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Home My WebLink About02.18.25 Council MinutesCity of Farmington Regular Council Meeting Minutes Tuesday, February 18, 2025 The City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, at Farmington City Hall, 430 Third Street, Farmington, Minnesota. 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hoyt called the meeting to order at 7 pm. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Hoyt led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Mayor Joshua Hoyt Councilmembers Holly Bernatz, Jake Cordes, Nick Lien, and Steve Wilson Members Absent: None Staff Present: Lynn Gorski, City Administrator Amy Schmidt, City Attorney Deanna Kuennen, Community & Economic Development Director Kim Sommerland, Finance Director Matt Price, Fire Chief Kari Kubicek, Grant Writer Gary Rutherford, Police Chief John Powell, Public Works Director Shirley Buecksler, City Clerk 4. APPROVE AGENDA Motion was made by Councilmember Bernatz and seconded by Councilmember Lien to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS / COMMENDATIONS 6. CITIZENS COMMENTS / RESPONSES TO COMMENTS Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of February 18, 2025 Page 1 of 5 7. CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 Minutes of the January 30, 2025 Special Work Session 7.2 Minutes of the February 3, 2025 Council Work Session 7.3 Minutes of the February 3, 2025 Regular City Council Meeting 7.4 Renewal of Consumption and Display Permit for Muddy Waters Studio for 2025 7.5 Payment of Claims 7.6 Donation from Kwik Trip to the Farmington Fire -Rescue Department; Resolution 2025-15 7.7 Out of State Travel to Attend Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) 7.8 Labor Agreement and Memorandum of Agreement Between City of Farmington and LELS Local # 187 Patrol Officers 7.9 Memorandum of Agreement LELS #387 Sergeants 7.10 Staff Approvals and Recommendations, including the appointment of: • David Chanski as Human Resources Director/Assistant City Administrator • Alexandra Goodreau for the Police Cadet (ICEPOET) position • Jonathan Williams for the Police Cadet (ICEPOET) position 7.11 2024 Street Improvements -Final Payment and Change Orders Motion was made by Councilmember Cordes and seconded by Councilmember Wilson to approve the Consent Agenda, as presented. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS 11.UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS 12.1 Resolution Authorizing the Submittal of a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Outdoor Recreation Grant Program Application Director Omlid presented a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources grant funding opportunity for park and trail projects. The Outdoor Recreation Grant Program's purpose is "to increase and enhance recreation facilities in local and community parks throughout the state." This grant program provides matching grants to local units of government Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of February 18, 2025 Page 2 of 5 for up to 50% of the cost of acquisition, development, and/or redevelopment of local parks and recreation areas. The maximum grant award is $350,000 for a total project cost of at least $700,000. The program requires a one-to-one match which can consist of cash, value of materials, labor, and equipment usage by the local sponsor, donations, or any combination thereof. Eligible recreation facilities must include one or more major recreation facilities as identified by the DNR in the project proposal. A permanent skatepark is one of the eligible recreation facilities. During the Rambling River Park master planning process, public and stakeholder engagement showed a strong desire for a skate park in the community to serve preteens and teens who are currently going to other communities for skating, scootering, and biking. The approved master plan for the park included constructing a skate park at Feely Fields as a short-term project. Also included in the master plan is support facilities of new shade structure, trails from the parking lot to the skate park, and shade structure and trees. Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Bernatz to adopt Resolution 2025-16 Authorizing to Act as Legal Sponsor and Authorization for DNR Outdoor Recreation Grant Program Application. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays 13.CITY COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Lien: I am the poster child for not being prepared in the winter, so please don't be me. Keep gas in your car, keep your phone charged, keep a blanket, wear a jacket, things that would be good lessons for myself to take. It's cold, stay warm. Councilmember Bernatz: It's Cabaret week here in Farmington. If you're not at all familiar, Cabaret is the program that's put on with students from all of the schools in the district. It's at Boeckman Middle School on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday evening. It's amazing, fantastic things, so if you're looking for something low cost, great family fun, your kids like music, the arts - like singing and dancing, that would be the place to go. Councilmember Cordes: When we were out in Palm Springs, California, we attended a minor league hockey game. My wife and I struck up a conversation with the attendant working at the stadium, and he asked where we were from. We said Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of February 18, 2025 Page 3 of 5 Minnesota. He asked whereabouts because he had lived in Minnesota previously for a job. We told him Farmington, and he said he used to live in Farmington for nine years. He said he's been transferred around the country for work, but he said Farmington was his favorite place that he lived while he worked for Marriott. His favorite place to live for nine years - he loved this community. Probably two or three years ago, he came back. He said things changed, things look different, there's a lot more houses, there's a lot more development, but the people are still the same. I think it's a great story to illustrate our goals as elected officials, and our City Staff's goals, about the kind of community we want to develop. It's a small world that we ran into somebody who lived about a half mile from where my wife and I live right now, whose daughter graduated two years ahead of me in high school, and who still looks back at his time in Farmington with fondness. Administrator Gorski: I want to thank Council for their approval of the hire of David Chanski, who will be the new Human Resource Director / Assistant City Administrator. The position has been open since September, so we are really excited to get David here. He is starting on Monday, February 27th. Director Kuennen: We had a great discussion tonight about some of the projects that we envisioned moving forward and, with the EDA and the Parks and Recreation Commission we were able to really dig in and talk about this Wayfinding Plan. Thank you for your support for that project, and now we have our work cut out for implementation of it. To know that you appreciated the project and support where we're going with it is really nice. We also talked about the year in review at the EDA, and I'll be presenting that at a future meeting. We accomplished a lot together, and I look forward to working with all of you as we continue to accomplish great things for this community. Director Powell: The Dushane Parkway / Spruce Street intersection improvements is out for bid right now. We are opening bids on March 6th. This is an electronic bid opening, so we don't get any paper. We basically flip a switch, everything is submitted, all the numbers are filled in, and we instantly have a tabulation of the bids. We're expecting to bring this to you at your second meeting in March. Director Omlid: Thank you to Open Door Food Pantry and Faith United Methodist Church. I stopped there about 3:15/3:20 pm to drop off paper bags, and I thought it would be kind of a quieter day because it was cold out. At that time, there were 175 families that had been there. They said at 2:10 pm, there was Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of February 18, 2025 Page 4 of 5 already a line, and it was circled through the church. So, thank you to the church for letting that continue while we're remodeling. And thank you to Jason and Nicole for all they do to make sure we feed our neighbors and the people that live in our community. It showed today what it means, so thank you to them. For outdoor rinks and warming houses, we extended the season by a week. They will be open through this Sunday - both warming houses and outdoor rinks, and then they will be officially closed for the season. Chief Price: On the Consent Agenda, a donation of $1,000 was approved from Kwik Trip in the city of Empire to the Farmington Fire Department. I want to say thank you very much to Kwik Trip. We did their ribbon cutting, and I still have the big check at the station that they gave us. It's a phenomenal store state-of- the-art, as they explained it. It's not like any other type of Kwik Trip that's out there - they have a self -checkout and other items of that nature. It was a really neat event, and it was packed. We are very appreciative of it. Last night was our first candidate informational meeting. The next one is March 4th at 8:30 am, then March loth at 7 pm, and March 15th at 7 pm at Station 2. 14.ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Councilmember Cordes and seconded by Councilmember Wilson to adjourn the meeting at 7:18 pm. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays R spectfully submitted, A y ecksel-J-_ Cle Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of February 18, 2025 Page 5 of 5