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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.03.25 Council Minutes City of Farmington Regular Council Meeting Minutes Monday, March 3, 2025 The City Council met in regular session on Monday, March 3, 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 Thomas, a Boy Scout in attendance at the meeting, 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 David Chanski, HR Director/Assistant City Administrator Amy Schmidt, City Attorney Deanna Kuennen, Economic & Community Development Director Kim Sommerland, Finance Director Kellee Omlid, Parks & Recreation Director Gary Rutherford, Police Chief Nate Siem, Deputy 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 Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of March 3,2025 Page 1 of 5 6. CITIZENS COMMENTS / RESPONSES TO COMMENTS 7. CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 Minutes of the February 18, 2025 Regular City Council Meeting 7.2 Minutes of the February 19, 2025 Special Work Session -Strategic Planning Meeting 7.3 Minutes of the February 26, 2025 Special City Council Meeting 7.4 Development Contract - Meadowview Preserve 2nd Addition 7.5 Payment of Claims 7.6 Staff Approvals and Recommendations, including the appointment of: • Dan Schmidt as Leads Parks Maintenance Worker • Kevin Cha as Patrol Officer 7.7 Change Orders for the Rambling River Center Project 7.8 Declaring Items as Surplus and Authorizing Disposal; Resolution 2025-17 7.9 Institution Community Work Crew Contract Motion was made by Councilmember Cordes and seconded by Councilmember Lien 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 Public Works 2024 Annual Update Director Powell presented the Public Works 2024 Annual Update for Council. He also introduced Eric Whitmer, Public Works Superintendent. 13.CITY COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Bernatz: It's going to be a snowstorm...maybe. Parking restrictions are still on until April, so if there is snow on the ground and you don't want your car or truck or anything else put someplace where you can't find it, make sure you park it in your driveway so that all of our hardworking Public Works people can get by and open up our streets again, assuming that we get the amount of snow that we're supposed to get. And welcome, David. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of March 3,2025 Page 2 of 5 Councilmember Lien: Welcome, David. Councilmember Cordes: Welcome, David -welcome to the team. We're glad to have you. Councilmember Wilson: Welcome, David, it's great to have you here. Administrator Gorski: I want to welcome David Chanski to our team. He is the new Assistant City Administrator and Human Resources Director. It's been great having you here so far, thank you. Clerk Buecksler: Welcome David. It's great to have you here. Director Chanski: I'm very happy to be here. This is day three, so I'm still actively drinking from the fire hose, but Lynn can rest assured that I will be back in the morning. We accepted an offer on our house in Brainerd yesterday, and we are very excitedly looking forward to relocating in April. Director Kuennen: Welcome, David, to the team. January takes forever and feels like the month that keeps on giving, and then February is over in the blink of an eye, and we're now in March. This is when a lot of activity starts happening in the Community and Economic Development Department with building permits and all of that. But we have also been invited to do a number of speaking engagements to really tell Farmington's story and get out there and continue to market all the wonderful things that are happening in this community. I will be speaking twice this month, and I'm really excited to be able to share Farmington's story. Director Powell: Welcome, David. Just to show how we work as a team, when I got back to my seat, Deanna told me exactly how long I talked for and how much with Q&A because, last year, I was trying to gauge how long my presentation should be, so I was clocking everyone's 15 minutes, 25 minutes, so I appreciate having that data. (Deanna - I do have to tell you that he writes down all those times Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of March 3, 2025 Page 3 of 5 when things start and stop, and I was just trying to do him a favor so that his notes would be complete.) I do want to remind everyone that load limits went on in the metro area today. We don't typically issue overweight permits unless it's a delivery to a business, but for construction and such. We had a call that they're doing some concrete work at the Kwik Trip on Pilot Knob. We told them they just have to shorten their loads until load limits go off. This year, they may go off fairly quickly. If you go to MnDOT's website, you can see the historical dates, on and off, in the metro area. Just a reminder- load limits are on. Director Omlid: On tonight's Consent Agenda, you promoted Dan Schmidt from Parks Maintenance Worker to Lead Parks Maintenance Worker. I want to congratulate Dan in this well-deserved position and for him growing in that new role. Seasonal job postings are out there. We have Recreation Assistants (15+ years of age) and Seasonal Parks Maintenance (18+ years of age), so hop on the City's website at www.FarmingtonMN.gov to apply. Probably only a couple more weeks to apply and then we'll start interviewing. Welcome, David - happy to have you here and we look forward to working with you. Director Sommerland: I would also like to welcome David to our team and look forward to working with you, as well. Just a reminder to our viewers that the County will be sending out valuation notices this month, and this is the value that your taxes will be based on for next year. They will also have some information on there with regards to appealing the valuation. If you do not like that valuation, this would be the time and place to do it -they'll have those instructions. Deputy Chief Siem: Welcome, David. Chief Rutherford: Welcome, David. And I brought a puppy. This is Moose and his handler, Officer Kyle Miller. Moose is our new Employee Wellness Dog. He's currently in training and will be in training for quite a while. He's here to lift spirits-see, look, everybody's smiling, it's already working. Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of March 3,2025 Page 4 of 5 Officer Miller- he's doing great so far, and his trainers really love him. They say he's super smart and we're hoping that, by the end, we can start teaching him some fun tricks for community events and interacting with the public. Mayor Hoyt - through sponsorship with Enterprise, we received the funding that covered the cost of the acquisition of our dog, and another great community asset. Mayor Hoyt: The only thing I have to add on top of all the good information that has been shared, is welcome, David. Welcome to the team - I knew in the short time that we've had to chat, you'd be a tremendous asset to the team, and I look forward to all the collaboration we're going to do over the years to come. For those watching, don't forget that Daylight Savings Time is Saturday night into Sunday morning. Hopefully we dodge the snow that's supposed to be here tomorrow night into Wednesday. Outside of that, shop local and support Farmington in all the ways. 14.ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Councilmember Bernatz and seconded by Councilmember Wilson to adjourn the meeting at 7:42 pm. Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays Respectfully submitted, .r- S irl y Rt ksler City Clerk Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of March 3,2025 Page 5 of 5