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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.20.25 Council Minutes City of Farmington Regular Council Meeting Minutes Monday, October 20, 2025 The City Council met in regular session on Monday, October 20, 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 Jake Cordes, Nick Lien, and Steve Wilson Members Absent: Councilmember Holly Bernatz Staff Present: Lynn Gorski, City Administrator Amy Schmidt, City Attorney David Chanski, Assistant City Administrator/HR Director Deanna Kuennen, Economic & Community Dev. Director Kim Sommerland, Finance Director Matt Price, Fire Chief Kellee Omlid, Parks & Recreation Director Nate Siem, Police Chief John Powell, Public Works Director 4. APPROVE AGENDA Motion was made by Councilmember Lien and seconded by Councilmember Cordes to approve the agenda, as presented. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS / COMMENDATIONS 6. CITIZENS COMMENTS / RESPONSES TO COMMENTS • Nicole Colson, 19235 Everest Path, Farmington • Sarah Rice, 409 Ninth St, Farmington • Citizen (name and address not provided) • Nancy Aarestad, 22165 Beaumont Ave, Castle Rock Township • Jeff Schottler, 22420 Calico Ct, Farmington Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 20, 2025 Page 1 of 7 • Nate Ryan, 22390 Cambrian Way, Farmington 7. CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 Payment of Claims 7.2 Resolution Supporting the Adoption of the Dakota County 2026-2030 Capital Improvement Program 7.3 Right of Entry Agreements with True Gravity Ventures and Finnegan Trust for the Northeast Area Trunk Utilities 7.4 Third Quarter 2025 New Construction Report 7.5 Staff Approvals and Recommendations, including: • Promotion of Kelly Huntington from ICPOET Cadet to Police Officer • Appointment of Derrik Pelant to ICPOET Cadet 7.6 Minutes of the October 6, 2025 City Council Work Session 7.7 Human Resources Manager Job Description, Wages, and Authorization to Hire 7.8 Minutes of the October 6, 2025 Regular City Council Meeting Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Cordes to approve the Consent Agenda, as presented. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 8.1 Public Hearing and Certification of Delinquent Municipal Services to 2026 Property Taxes Mayor Hoyt opened the public hearing at 7:34 pm. Director Sommerland described the City's process for annually certifying delinquent charges to property taxes. As of this evening, a total of 446 customer accounts remain delinquent, representing $252,846.70 in unpaid charges. Certification of these delinquent balances allows the City to recover costs by adding the unpaid amounts to property tax bills, which are then collected through the County's property tax system. Seeing no one wishing to speak, Mayor Hoyt closed the public hearing at 7:37 pm. Motion was made by Councilmember Wilson and seconded by Councilmember Lien to adopt Resolution 2025-071 Certifying Delinquent Municipal Service Accounts to the Dakota County Treasurer-Auditor for Collection with 2026 Property Taxes. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 20, 2025 Page 2 of 7 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10.PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS 11.UNFINISHED BUSINESS 12.NEW BUSINESS 12.1 Agreement with Spohn Ranch, Inc. for Design and Construction Services for the Skatepark Director Omlid presented the next step for the development of a skatepark in Farmington. The new skatepark will be constructed at Feely Fields in Rambling River Park. Staff conducted a comprehensive vetting process to make an informed recommendation based on vendor qualifications, experience, responsiveness, and observed construction quality. Staff recommends entering into an agreement with Spohn Ranch for design and construction services for the skatepark project. Motion was made by Councilmember Cordes and seconded by Councilmember Wilson to approve the agreement with Spohn Ranch, Inc. for design and construction services for the skatepark and amend the budget accordingly. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays 13.CITY COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Attorney Schmidt responded to some of the comments that were made during Citizen Comments. Cannon Falls is different than Farmington, and their zoning code is different than Farmington, and the land that is available in Cannon Falls is different than what is available in Farmington. It's not an apt comparison because this is Farmington, and the Farmington City Code is what applies. Also, the MUCI (Mixed Use Commercial Industrial) zoning is intended to provide flexibility and doesn't mean that every project has to be a mixed use that goes into that zoning district. It provides flexibility within the Code so that you can have a mixed use, commercial, or industrial project for a different development to go into that zoning district. On the City of Farmington zoning map, a much larger part of the city is zoned under the MUCI, not just this parcel. Attorney Schmidt hesitated to comment about things she has said in the past because as she stated, this isn't about her. Mr. Ryan mentioned that she gave advice to the Council after only 18 minutes. If he believes she gave flippant advice, that wasn't her intention. She didn't need 18 minutes to look up the information she gave to the Council because on Saturday, she will be practicing law for 23 years and knew the information provided without looking Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 20,2025 Page 3 of 7 it up. A moratorium for this project is not something that is allowed because it is already approved. If you were to adopt a moratorium, it could apply to other parts of the city where you could do studies and evaluate all the things that Mr. Ryan enumerated about - fire safety, water pressure, and all of those things. But it would apply to other projects. It wouldn't apply to this project. She said she thinks Mr. Ryan is right that if the City were to adopt a moratorium, the City would certainly be sued over that. And she cannot give the City legal advice to actively do something that will get you sued, especially in a lawsuit that the City would lose. Tract would have the upper hand in a lawsuit like that because they already have an approval, and changing the zoning or adopting a moratorium for the very purpose of stopping their development is a losing lawsuit for the City. She cannot give the Council legal advice to take action to do that because that's harmful to the City. And Mr. Schottler suggested that the City hasn't even made the effort to give a 'fake report' to the residents to show that the City Council has tried to do something to satisfy the requests of the neighbors-she doesn't know what good it would do for anyone if the City were to generate a 'fake report.' Any reports or information gathered by the City would be to provide factual information to the residents. And the fact that neighbors come and speak their peace, doesn't change the fact that there is nothing in front of the Council right now that the Council can act on to change the approvals that have already been given for this project. As stated previously, we are still waiting for the judge to issue a decision on the motions that have been pending since the end of July. The judge's deadline is the end of next week and, hopefully, we will hear something, and we can discuss it next time. Councilmember Lien wanted to comment on the statement that nothing was ever attempted and wanted to call out one inaccuracy or, as he sees it, when there was action in front of him on the day of the vote. That morning, he talked with Mr. Schottler about things he wanted, things he wanted to negotiate for, and three big ones on that list were the setbacks, the buffers, and the lighting. Councilmember Lien called Tract that day and if you look at the revised copy of the changes that were there that night, you will see a doubling of the buffer from 40 to 80 feet and an added requirement of zero footcandles at the property boundary. While he knows to this crowd, we didn't do enough or more could be done, the statement that we did nothing is not accurate. Councilmember Cordes reminded everyone about the levy election coming up in a few weeks and encouraged residents to be an informed voter. There is plenty of information on the School District website regarding the referendum, on their social media channels, and on their YouTube page. Regardless of the outcome, It's important to note that this is not done to send a message to St. Paul or to DC. This is all about local control and us, locally, deciding what we want the future of our district to look like - additional budget adjustments or Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 20, 2025 Page 4 of 7 increased investments, that's up to us to decide. He encouraged everyone to educate themselves and get out and vote on or before November 4t". Councilmember Wilson said he was motivated by the courage of two individuals who spoke earlier and their stories. His work is seasonal, to a degree. Extremely busy right now and then other times of the year not so busy. Last year, he decided to be a substitute teacher, which brought tears to his eyes because it's one of those vocations he always wanted but had chosen a different career. He has had the opportunity multiple times to be in our special education classrooms at a number of our elementary schools. Offering only as an opinion for anyone who is adamantly a `no' voter on the referendum, the health of a community is very much in line with the quality of our schools. It's been proven over and over again. When we talk about the quality of our community, it's a direct reflection of the quality of our School District - they're hand in hand. He went into these classrooms, and he's seen these teachers and these educators who are trying to work with students who have a lot of special needs. To a certain degree, it all seems completely overwhelming until you get to know the students and the teachers. And that's what we're funding. We are funding our neighbors, we are funding our friends, we are funding other people that make our community stronger and make our community better. Having been in the classroom and having seen the benefit that those students get from teachers, from educators that are right here in our community, and the benefit they would get from the referendum passing, it's a win-win for all of us. Assistant City Manager/HR Director Chanski said this is a busy time of year in Human Resources (HR). Open enrollment starts next week, personnel budgets are being finalized for 2026, and we are eyes deep in the BS&A software transition, which goes live in 42 days. Director Kuennen said, at tonight's EDA Meeting,we continued this tradition we are building, where we invite partners in to discuss how we can work together and, tonight's discussion was with the University of Minnesota Extensions to talk about how we can support and grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem that exists within this community. She thought it was a fantastic discussion and thanked the EDA for your active participation in that. She's excited to see where this will go. Director Powell said there was some activity on Flagstaff Avenue last week during MEA. In addition to hydrant flushing, which was completed, we also had some manholes which were protruded from the pavement significantly. We explored many options for adjusting those, essentially mechanically, but the way they were constructed, they left no room for adjustment. So, we worked with Northwest Asphalt to mill and overlay about a dozen manholes on Flagstaff Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 20,2025 Page 5 of 7 Avenue. They turned out really well, smoothed out the bumps, and provided a nice clean finished product. It wasn't a complete mill and overlay, but we did quite a bit of work around the manholes to make it safe for plow drivers, as well as a smoother drive for the users of the roadway. Director Omlid said Halloween Walk is this Friday from 5:30 - 7 pm outside behind Dodge Middle School. She thanked the 26 businesses and organizations participating - it doesn't happen without them. Also, Halloween Havoc Tour is going on with 33 houses on the tour. The map is on the City's website and social media. And tomorrow is Open Door Food Pop-up Pantry at the Rambling River Center from 3- 4:30 pm. Director Sommerland wanted to notify everyone that Invoice Cloud, the City's online payment system used for utility billing, is currently down for maintenance. It has to do with the certification of the delinquents accounts. We need to bring it down for a little bit so that we could cut that off on the deadline, which was October l 6th. It will be up and running again at 8 am on Wednesday. If anyone has questions, they can reach out to the Utility Billing Team at the City. Fire Chief Price said November 8th is our 74th Annual Turkey Bingo. It's a great event for families, kids, and everyone. Come down and win a turkey - we do have some cash prizes when we do some bingos. He highly suggested everyone come down a little bit early. Doors open at 4:30 pm and it gets pretty crowded right away. If there are no seats available, come back down at 8 pm when some seats may come available. November 8th at Fire Station #1 . Police Chief Siem said November 1st is the kick-off for Toys for Town 2025. Anyone interested in applying to the program, look to our website for guidance on how to do that. If you are a site to receive gifts for donations, those bags are expected to arrive the week before, likely Thursday the 301h, and we will be delivering those. 14.ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Councilmember Cordes and seconded by Councilmember Wilson to adjourn the meeting at 8:04 pm. Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays R pectfully submitted, AG� VS ' Iey R ksler6 City Clerk Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 20, 2025 Page 6 of 7 Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of October 20,2025 Page 7 of 7