under what we had assumed, we also get to invest in tree replanting. This winter, we will be looking at a planting plan for the area that’s affected. That’s very exciting, in that most of our effort has been focused on public safety and removal of trees. Now we get to put in some of those trees and start some new trees out there. Dakota County has kicked off the Denmark Avenue corridor study from County Road 50 to Ash Street. This study also includes Ash Street from Denmark Avenue over to the railroad tracks to the east. This study will look at traffic, operations, pedestrians, bikes, vehicles, what the future roadway section is that will address the bridge, and the connectivity of the greenway across Denmark Avenue. We will Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 21, 2024 Page 5 of 7 look at intersections and where future intersections would be and whether they meet warrants for traffic control. This is just kicking off now, and we expect the first public open house to be in early December. We will post information as it becomes available, and we will have a link on our website to the County’s project website. Director Omlid: As Councilmember Bernatz mentioned, Friday night is the Halloween walk from 5:30 to 7 pm behind Dodge Middle School. As of today, we have 25 businesses signed up to participate. This is a joint venture between Parks and Recreation and Community Education. The Halloween Havoc Tour is on the City’s homepage if you’re interested in the tour, and also on social media. Today is the first day you can sign up your house for the Holiday Lighted Tour, which is on the Facebook page and the City’s homepage. Halloween is a week from Thursday, and it is also our last day in the current Rambling River Center. On Friday, November 1st, we will transition to Fire Station No. 1. We will have programs out of the Fire Station, and the fitness center will actually move here to City Hall in Conference Room 169. Just want to let everyone know where we’re at until construction is done. Chief Price: We are 20 short days away for Turkey Bingo. We’ll have a lot more information on November 4th. Halloween data: 40% of all structure fires that happen over Halloween are because combustibles are too close to candles. If you’re going to be using candles, the Fire Department asks that you make sure it’s on a sturdy base, and that it’s away from any sort of combustibles and other items. Also, make sure that you’re putting them out in the event and if you’re going to leave the room. Chief Rutherford: If anyone has been following our social media channels at the Police Department over the last week or two, you’ve probably seen some foreign language films about something to do with some pink Stanleys. I don’t know what they say, but I know that they sold their pink Stanley really fast. We have been sourcing them from all over the place. We have a bunch more so, if anybody missed out on the first batch, we have some more. I hear there may be another video dropping tonight or tomorrow, probably going to be equally as funny, if it’s a funny as they described it to me. We are heading into winter parking season in about 10-11 short days, so start making plans to park your cars off the street. That day also happens to coincide with the launch of Toys for Town, which I can’t believe is already here again. Starting November 1st, we’ll have our collection bins out at about 45-50 different Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 21, 2024 Page 6 of 7 locations throughout the city and some of our neighboring towns. Give early and give often. Mayor Hoyt: This is the time of year where there are a lot of events happening across the community. Whether it’s through Parks and Recreation, through Community Education, all the different non-profits and organizations, all of our churches and religious groups, there’s a ton of events happening. There are a lot of ways to find and become aware of those events, but they do come quick and the next think you know, we’re going to be talking about 2025. Harvest season is not quite over yet. Even with the great conditions that we ’ve had, there are still combines and trucks on the road. Even with the shorter daytime hours and with the hazards and the flashers on, please be slow, take your time and exercise patience. They have a living to earn, and we need to keep everybody safe. Halloween will be fairly decent weatherwise than it has in some of the years past so be mindful that there are going to be more kiddos out on the streets, especially after dark. Just go slow, pay attention at all of the crossings, and please be as safe as you can. Toys for Town is around the corner. The pink Stanleys go to benefit the Pink Patch Project, and I’ll let you do that drop again, Chief. Chief Rutherford: All proceeds from the sale of our pink patches (we have two different patches in two different sizes, and we still have a few challenge coins left, and the pink Stanleys, go to the American Cancer Society. Mayor Hoyt: Last, we went to the ribbon cutting and the grand opening for The Emery. This was incredible. Much to the nay-saying that we’ve heard for the last year and a half about how big this is, how much of a monstrosity it is, how it’s unaffordable, and all the bad things, it’s a private $16 million dollar plus investment, it’s an incredible enhancement to downtown, and it is absolutely going to drive people to downtown. You’re talking about 75+ new residents that are going to patron our local businesses. It looked amazing and I held back to not try and go in there through the process, but it is incredible and very well laid out. It’s very clean and fresh and well done. High level finishes and it was incredible to sit in the model. Noise abatement and all the things that they have done, you couldn’t hear anything outside or the vehicles that were driving on Elm Street. This is just another testament to how this City has continued to support its businesses. We listen to our businesses, and they tell us that one of their pressing concerns is affordable housing for their workforce. By diversifying the house mix, and by offering things that are at market rate, this continues to support our employers for them to grow and expand. I have no doubt that this building will have occupancy in a very quick period of time, and it’ll be just Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 21, 2024 Page 7 of 7 another staple of downtown. Aesthetically, it looks great, the way they matched the brick, and it far exceeded my expectations. That was great to see. 14. ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Councilmember Bernatz and seconded by Councilmember Lien to adjourn the meeting at 7:49 pm. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays Respectfully submitted, Shirley R Buecksler City Clerk