This transcript is from the **2022 Farmington State of the City Address**. Please note that while your provided context lists officials for 2026 (such as Mayor Nick Lien), the speakers in this specific recording are **Maureen Scallen-Failing** (Chamber President), **Mayor Josh Hoyt**, and **Lynn Gorsky** (City Administrator). Here is the transcribed text with speaker names added based on the context of the dialogue: [0:05] [Music] [0:19] **Maureen Scallen-Failing:** Okay, all right. Well, good morning everyone and welcome to Farmington's State of the City address. My name is Maureen Scallen-Failing and I am the President of the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce. I'm honored and proud that the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce serves as the local chamber here for the city of Farmington, and again it is just a privilege and an honor to serve and represent the city of Farmington. Thank you for all of you who took time out of your Friday to come here and be with us this morning to hear about all the great work that the city of Farmington has done. [1:05] **Maureen Scallen-Failing:** We know, and I've talked with a few of you this morning, these last two years, two and a half years really, have been challenging for so many people. The fact that we now are here and we gather together shows the drive and the perseverance and the determination of community and businesses. So a big round of applause for all of you. Yes, I do want to acknowledge our sponsors for today's program: Castle Rock Bank and Minnwest Bank. These organizations are great supporters of the chamber and the city of Farmington. So I know there's a couple—if you could please stand so we can recognize you, that'd be great. We can wave. Any sponsors here this morning? Come on, don't be shy. Thank you, thank you Castle Rock. You guys are great. Lavonne, give Lavonne my best. She is just... oh my gosh, I just think the world of her. [2:12] **Maureen Scallen-Failing:** I also would like to recognize we have some public officials and guests here today. We have our city council members from Farmington: we have Nick Lien, Katie Porter, and Steve Wilson. If you could all stand and say hello to everyone and wait—don't be bashful, thank you. Our school superintendent from 192, Jason, please stand. Yes. We also have from the Met Council, Wendy—Wendy, please, thank you. And then last but not least, our favorite commissioner Mike Slavic. Mike, thank you very much. [2:55] **Maureen Scallen-Failing:** And I personally want to thank—I know we have representatives from the police department and fire—my deep appreciation for your service to protect and to serve. Truly, we really appreciate all you do and you really deserve the recognition, so thank you again. Yeah, we also have just a great group of the city here staff. Thank you to all. I know Josh and Lynn, our new city administrator, will be coming up to the podium. [3:32] **Maureen Scallen-Failing:** But again, the Chamber and the city of Farmington come together to work on initiatives that are substantive and important to the business community. So we work at the local level, the county level, and the state and federal level. And I want to tell you the work that the city does representing you is truly to be respected and appreciated. We work on issues that are common and mutual: housing, economic development, and transit. These things are all important to ensure that communities can be successful. [4:18] **Maureen Scallen-Failing:** Now it is my honor—Josh is like, "Come on"—it is now my honor to introduce our speaker for today's program, Mayor Josh Hoyt. Josh grew up in the Farmington community. He is a local small business owner, and I know you are a member of our chamber, so thank you very much. A United States Marine Corps veteran who was elected to the Farmington City Council in 2018, and this was a huge thing: a write-in campaign. You don't see this happening very often in write-in campaigns, so congratulations on that. [4:57] **Maureen Scallen-Failing:** In 2020, Josh was elected as the City Mayor. In his new role, Josh continued his work as a strong advocate for Farmington. He represents the residents of Farmington on several boards and organizations in Dakota County. He is in his fourth year of service on the Dakota Broadband Board, currently appointed as the chair of the board of directors. He previously served on the Dakota Communications Center Board of Directors. Josh has placed great emphasis on resident involvement, a team approach to issues, and doing what is best long-term for the long-term interest of the community. [5:42] **Maureen Scallen-Failing:** His community outreach, oh my god, is crazy and phenomenal. Josh, you are to be commended as he unselfishly devotes several hours each week to volunteer activities and residential engagement. And there was one time, I know he had a Facebook campaign out, he was at a restaurant and he was getting people to contribute to leave a gratuity for a young woman who was a resident of Farmington who was really struggling, you guys. And Josh, you had me in tears, you had me in tears. And that is our Mayor, Josh Hoyt. Welcome. [Applause] [6:29] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** You know, in the marketing world, they would tell you that there's not a price you can put on what Maureen says because, you know, we conversed a little bit and we did this many times when we speak is that the road traveled is very short. And we go back four years to when I started my write-in candidacy, there was debate as to whether or not I could even partake in the initial council candidate forum. And it's just—it's crazy when you think about that one opportunity and not being able to partake in that potentially changes everything. So you know, the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce and specifically Maureen, over the last four years, you've been an incredible asset not only to the city of Farmington and to our businesses, but also to me personally. You've had a hell of a last couple of years and it warms my heart that you're here today with us. So let's give Maureen a big round of applause. [7:34] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Well, good morning everyone. You know, as mayor, this is one of the greatest things that I personally get to do. It is a distinguished honor to be able to present to you the 2022 State of the City address. This presentation is available via livestream on our City of Farmington's Facebook page, the City of Farmington's YouTube channel, and is being broadcast on Charter Spectrum channel 180. [7:55] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Again, just to mention our sponsors for today were Minnwest Bank and the Castle Rock Bank. The Nicolai family and the Castle Rock Bank has been serving the Farmington community for over a hundred years and we appreciate everything that your family does for us. Again, thank you to Maureen of the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce for your continued participation in this event and for your dedication to all of our businesses across Dakota County. We especially appreciate you. [8:27] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** You know, over the last two years, to those in attendance and those watching over TV, thank you for taking the time out of your morning and spending it with us. Let's have a little fun here. On behalf of the residents of Farmington, I want to thank each of you in your dedication for representing our city, for working for our residents, and for helping make Farmington a better community for all of those who call Farmington home. [8:46] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** A special thank you to our communications team: Lauren Siebenahler, Tim Klasler, and our network administrator Peter Gilbertson. Thank you to David Schreier, Jackie Dooley, and Angela Hansen for your contributions to the historical portion of today's presentation. Again, without your input, this would not be possible. Our State of the City is a look back over the previous year and it's a celebration of our city's progression moving forward. Additionally, we'll provide insight on the information and the work plan for this year. [9:15] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** This year we celebrate Farmington's 150 years as a city, making us the second oldest city in Dakota County. Going through some earlier slides, on the left we have the earliest photo that we could find—this is the north side of Oak Street looking west towards the depot. The village of Farmington was home to dozens of thriving businesses by 1867. And on the right you'll see that's Third Street looking north from Village Square. The village of Farmington was incorporated in March of 1872 with the first election held on April 1st. [9:51] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Here is our original city charter and our first ledger along with the town hall and fire barn on the right. This year we hired a conservator to digitize and encapsulate our original city charter, knowing how important these documents were and their significance to our history of a city. We secured a highly skilled conservator to preserve these pieces. The railroad was also a significant portion of our original bringing up as a city in that it brought many people through our city and it spurred a lot of new business in Farmington. [10:18] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** The left photo is a lunchroom located south of the Milwaukee depot on 2nd Street. The right photo is of Oak Street in 1910 with the Milwaukee depot in the background. Now these photos are within about 500 feet of where we stand, so just a historical context of—we haven't traveled all that far from where we came from. [10:39] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** The fire of 1879: according to newspaper articles, the fire started downtown and ignited corn stalks within a stall. High winds quickly spread the fire across three blocks and destroyed a sizeable area of downtown. The area of impact was from where we sit today north to Elm Street and extended between Second and Third Street—essentially two city blocks. As a result of the fire, Farmington organized its efforts to establish a formal fire department. [11:15] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Our rural mail: according to local historian David Schreier, Hamilton Harris Judson was the postmaster who was given the task of the rural free delivery experiment in 1897. He was the second postmaster in the nation and the first in Minnesota to do so. His accomplishment in Farmington became the standard for the nation. He passed away in 1920, in which the Dakota County Tribune called Hamilton "Farmington's greatest citizen." In 2005 a bill was introduced in Congress to have Farmington's greatest citizen honored by naming the post office after him. [11:58] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** We have several historical cornerstones throughout our community and I'll take a few minutes here just to note a few of what I believe are the most significant. The left photo here, we have the Dakota County Fair in 1904. The county fair was started to promote and improve the agriculture, horticulture, mechanical, household, and fine arts of Dakota County. Lauren Siebenahler did an incredible write-up on the fair and its history in this quarter's edition of the current newsletter—it's available on our website; there's copies outside for anyone who wants to take one with them. [12:35] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** On the right you'll see the creamery in 1956 and in the center you've got a rail car from Mars and Milky Way. Gerster Jewelers: Gerster Jewelers opened in 1920 and recently celebrated their 100th year in business. Thank you to the Gerster family for continuing to call Farmington your home. On the right, Dakota Electric is a member-owned not-for-profit electric distribution co-op founded by local farmers in 1937 with help from the Rural Electrification Administration. Dakota Electric is one of our largest employers. The picture on the right is Dakota Electric's first line worker hired in January of 1938. [13:16] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** On the left you have the FAA center. The FAA center is also one of our largest employers. This center controls the airspace in the upper Midwest including all commercial air travel in and out of Minneapolis International Airport. This picture is looking north before the Schmitz-Mackey Arena was built. Our picture on the right is the Farmington library in 1871. Fun fact: our library is the only Dakota County library named after the city it's located in. The Levi Dodge house on the right served as the library's first location. [13:50] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Our schools: left picture is an 1892 graduating class and on the right is the original high school on Walnut Street in 1920. The original Farmington High School was built in 1914 and this year's graduating class, if our math is correct, will be the 139th class to graduate from Farmington schools. A picture from where we were to where we are today—this is 1941 to 2021. [14:23] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** In 1856, James C. Dow, editor of the Dakota Weekly Journal, a territorial newspaper published in Hastings, wrote this: "Farmington is situated on the Vermillion River about 15 miles from Hastings. This place is rightly named for it looks like a village of farms." Our small rural Farmington community is changing. Our seal of the city says "A proud past and a promising future." Last year during my State of the City, I commented that our promising future is now. And more appropriately, during the celebration of our 150 years, we can honor our past, we can honor our history, we can honor our heritage while also embracing our future of growth in our new opportunities. [15:07] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Greek philosopher Heraclitus was credited saying "Change is the only constant in life." As Farmington continues to grow, we must embrace this change. This chart is an illustration of our historic growth and population projections from 1970 to 2040 according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Met Council. This chart is significant because it illustrates the exponential growth that Farmington experienced between 1990 and 2000 when our city doubled in size. Additionally, from 2000 to 2020 our city nearly doubled in size again. It's important because this provides great context for those residents who have moved to our community during these periods of rapid growth. When a city grows as fast over a short period of time, there are significant burdens that are placed on the municipal services and the infrastructure. Much of the capital infrastructure debt incurred during our early growth of the 2000s for all of our buildings, our roads, and our facility maintenance is nearing maturity over the next three to five years. [16:17] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** This video is going to go through a little bit of our residential development, specifically five areas where we're seeing substantial and significant growth across the city. These first slides are Fairhill Estates at South Creek—this is 190th Street and Highway 3. This development started a few years ago, has worked through multiple stages, currently into their fifth stage of 244 homes. Here we see Whispering Fields—this is on Flagstaff just south of the high school. Two additions, 119 homes currently in construction on six to seven single-family properties. And for the landscape, this has dramatically changed what the hills look like on Flagstaff. Sapphire Lake, East Farmington—this is 213th Street and Spruce extending to the east. There's 131 homes; Sapphire is working into their final phases as well. [17:34] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** I tried to time this out so there wasn't any lulls, but you get up here and you always talk a little faster. Vita Tiva: Vita Tiva is a 55 and over active adult community. This development exists on the south side of Highway 50 directly across from the industrial park. It runs from Pilot Knob to Eaton Avenue. There will be 141 single-family homes and six eight-unit multi-family buildings. Vermillion Crossings: here is a Lennar townhome development on Denmark, south of Fire Station One and west of Boeckman Middle School. That'll bring us 276 townhomes and they've just started doing the site readiness work there. So as you can see just in those developments, we're nearing almost a thousand homes—that's incredible growth over the last just two to three years that our community is experiencing. [18:22] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** So since the last State of the City, we've welcomed several new businesses to Farmington, some to new sites and construction, others to existing spaces. We'll go through a few of them here: Zion Tattooing, Tattoo and Piercing, Minnesota Community Care, Farm Town Nutrition, Fission Training Kennels, Holly's Dance, Anytime Fitness, Vibrant Physical Therapy, the Secure Base Counseling Center, Nachos Mexican Grill, Muddy Water Studio, and a second location in Farmington for the Clubhouse Childcare and Preschool. [19:00] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Additionally, we had new buildings that have been constructed. We welcome Airlake Truck Body and Paint as they expanded to their Lakeville property—they built a—I don't remember how many thousands of square feet this building is, but it's incredible out on Canton. And we have Hobo Chemquest; they filled up the last available lot inside the industrial park and they doubled their footprint again adding to their square footage in Farmington in addition to what exists in other cities. [19:28] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** And coming soon—we're working on the drone footage for it—but we have representatives from Wellington Management. We have the Gateway Academy that is going into the old Family Fresh building. That's going to be a substantial multi-million dollar investment in the downtown Farmington. It's amazing because it's going to generate a ton of activity, a ton of footsteps; it's just going to help revitalize an area where we're all kind of left hanging in December of '19. So it's great to see that starting and thank you for coming today. [20:00] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** The next slide before I switch it here—April 1st was our official 150th and not as an April Fools, Lauren put together a fun little birthday video. So at that time, I'd like to share a video that we made. [20:13] **[Video Voice]:** Happy happy birthday Farmington. 1872 to 2022. Happy 150th Farmington, and here's to another 150 years. [Applause] [Music] [20:39] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** We do things a little different in Farmington—you can be professional and still have fun, right? This next slide: Lauren won a 2021 Northern Lights Award for her social media post. It went viral back in 2020 with over 230,000 views across all social media platforms and I wanted to set that up before I show you because for those that haven't seen it, you can't help but chuckle here. But she wrote, "Wash your hands like you're trying to scrub away the disappointment of Minnesota sports." [21:21] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** So that was pretty—and Lauren, you're not wrong. But you know in all seriousness though, you know one of our priorities and I'll hit on it here in a few minutes, it's telling our story, right? And so that's the theme of Farmington: you can have fun, you can work hard at the same time, you can be professional and have tact, but you still have to show up, put a smile on your face and enjoy what you do. And that's a theme across the community that we hold true here at City Hall. Our communications plan and how we tell our story—you know for us, this is a big deal, you know, being able to make light of an otherwise unfortunate situation, engage people in a positive manner, you know, and maybe take a little jab at our professional sports teams. [22:04] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** At this time I'd like to do a little bit more with our introduction to the Farmington City Council. First and foremost, and not pictured, is Joy Pearson. Joy Pearson was appointed early part of '21; she served 12 months. She filled in the vacancy that was created when I was elected mayor. Joy was an incredible asset to the council; she served with an immense amount of passion and drive. She brought a sensical approach to everything that we discussed. Her heart is exactly where you would expect in the purest of individuals, and even though she's not currently on the council, she is still very active within our community. She's a huge supporter of local businesses and the organization, so I just wanted to make sure that we didn't miss the opportunity to thank Joy for the time and her contributions over the last 12 months. [22:58] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Pictured here again you have Steve Wilson and Katie Porter whose terms expire in 2024. Nick Lien, who was appointed in Joy's absence, he will serve through the end of '22. And then Katie Bernhjelm—I believe she's traveling for work, she can't be here today—but her term expires in 2022 as well. [23:25] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** You know, as the council, we're a collaborative, forward-thinking group. You know, we don't always see eye to eye, and that's a good thing. We don't always agree on all the topics, but the thing that I appreciate the most over the last two years working with this group of individuals is we can sit in a room, we get emotional, we can get passionate—we're tactful, respectful. We know where each one's coming from, we know that the best ideas ultimately rise to the top, and that takes time. Our work sessions have gotten more frequent, they've gotten longer in time, but I believe that we're best serving our residents and our business owners by taking that time and our thoroughness. So to each of you, I can't thank you enough for your patience with me and for the work that we've done and look forward to doing more. [24:19] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** I'm most proud of our consistency—our consistency in staying aligned to our priorities. It's easy to say it, put it on paper, drop it in a slide and talk about it at the dais; it's another to actually vote, it's another to execute. So when you have priorities and we back that up with action, that's our integrity, and I appreciate that most. On the note of priorities, our three: Business Growth, Community Engagement, and Infrastructure Support. [24:55] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** In 2021 we adopted these three priorities as the cornerstones for our work. We are very intentional in maintaining these three priorities as a high-level item with the understanding that the actions underneath would change every year as our goals were achieved. Within business growth, that's ongoing; that helps provide more amenities to residents and helps increase and diversify our tax base. In the last year, we hired Samantha DiMaggio as our Community Development Director. Sam brings a level of enthusiasm, drive, and ambition to our city that is long overdue. Watching her work in group settings, networking settings, in our meetings with landowners, potential developers—she just has this exuberance about her that you can't contain. She's a game changer; people are taking notice of her presence in Farmington and we will be the direct benefactors of her work. [25:52] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** She implemented Coffee and Connections—again, more networking and work with business owners, just telling our story and doing what we can to make sure that everyone understands we're here to help. Farmington is not just open for business, we're here to help you invest in our community and we realize that there are tools and resources that we need to make available for you to make that investment here in us. We want to identify and remove barriers to our development. City Administrator Gorsky—she initiated our development review process over the last year and we've already started implementing those changes. We reached out to our previous developers and not just those who had worked with us but those that didn't work with us. We asked how we could be better, what were we missing. We took that input, we've put it into a refined process, and I believe we're better today because of that. [26:48] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** A major initiative was meeting with all of our landowners. You've got a 2040 comp plan, a financial plan, a capital improvement plan, an organizational plan—if they don't line up with your landowner's plans and what their intentions are, it's a moot point; it's a great idea. So we started meeting with them. We've met with the majority of them, we've listened to what their needs are, what their wants are, what their legacy plans are. We need to better understand where they want to go before we tell them where we think they should go. That has been the greatest investment of time in my opinion over the last 12 months. Those conversations are ongoing and to much surprise, the tone of the conversation is far different than what one would expect. [27:35] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Our community engagement: engaging our residents, gathering input—that just provides updates on our work and it also encourages positive promotion within the community. You know, we want to make sure that in all of our outreach events that we are champions of positive engagement. We're telling our story; we're not getting sucked into the social media community pages of the world—we're living in reality. We're in the streets, in the driveways, we're having real conversations with people in person, not behind a keyboard. We're doing what we can to champion that positive environment. Most residents and most of our business owners welcome that; they understand the story we're trying to tell, they understand the work that's happening both in and out of City Hall, and they appreciate and respect us trying to do so. [28:22] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Our infrastructure support: you know, we work to proactively improve and maintain our infrastructure systems throughout the community. We developed dedicated financial benchmarks for infrastructure support, capital replacements, and facilities maintenance. Now this wasn't just because of COVID dollars or ARPA funding—this was aligning our plans long-term to make sure we had a firm understanding of: when a building is built, it has to be maintained, it has a life expectancy, and it's not just a place marker on a balance sheet somewhere that we eventually get to. The minute you construct something, your clock is ticking. We have not done the best job at managing that long-term. So we have sat down, we've dedicated to getting sufficient funding into things specifically like our capital vehicle expenditures, our parks and trails, our organizational plan. [29:18] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** You can't do work without people. Our park and rec system: we didn't hire a single person since 2009 and we added nine parks, if I remember correctly. That's not a good strategy. That's in the past; we're forward-thinking and we've committed to the infrastructure support to make sure that our team has the tools and resources and funding to do the work that our residents expect. [29:43] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Lastly, to our boards and commissions: we couldn't do our work without the input of the residents and the volunteers that raise their hand and step forward to our boards and commissions. They're always stepping forward to better their community in various ways and we appreciate their passion and their willingness to be problem solvers and to dedicate their time for the betterment of the city of Farmington. [30:08] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** I also want to take a second to acknowledge our former administrator David McKnight. David came here in 2011, a lifelong resident, he's since moved on to the county. David was the reason Farmington transitioned at that time. Our city was headed in a direction that wasn't good. David came in, stopped the bleeding, made a lot of corrections, made a lot of staff hires. I believe he was our sixth or seventh administrator in like eight years. David provided stability and consistent stability and consistency to our community. His efforts and his work within the city of Farmington will never be forgotten and we couldn't be more appreciative and happy for him and his next step with Dakota County. So you got a good one in David. [30:57] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Moving down the element of change—these are five of our new leadership team members. You know, 2021 was a year of change. We welcomed these five into our senior leadership: Kelly Ammlett (top left), she worked in our park and rec department from 2000 to 2013 and she was hired as our Park and Rec Director last year. Top center is Lynn Gorski; she was hired out of Owatonna as our Assistant City Administrator back in August, and Council and I recently appointed her to the role of Administrator in March. Top right is Joshua Salinger; he was hired as our liquor operations manager. Bottom left is Samantha DiMaggio, who unfortunately is not here today; she was hired as our Community Development Director. And then bottom right is Chris Regis, who was hired as our Finance Director. [31:49] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** This group is the exclamation point on what the majority of what already exists in City Hall: positivity. They're driven, they're enthusiastic, they collaborate. Everything we do, you see multiple leadership involved, whether it's Coffee and Connections, it's networking, it's coffee breaks, it's community outreach events. We don't get one that shows up, we get five or six of them to show up. What that says to the community you can't put words on. So your collaboration—it is to be commended. And most importantly, they lead by example. They don't just tell you, they show up. They actually show up and they put the work in and I love watching that. It's just a sense of belonging and the sense of pride that I couldn't be happier of. It's just... again, there's no words to put enough emphasis on. When you walk in a room, you just feel positivity. When you walk into a room, you feel the drive and the ambition. When you're around our senior leadership team—not just the five that are here—you feel that they care. You know that they care and you know they're willing to do whatever they can to work on the behalf of the organization and the residents of the city of Farmington. With that, I'd like to introduce Lynn Gorski, our city administrator. [Applause] [33:21] **Lynn Gorsky:** Well, thank you all for coming. It really means a lot to our city. I'd like to tell you a little story on how I ended up at the city of Farmington. Less than a year ago, I was doing research on the city of Farmington and deciding if I should apply for the Assistant City Administrator position. During my research, I watched the recording of the 2021 State of the City for Farmington. That State of the City is what sold me on applying for the position. At that point, I knew that this was a place for me. I could feel the positive energy in the presentation and how it was focused on the people. We couldn't get anything accomplished if we were not—if it was not for a great staff and every single being that contributes to Farmington. The staff and the community surprise me every day with their generosity and support. Thank you to everyone for stepping up and making Farmington a great community. Farmington, we have amazing things ahead of us. Thank you. [Laughter] [Applause] [34:32] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** All right, we'll go through a few of our departments here. There we go—a few pictures of public works from 1989 to 2021. A little different; it's slightly modernized, right? You know, in all seriousness though, our biggest change in 2021 was our departure from solid waste. That was a huge move for our community; that's something we had been in for a very long time. There were real people with real jobs involved, but when you started to look at the outside factors that were outside of our control—regulatory charges, mandates, and transitions to types of service and how the service is done—financially it just was not in the best interests of Farmington long-term. Maybe for a few years we could make it work, but it wasn't going to work 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road. [35:14] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** So in conjunction with staff, we negotiated a new five-year contract with Dick's Sanitation and we transitioned the early part of this year. We started January 1st and as I understand it—and Commissioner, please correct me if I'm wrong—we were one of the first, if not the first in Dakota County, to make the full-time transition. So again, Farmington doing what we can to lead the way across the county and do what's best for our residents. And we have weekly recycling now. [35:45] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Our public works team, I mean honestly, they're the heart and soul of our core service delivery. You know, whether it's streets of maintenance, water and sewer, snow removal—this is the cast behind the scenes. They do the work that you see the output. So in the input/output cycle, you don't always see them on the streets, you don't see them in the buildings doing the work. They're the ones that make sure that your toilet flushes, your water turns on, you can get into your street, you can move about the community, you don't have trees laying in the middle of the street. This group of individuals works 24 hours a day when called, 365 days a year when called. They just show up over and over and over again. And frankly, they just don't get enough credit for what they do. So they are phenomenal and they're the heart and soul of the organization. [36:40] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Within Administration: we have IT, Communications, Liquor Operations, and Human Resources. In 2021 we hired 36 new staff including four of our new senior leadership. One of the biggest moves that was a collaborative effort amongst all of the departments was our transition of the liquor store. We closed the liquor store from the downtown location and moved it to the Farmington Mall. That store was closed for two months. Without IT, Admin, and the liquor store staff, that wouldn't have happened. That turned out to be an incredible move for us because even with those two months being closed last year, we still had a record year for profits. Our liquor stores in the last two years have put over $550,000 back into the community that is not part of the tax levy. So yeah, I go and I buy a bottle and it might cost me a dollar more than somewhere else, but those dollars are going right back into your community and they're not showing up on your tax statement. So huge investment—ecstatic that we made that move. And Josh is phenomenal in running the liquor stores and more to come—just more to come. [38:00] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Our Park and Recreation—two big points: Schmitz-Mackey Arena and the Rambling River Center. Schmitz-Mackey: we continue to make long overdue upgrades. This June we'll start our Spruce Street reconstruction project; both parking lots—so the west side parking lot—will be replaced with new lighting and we're also going to add a parking lot on the east side that will essentially triple the available parking at Schmitz-Mackey. As part of that, we're going to double the parking lot at Feely Fields. For those that don't know where Feely is, those are the ball fields at Rambling River. So we'll double our parking there. [38:40] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** The Rambling River Center: last year they set a record in fundraising and donations with over $26,000 raised. Bethel's Rock Community Church was a huge part of that over a $10,000 donation through the Muddy Bunny 5k. Again, collaboration—that's a theme that you see, right? We're always working together; we're working within organizations, businesses, residents—we collaborate to benefit everyone in Farmington. We're also working with a steering committee of 17 community members. The steering committee is looking at and evaluating a potential Jim Bell Park and Preserve bond referendum. That work is ongoing; we've recently met with the Park and Rec Commission. There's more to come on that as our meetings continue and we get information back from our consulting. [39:19] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Our Community Development: Community Development is comprised of building inspections, zoning and planning, and economic development. This staff works feverishly daily to keep up with all of our inquiries, all the site plans, all the applications for residential, for commercial and industrial opportunities. Some highlights: they went through the 2040 comp plan, they made the zoning updates looking at future planning needs, new business subsidy policies looking at our TIF policies, looking at ways that we can increase the tools that exist in our toolbox to be a more robust community inviting others to join what we know is the great city of Farmington. Small or large, whether you're a small retail brick and mortar storefront, you're a home-based business, or you're large industrial, you know Farmington is here for you and our staff is ready and willing to do what we have to to help you call Farmington home. [40:10] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Some big projects we have coming this year: road construction is going to be a little hectic through town as soon as the weather changes and we get into June. According to the calendar, we have the roundabout at Highway 3 and County Road 66. We also have the aforementioned Spruce Street and Division Street reconstruction projects that'll extend from Denmark to about 100 feet west of the railroad tracks and include the parking lots that were aforementioned. And then we also have our Aiken Road mill and overlay project that's going to extend from Highway 50 up to 195th Street. So for those trying to do the map in their head, that means your process through town is Ash and Elm. You got Ash and Elm. So just—we're going to have due dates in June, there's going to be a lot of stuff going on downtown, but patience, patience, patience. Just look at the back side when it's all done; nice new roads will be good. [41:09] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Finance: we held our double A plus bond rating. Finance received the Government Finance Officer certificate of achievement award for financial reporting in 2021. And finance is going to be a huge part of 2022's capital projects—getting all the legalities, the necessities out of the way to make sure that those amazing projects come to fruition. [41:35] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Our Fire Department: huge wins. Ladder One was added to the fleet last year. The Fire Department ran a 0-21 social media campaign that produced 39,000 views of fire safety materials. We had our first ever female recruitment event and we had seven firefighters who were the first in the state to certify to the FAO aerial certification. Those are huge wins for our department, huge. [42:15] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Our Police Department: you know, FPD continues to make the top 10 list, and our community continues to make the top 10 list of Minnesota's safest cities—we've done so since 2014. Bottom middle there, you have our Toys for Town drive. This is the one event that makes me most proud about Farmington every year—the collaboration that happens from basically early November to mid-December when the event takes place. In years past this event has benefited upwards of 130 families, typically 300 to 400 kids. Business owners, residents, volunteers, organizations—we all rally together to help provide a holiday season and gifts for families that otherwise might not have an option. So that is an incredible event. The Police Department has—I mean, it's their deal and they run it phenomenally and I just love seeing that continue to happen. [43:08] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Top right there we have seven-year-old Ben Schimer. He was awarded a certificate of appreciation. He ran his "Yum Yum" lemonade stand; he raised $9,900 for the Farmington PD's canine program. He inspired a handful of local businesses that helped make matching efforts. You talk about drive and ambition—you know, don't tell a seven-year-old that you can't raise 10 grand. Ben's like, "Hold on, I got it." [43:35] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** In the spirit of community, community outreach is huge, not just for the council, not just for staff, but across our community there's many organizations, there's many groups that do a phenomenal effort. But in all of the activities that I find myself in throughout the community, there's two individuals and a group that continue to show up. You know, music adds vibrancy to communities; it engages the brain, it strengthens the sense of belonging and it strengthens the connection with others. Throughout the year you'll find Brad Mariska and Erin Holmes leading various high school music groups in our community. They do events such as Due Dates, Patriotic Day, Memorial Day, the Dakota County Fair, several fundraisers—most recently for the Dapper family at Schmitz-Mackey. They're at the Trinity nursing home—they do two performances a year there—Victory Day at the high school, Homecoming... they even traveled and performed at Pearl Harbor. I haven't even been to Pearl Harbor; the band went to Pearl Harbor and performed at his incredible level of community outreach. [44:38] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Specifically, these two individuals are teaching our youth about music, but more importantly on how we show up for our community. And they're pretty darn good at it: the marching band state fair grand champions, class A first place, class A, class double A Minnesota state champions, color guard first place class double at state championships. Brad, he's a Minnesota Music Educators Association President—the band vice president and past president. Erin was the Schmidt Music Teacher of the Year, the Minnesota Music Educators Association jazz education chair, and she was the first woman to hold that position. These two exemplify community and they are role models for all of us. They're in attendance today—if you could please stand and join me in a round of applause. [Applause] Now, I put pink in my tie, but I did not tell them to wear pink. [45:34] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** So this is the point where I would normally ramble on quite a bit and I'll be honest—closing the State of the City, that's the point where I get to make my impact statement, right? That's the point where I get to really put the exclamation point in everything that we do. You've heard a few people—you've heard Maureen and Lynn mention community, Brad and Erin—community. We are community, right? This is our community. This is us. [46:13] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** Farmington continues to change. As we develop and grow, many of our landscapes will too. We must embrace these new opportunities while also honoring our past and our heritage at the same time. To our residents and our business owners: thank you for your patience. This new era of Farmington is upon us. City staff and council are working diligently every day to better the city that you call home. We are building a culture within our organization of trust, humility, servitude, and pride. To those considering Farmington for your next home or business: look no further. This is where you want to be. We are a community full of great people doing great things. We pick each other up, we support each other, and we rise to the occasion when called upon. [47:19] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** In closing, our residents—and I mean all of our residents—are our community. Community is built from the inside out. We're all different; let those differences be our strength and continue to show everyone just how effing amazing we are. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] [49:24] **Mayor Josh Hoyt:** You.