This transcript appears to be from a **Farmington City Council** meeting. Based on the context provided and the internal dialogue (where names are spoken), I have identified the speakers. *Note: While your context list notes Nick Lien as Mayor, the transcript explicitly features **Joshua Hoy** as the Mayor (likely prior to the 2026 vacancy/appointment process mentioned in your notes).* *** **[0:00] Speaker:** Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Yeah. **[0:23] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** [Music] We'll call the city council regular meeting to order for Monday, July 7th, 2025. Would everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? **[1:01] All:** I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. **[1:18] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Call the roll, please. Council member Wilson. **[1:22] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Here. **[1:23] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Council member Cordes. **[1:24] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Here. **[1:25] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Mayor Hoy. **[1:26] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Here. **[1:27] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Council member Bernatz. **[1:28] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Here. **[1:29] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Council member Lien. **[1:30] Councilmember Nick Lien:** Here. **[1:31] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** All right. Uh, any changes to the agenda? Amy, Nick, my internet's not working. So, anyone? All right. No. All right. Seeing no changes to the agenda, I would seek a motion to approve. **[1:42] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Motion. **[1:43] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Motion by Steve. **[1:44] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Second. **[1:45] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Second by Holly. All in favor say I. **[1:47] Councilmembers:** I. **[1:49] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** All right. Under 5.1 of our announcements is the park and recreation month proclamation. Kelly. **[1:52] Kelly [Parks & Recreation Staff]:** Thank you. Good evening, mayor and city council. Launched in 1985, this year marks the 40th anniversary of Parks and Recreation Month. People in the United States have celebrated Parks and Recreation Month in July to promote building strong, vibrant, and resilient communities through the power of parks and recreation and to recognize the more than 160,000 full-time parks and recreation professionals along with hundreds of thousands of part-time and seasonal workers and volunteers that maintain our country's local, state, and community parks. This year's theme, "Build Together, Play Together," is a reminder of the contributions of these professionals, seasonal workers, and volunteers who build sustainable spaces for all to connect and play. Thank you to the parks and recreation staff and volunteers for all you do to provide quality facilities, parks, programs in an environment that improves quality of life and promotes community unity in Farmington. We always say here we have the most generous individuals, businesses, and organizations who support us with their time, talents, and sponsorships. Thank you. We couldn't do what we do without you. To the team, I can't thank you enough. There isn't a better group of talented, dedicated, passionate, and hardworking individuals. I'm proud of you and all the work we have accomplished to make Farmington a great place to live, work, and play. The parks and recreation department is going to celebrate Parks and Recreation Month by hosting a party in the park on Friday, July 18th at Lake Julia Park. The party starts at 7 p.m. with kids dance, games, face painting, crafts, and more. At dusk, the movie *If* will be shown. I want to take this opportunity to thank the event sponsors, which include Castle Rock Bank, Farmington Youth Hockey Association, Marsh and McLennan, and State Farm Sierra Jewel. This is a free event, so uh all are invited to attend. The action requested tonight is to proclaim July 2025 as Parks and Recreation Month in Farmington. **[3:49] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Thank you, ma'am. At this time, we'll read the park and recreation month July 2025 proclamation. All right. Whereas parks and recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country, including Farmington, promoting health and wellness and improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks. And whereas parks and recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being and alleviating illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's. And whereas parks and recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports, hiking trails, and many other activities designated to promote active lifestyles. And whereas parks and recreation programming and education activities such as out-of-school time programming, youth sports, and environmental education are critical to child development. And whereas parks and recreation increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, the attraction and retention of businesses, and crime reduction. And whereas parks and recreation is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community, and the city's parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of Farmington and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors. And whereas the US House of Representatives has designated July as parks and recreation month and the city of Farmington recognizes the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources. Now therefore, I Joshua Hoy, mayor, on behalf of the Farmington City Council, do hereby proclaim July 2025 as parks and recreation month and witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Farmington, Minnesota to be affixed on this 7th day of July, 2025. All right, the next item on our agenda is citizen comments. This is a time reserved for citizen comments regarding non-agenda items. If there is anyone in attendance wishing to speak, please come up and do so at this time. Seeing none, um we'll move here to Amy. **[6:04] Amy [City Attorney]:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um given that there have been—even though there's no one here tonight—there have been a lot of comments at uh previous meetings that um that haven't specifically been responded to in uh by staff or by the council. So um I still think it's a good opportunity for me to say a couple things about some of the legal issues that keep kind of coming up just so that we can be clear and have everybody kind of on the same page, the same understanding. Um, I did kind of write this out so I don't forget anything. So, forgive me if it sounds like I'm reading because I kind of am. Um, but um, there are a couple things that just kind of two broad categories. The first one is that, you know, people have commented that they feel like the city council is not listening to them about their concerns about the tract development um or the technology center—how whatever phrase, whatever name you want to give it. Um the commenters have said that they want the council members to meet with them. And most of all what they have said is that they want the city council to do something to take some action to revise the approved project, particularly as it relates to the planned 250-foot setback. Um for a few reasons the city council is not in a legal position to take any such action. First um even though I wasn't working with Farmington on um a regular basis before December of 2024, from my review of the record of all the proceedings, um this application process has been open and transparent. City staff and city council members met many times with residents of the city and of Castle Rock Township. There were many, many planning commission meetings, city council workshop and regular meetings, formal and informal meetings with staff and/or elected officials, and probably other meetings that I'm not aware of just because I wasn't here at the time. Um, plus all of the individual conversations that council members might have had with residents and constituents. Um, and the meetings and emails between city staff and the representatives of the developer that I've reviewed appear to me to be consistent with meetings and emails that would happen with any other development in Farmington or pretty much any other city in Minnesota that I've worked with over the past 20 plus years. Um, second, the city is not in a legal position to do anything right now about especially about the 250-foot setback. Um there's no application pending in front of the city council right now. The project um at issue for the technology park and for the tract development um the application is complete. Um the rezoning and the PUD overlay, the preliminary and final plat and the Met Council approval of the comp plan amendment. All of these processes are complete. So, at this point, the council does not have the legal authority to reconsider any of these decisions or to rescind or revise any of the approvals that are complete. To do so could expose the city to further legal claims. And on that note, third, the city council shouldn't do anything that could jeopardize the city's position in the two pending lawsuits against the city. Um additional meetings with residents about the application that is complete and approved um when there's no pending action before the council um that would be inappropriate while uh litigation is pending. So also there have been some comments about uh the definition of industrial and mixed-use commercial industrial zoning. Um, this zoning classification is clearly defined in the city code at section 10-5-15 and this information is available through the city's website. It's available from the city clerk. It's been discussed at many public meetings. Um this code section outlines the purpose of the MUCI zoning district as providing quote, "for the development of larger mixed business areas along major roadways including services, offices, research laboratories and manufacturing uses without any exterior activities as well as compatible commercial uses. This district is intended to be flexible to accommodate a mix of non-residential uses and development formats." End quote. And then after that, it goes on to list a variety of different uses that are permitted by right as well as conditional uses, accessory uses, and interim uses in this zoning district. And a data center use is listed here as a permitted use—as not conditional, not accessory, not interim—as a permitted use. And it was added to the city code as such in 2015. So 10 years ago, this has been in the city code in this legal construct. If the city receives an application for a development for a use that is permitted just because it's listed there as a permitted use and the proposed development meets those standards within the applicable zoning, then the city council has actually very little discretion to deny that application. Um, the definitions and lists of permitted, conditional, accessory, and interim uses in the MUCI district in the Farmington code are largely consistent with other city codes in Minnesota. There's nothing really unique or out-of-left-field in your city code. Um, and last, there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding that by allowing an industrial use in the MUCI district rather than putting it in an industrial district that the city is somehow violating the city code. And that's just not the case. Uh, industrial is allowed in this zoning district and a data center is allowed as a permitted use under the city code. So, one other thing I'll mention is that all the information about all the processes that the city went through um all the way back to 2022, all of it is available on the city's website. Um it's there's a single page where everything is there. You don't have to hunt and peck and try to piece it all together. It's all right there. Um all you have to do is type in the word "data center" in the search box on the city's homepage and it'll come up as the first item on the list. There are links to agenda packets and recordings of the meetings and all of the supporting materials. So unless there are other issues that you all would like me to try to address from a legal perspective, I'll stop there. Um, I can either come back next week with responses to additional legal issues or maybe try it on the fly tonight, but I'd be happy to. **[13:16] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** It'd be better for me to come back next week. I appreciate it. And it kind of brings everything full circle, right? So, we may not all get the same message. We may get different messages from different people or the same person, and part of the response in making sure that there's a consistent message—not to trip you up, right, but as a making sure that we're stating things factually and correctly as a matter of formal record. So, I definitely appreciate you taking the time to do this. And um here, I mean, and this is to the residents, right? Citizen comments are for citizen comments. You can come up here and say anything you want. You can be vulgar. You can call me a piece of— Like, it doesn't matter. You have that constitutionally protected right to come up here and say that. What we're going to do better of is making sure that rather than the responses hitting an email a week after the fact or two weeks after the fact, we'll have our legal counsel address items as much as reasonably possible uh in real time. Whether or not that's received and whether or not that's um believed or given credibility is to the recipient. But right, we will continue to do this as needed. And so I thank you very much. **[14:21] Amy [City Attorney]:** You're welcome. **[14:40] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Um before you continue, I actually have something that I want to say and uh you know, it's interesting because it is in a relatively empty room this evening, but it's okay because I truly at this point I'm speaking for myself. Uh I'm not speaking for my peers on council. I'm not speaking for staff. Um and I'm not speaking to any one particular group. I'm I'm actually more interested in speaking directly to the residents of Farmington that have kind of been watching this unfold and are wondering what in the world is going on. Since January of 23, I have had the honor of serving this community as a city council member. For the past 15 months, we've been actively working through probably one of the most contentious issues we've faced to this point. Um, it's what's widely known as the Farmington Technology Park project or the data center. And honestly, throughout the process, I've chosen mostly to listen. Uh, I've attended meetings. I've conducted site visits. I've engaged with other municipalities, developers, neighbors of existing large-scale projects. Um, I've also been in local meetings to hear concerns and quietly gather information that I've needed to make the best possible decisions that I can make. And I've stayed quiet largely not because of a lack of conviction but because the environment had become unproductive. The space for honest or respectful conversation had fully eroded. And I'm done with that tonight. So we're going to start with a few things that I want to address. Um first is the recurring claim that this is a project that's been developed in secret. It's not true. And I want to be crystal clear about this. Uh I have never been asked to sign nor have I ever signed a non-disclosure agreement or an NDA related to this or any other project in my role as an elected official. That's a claim that's circulated widely. It's false. Do NDAs exist in economic development? Yes, they do. City staff will sometimes sign them to begin conversations with developers. That's a standard practice on both private and public sectors. But regardless of that fact, I was never bound to silence. Um, nor have I withheld any information that I was legally or ethically allowed to share. Everything that I know, I have spoken about openly. And to my knowledge, no one at the city has ever withheld any public information either because of an NDA. I mean even today I'm talking openly within the constraints of current litigation. And yeah, it's written down because there's a lot. So uh another false narrative is a claim that council members are conspiring behind closed doors—that we're somehow making decisions long before the public is aware—and that too is incorrect. Very often I learn about proposed projects in real time. I learn about them during public work sessions like the one that was just held for the last two hours or when information is brought before the economic development authority or our boards and commissions. And while we use work sessions to explore and understand complex proposals, there aren't secret handshakes or backroom deals that are being made. To suggest otherwise is not just inaccurate, it's offensive to the integrity of the process and to the people that are behind it. Most of our meetings, frankly, are held in nearly empty rooms. The decisions being made are public. The materials are accessible, but many residents are simply too busy living their own lives to engage deeply in the process. And that's okay. What's not okay is the shift in tone we're seeing now where civil disagreement is replaced by personal attacks—personal attacks on staff, on your neighbors, on your friends, and yes, even on us as council members. Somewhere that crossed the line from civic engagement into straight harassment. Sound bites and half-truths fill public comment, social media, and community platforms. And while I don't have time to address all of them, I am going to highlight a few. There are some individuals that have claimed that our city is somehow spying on its residents. And unless I am completely misinformed, we're going to back up to a library meeting that occurred last fall because community members invited us as council members to be there. I went to that meeting. And at the meeting, organizers there asked everyone in attendance, including me, to write down our email addresses to be included on the group's distribution list. To my surprise, we fast forward a few months and now we're hearing concerns that as a council member, I may have received emails from staff that originated from that list. The one that I was specifically asked to include myself on. Oh, um again, let me be clear. There is no member of city staff that has forwarded those emails to me. But I do find it very odd to suggest that there is somehow wrongdoing by our staff when just a few months ago I was directly asked to join the same list. During the discovery time of our process, the first several months I showed up in driveways, backyards, parking lots, the library, at public forums. Last fall, I stood in the atrium for nearly two hours listening, answering questions, offering insight. I spoke with residents. I toured other cities. I talked with developers and worked for meaningful improvements to the plan. Increased buffers, expanded setbacks, better access routes. Every concern that I could reasonably advocate for, I did. A few residents have stood right here in chambers and said that I am a puppet or that I'm being controlled, that I'm blindsided by money, or even that I'm afraid of our mayor. Some say that it's part of some secret deal. As an elected official, I take the time to be informed, to gather information, to talk to experts, to talk to residents, and make judgments and decisions based on that, even if they're unpopular with a small but vocal group. I understand that this project has unknowns at this time, but that's the nature of development. In many projects, including retail, commercial, industrial, and even housing, final tenants aren't known at the time of approval for certain steps along a project line. This is not new. It's not deception. It's a phase of development. Right now the project is paused due to litigation and until that's resolved we are unable to engage further. That's not negligence. It's the legal reality that we have to work within. Repeatedly we are asked what the benefits of the project are. The answer—short and simple—property tax revenue. I've never presumed that this was a project that was going to create hundreds of long-term jobs beyond construction. But I have discussed with other municipalities the ripple effects of how large-scale development, when done with intention and sustainability, can spark additional commercial interest. I'm not shortsighted to those opportunities. This parcel of land once developed is expected to contribute upwards of $3 million to our local tax base annually. To put that into perspective, we would have to add 30 additional top-tier taxpayers on par with Valmont, the Legacy Partners, or Dakota Electric just to match that same level of impact. That's not 30 small businesses. That's 30 of our largest contributors. And as our city grows, our residents want and deserve the same level of public safety and public infrastructure services that we've all enjoyed. Making sure our tax base supports this is essential to the long-term health of our community. A financially healthy city typically generates about 15% of its revenue from commercial and industrial taxes. We're far below that. We're in the single digits. Our largest commercial taxpayer contributes under $1.7 million annually to roughly a $16 to $17 million budget. That doesn't sound too bad until you realize that our second largest commercial contributor pays less than $200,000 annually toward that same budget. It's not enough to support the services you expect or the services that you deserve without putting the majority of the weight of those needs back on our residents. Meanwhile, residential development costs more than it contributes. You can't residentially develop your way into a healthy tax base. The numbers aren't going to lie. On top of our operating budget, we have roughly $67 million in capital improvements needed over the next 5 years. These are not pet projects, as has been suggested. They are core needs, and they exist on top of the operating budget. If we do nothing, we're faced with two bad options. We either increase our taxes to unsustainable levels or we cut our services to unacceptable levels. Neither option works for me. We can't rely on residents and small businesses alone to resolve a deficit of this size. I wish that we could, but we need an infusion of capital and that means larger scale development. That is what this technology park offers. It's not a perfect solution, but it's a reasonable solution. I've listened week after week as correlations are presented as cause. I've sat quietly while people talk about electricity and water consumption as if homes or other commercial developments don't use water. For context, the average four-person household in Minnesota on a quarter-acre lot with a seasonal sprinkler system will use roughly 234,000 gallons of water every year. If that same parcel of land that we're talking about with the data center held 150 homes, that's over 35 million gallons annually in water consumption just by residential users. That's not really my point though. My point is that when a project like this is framed as "build it, just not here," the impact on our resources doesn't disappear. It just means that our community receives none of the benefit. Developers have been accused of targeting small communities because we're weak. Let's think about it logically. Our climate is desirable in Minnesota. Our state's tax incentives, which by the way don't directly affect us, are desirable. Our access to open land and existing infrastructure is desirable. No one is coming after us. They're making sound business decisions based on a highly desirable and heavily consumed service. The service that we all use—the service called data. I've also been criticized for stating that I wouldn't want this in my backyard, as if I said that to justify it being in someone else's. And I'll repeat what I said then tonight. No, I would not be thrilled. And that is not how I get to make my decisions. My responsibility is not to myself. It's not to 100 people. It's not to 500 people. It's not even to 5,000 people. It is to all 24,000 residents of Farmington. I have to look at the big picture. And that big picture includes urgent and real needs. I've also heard from many, many residents who support the project, but they're afraid to say so publicly because of the toxic tone of the conversation. That is not who we are as a community. And I fully believe that we can do better. We are a council of five individuals. And yet, our mayor has taken the brunt of the character assassination aimed in our direction. I'm not going to rehash the name calling or the insults, but I do want to revisit one key phrase that's resurfaced again and again for a year: "If you don't like it, then move." I would encourage anyone who has heard those words, especially in a sound bite, to go back and watch the full meeting. It's available on our website. It was a joint session held with the school district on August 21st, 2024. The tone of that meeting was grounded in the reality of our current situation, our opportunities, and our obstacles. The mayor was offering historical context on how we got to where we are today. Something he has consistently and openly spoken about with regard to the city's trajectory and the weight of the decisions that are made over time. He wasn't blaming prior councils and neither am I. No one runs for office with the intention of screwing up a city. But we can look back with clarity and see how we got here. The statement, "if you don't like it, then move," has been misrepresented. It had nothing to do with this specific project or any particular belief. It came from frustration that while the line to criticize and gossip is often very long, the line to help, to encourage, or to get involved is often short to non-existent. Could the phrasing have been better? Sure. But the point stands. Our decisions today carry more weight because we're running out of time to correct course. We need a shared vision and the willingness to make difficult choices, especially when doing nothing is not an option. We're saving, cutting, and creatively seeking funding for our community's needs. But we also recognize our own potential. And we need to stop the constant negativity. That negativity doesn't begin or end with council decisions. It saturates our social media feeds and our community forums. And yes, developers see it. Potential businesses see it. And when they do, I guarantee you it affects the decisions they make. Just last week, someone asked about the Fourth of July events in Farmington, and the response online is, "It's Farmington, so nope." Now, that might seem trivial in the context of the rest of what I'm saying, but to the volunteers who just poured their hearts into planning a multi-day community festival that ended not even 5 days earlier, it's a direct slap in the face. And it happens time and time and time again. Residents, some of you are very brave behind a keyboard. But my interpretation of the mayor's point—you can correct me if I'm wrong—is that if you really think that this community is terrible and if you hate it that badly and you have no intention of getting involved or helping to improve it, then yeah, you're free to leave. No one is going to force you to stay here. No one's going to force you to love something you don't love. But for those of you who want to see our city thrive, it's time to show up. I've reviewed all the documents. I've read every link and report on the coalition site and countless others. I've attended in-person meetings. I've had countless phone and in-person conversations. I have a good sense of this project. We've followed public process. And yet for some, every step I've taken to mitigate or strengthen it has been met with character attacks, innuendo, accusations, or part of some sort of crazy conspiracy. To those who disagree with me, I see you. I'm listening. I hear what you're saying, and I respect your right to your opinion. But I'm also not going to continue to allow unfounded accusations to go unchallenged. And I'm not going to be bullied into silence or into decisions that are not in the long-term interest of our community. This project, like every major decision, is not the end of a conversation. It's the beginning. There are more details to work out. There are more safeguards to implement. There are more voices to listen to. And I remain committed to all of that when we have the ability to take the next step. Sadly, that time is not right now. We're in a holding pattern until we know the outcome of the current lawsuits being defended by the city. And ironically, the group of individuals demanding immediate action are the same ones whose legal action actually prevents most of what we're able to do. Filing a lawsuit is well within anyone's right, but it also halts the very progress that they now claim to want. I support this project. I support Farmington's future. And when decisions on the project come up again, I'm going to continue to show up. I'm going to continue to advocate for the best possible outcomes. I'm going to serve our community with honesty and empathy and long-range vision and the full weight of responsibility that this position demands regardless of criticism. And I'm going to do it because it's who I am and it's what I was elected to do. Thank you. **[31:54] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Well said and very much appreciated. Anything else to add there? All right? Because it is still citizen comments portion. If there's anyone wishing to speak come up at this time, seeing none, we'll move on to our consent agenda. I'd seek a motion to approve the consent agenda. **[32:25] Councilmember Nick Lien:** Motion. **[32:26] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Second. **[32:27] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Motion by Nick, second by Steve. All in favor say I. **[32:29] Councilmembers:** I. **[32:31] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Uh 12.1, new business, our 2024 annual comprehensive financial report and related audit reports. Kim. **[32:36] Finance Director Kim Sommerland:** Good evening, Mayor and Council. Each year, as required by state law, the city undergoes a financial audit. This year's audit process began in early January and was completed just a couple weeks ago. Tonight, we're joined by Bill Lau from LB Carlson, the firm that we contracted with to conduct the audit. He's here to share the results of the review and give us an overview of the city's financial standing. **[33:04] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Thank you, ma'am. Welcome back, sir. **[33:06] Bill Lau [Auditor, LB Carlson]:** Thank you. Good evening, mayor, council members. Thank you for making time for me this evening on your agenda. Um, as Kim mentioned, what I'm going to do, I'm going to try and hit three points tonight. First of all, uh I'm kind of required to make certain communications to you since you're the body charged with overseeing uh the financial reporting for the city to make sure you understand what our responsibility is as the auditor versus what the responsibility of city management uh is when it comes to uh the city's annual comprehensive financial report. Secondly, I'm going to go through the audit process—the opinions, the report letters that we issued—and kind of go through that with you. And then third and finally, I'd like to just go through a couple of the very high level financial results for the year under audit. It's uh the 2024 fiscal year. So, first of all, here we go. Um, as I mentioned, the first thing I want to do is make some required communications to you about what our role is as auditor. All of the financial information, the numbers, the disclosures that go into putting your financial statements together are provided by and are the responsibility of city's management. We come out and audit that information in order to provide an opinion at the front of that document as to whether it fairly presents the city's financial position and the results for the year under audit. Um because you're audited in accordance with government auditing standards, we're also required to evaluate your internal controls over financial reporting and your compliance with governmental uh financial reporting standards. Um you're also subject to an audit of your compliance with Minnesota state laws and regulations. Uh the state auditor's office puts out and updates annually a compendium of laws that cities and other local governments have to comply with. We audit to that audit guide and report a separate or issue a separate report with relation to that compliance as well. Uh as far as the results for the year, once again we were able to provide an unmodified or clean opinion on your financial statements. No issues were found as far as your internal control and compliance over your financial reporting. We had no internal control deficiencies to report and no instances of non-compliance were noted during the audit for the year. Uh with regard to our audit of Minnesota legal compliance for 2024, we also had no non-compliance to report. One of the things we also do then is to follow up on and report back on any findings from your prior year audit. So, in 2023, you did have one Minnesota legal compliance finding that had to do with contracting and bidding. Essentially, one contract um that you entered into that was over the dollar threshold to require sealed bids. Uh the city used a vendor that it thought had already been approved—the state can approve certain vendors to contract without you having to go through and revet them as a vendor. Um they were that particular vendor at the time was going through that process but had not been approved. So you still needed to do that for yourself and you didn't on that one contract. Um we retested your contracting and bidding in 2024 and we did not find any similar findings this year. Excuse me. There we go. Um, separate from your financial audit, you also earned over $750,000 in federal awards in 2024. In a typical year, this would result in your being required to have what's referred to as a single audit that encompasses all of your federal financial programs. Um, because the majority of what you spent was coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds that you received directly from the federal government, uh the Department of Treasury did kind of create a separate uh type of engagement if that's the only reason that you'd have to have that single audit. So um basically they created an ACE—an alternative compliance examination engagement—where they set out specifically for that program what requirements they want looked at. Basically, it narrows the focus of what we do um for a single audit to look only at this particular program in more depth. Um you do not issue a schedule of expenditures of federal awards as you would if you had a single audit. Basically, the only reporting is a written report as to whether or not you complied with the requirements that were put out there by the Department of the Treasury. And I'm happy to report that that again was also a report that you complied with, no non-compliance noted. So that was it from the reports that we issued, the reporting process. Questions on any of that before I move along to some of the financial information? **[38:18] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Questions? Steve? Okay. **[38:21] Bill Lau [Auditor, LB Carlson]:** Then I'll briefly go through a few of the financial results for the 2024 fiscal year. Um just to kind of remind you how your financial statements are put together. You maintain two different types of funds: Governmental funds and proprietary funds. Your governmental funds are those that are primarily funded with your property tax levy. They include your general fund, special revenue funds, debt service and capital project funds. And then you also have a number of proprietary funds—mainly enterprise funds for your utilities. And those are primarily funded with user fees. I'll start by talking about your governmental funds. Um this table—hopefully you can read those numbers, they're fairly small there—but the top portion of this shows your change in fund balance during the 2024 fiscal year. The top half shows that by the types of fund balance and the bottom half shows it by major funds that you reported in your financial statements. Um your total fund balances in your governmental funds at the end of the year were about $37 million. That was about $8.7 million higher than the year before. As far as where those changes came from, um on the top part of that, you'll see restricted fund balances went up by about $1.3 million. Um that is mainly due to um tax abatement bonds that you issued to finance your Rambling River Center renovation and you hadn't completed that project yet. Um so those restricted fund balances are sitting in one of the non-major funds reported there. Um the committed fund balances—these are fund balances that you as the governing body have committed in certain funds for specific purposes. That was the largest increase, about $5.2 million. There were a few things that drove that increase. Um mainly development related. Uh in one case, your utility trunk fund went up by about $2.4 million due to the developer trunk fees that you received in 2024. Park improvement fund also went up by about $740,000 due to park dedication fees collected on development during the year. And finally, your emerald ash borer capital project fund went up by about $1.3 million. And this mainly had to do with internal transfers. You closed down uh your solid waste enterprise fund which basically was inactive um for the most part in 2023, but you left the residual there and decided to transfer that into your emerald ash borer fund during 2024. And then finally, your unassigned fund balances, which you can use for any purpose without any mandates or restrictions, was about $2.3 million higher than the year before. And that's basically your unassigned fund balance in your general fund, give or take a few other small things. The general fund is the main operating fund of the city. This is one of the governmental funds we just talked about. This graph shows a 5-year history of your financial position in terms of your year-end fund balances and your cash position. Uh as you can see, your both fund balances and your cash position has been growing with the size of your fund operation there. That green line shows your annual expenditures and transfers. Just to give you an idea of how the size of the fund activity has been changing, um your total cash and investments at the end of the year are about $10.3 million, about 2.5 million higher than the previous year-end. Your total fund balances were about 11.4 million, up 2.4 million from the year before, and that compared to a balanced budget. So your ending fund balance is about 2.4 million higher than projected in your final budget for 2024. I'll talk about the reasons for that in a moment. Um, your fund balance in the general fund is reported in three components. Two of them are relatively minor. You've got about $2,000 in non-spendable fund balance, which basically is prepaid expenditures. Uh, you had about $89,000 in restricted fund balances. This related to a new state aid that you got for local affordable housing in 2024. That's restricted until you spend it for approved purposes. Uh, and then the remainder—about 11.25 million—was unassigned fund balances. Um your policy is to maintain a minimum unassigned fund balance that's at least 40 to 50% of your annual budgeted expenditures and transfers for the following fiscal year. That fund balance at the end of 2024 was about 57% of your 2025 budgeted expenditures. So you're actually a little bit above your minimum fund balance policy. Revenues in the general fund were just over $18 million for the year. That was up about 1.9 million from the year before, about 1.5 million or roughly 9% higher than budget. Um this came mainly in three areas. Intergovernmental revenues were about $255,000 higher than budget. Most of that was that local affordable housing new state aid that wasn't included in your budget. Um two areas were impacted by the increased development within the city. Your charges for services and license and permit revenues were both higher than budget by a combined roughly $700,000 due to more development than you've seen in recent years. And then your "all other revenues" category—that was about $580,000 over budget. Most of that is your investment income. The reason for that is you budget very conservatively for that. That investment income is made up of two pieces. One is interest that you actually physically receive, but also you're required to report your investments at market value. So those will change with the estimated fair value of your investments every year. But since you typically intend to hold those investments until they mature, you don't really realize any gain or loss on holding them until you sell those investments. So you basically budget more towards what you're going to get in physical interest during the year. So you had a good year in your investment valuation. Uh also kind of a unique thing this year, you had an updated lease for your USDA space. Um you saw some reimbursements from them for lease buildouts that you did during the year that fall into that category as well. Your general fund expenditures were just over $16 million for the year. These were about $950,000 under budget—roughly 1.2 million or 8% higher than the year before. Um the two areas where you had the budget variance were primarily in public safety which were about 497,000 under budget. Um most of that was in salaries and benefits due to unfilled positions. Also, some of your other contracted service charges were lower than budget. Public works was also about $525,000 under budget. Excuse me. Um that was partially also due to unfilled positions and also you had lower supply costs in 2024 than you had projected. The other fund type that you maintain, as I mentioned, is proprietary funds. Most of those are what we refer to as enterprise funds. So these are where you're collecting user fees mainly to provide utility services. So you've got four now—you had five utility funds but the solid waste fund was closed during the year. You still have sewer, water, storm water and street light funds. And then you also have your liquor fund operation. Um in total, these funds are full accrual. So, the difference between them and the governmental funds we just talked about is all of the long-term capital assets, long-term bonds outstanding are reported in these funds where they're not in the governmental funds. It's referred to as net position rather than fund balance, which at the end of the year in total for your enterprise funds was about $74 million, up about 1.7 million from the year before. Uh something to point out there is the bulk of that—about 68% roughly of your ending financial position—is in that net investment in capital assets that doesn't represent any spendable cash. Those are your utility infrastructure assets. The other thing to point out there is these are reported at cost, not replacement value. So, you know, you've got water/sewer infrastructure in there that you may have put in 20 years ago that would cost a lot more to replace. Just something to keep in mind when you're looking at setting rates. Uh the depreciation gives you one measure of of how they're aging, but it certainly doesn't project what it would cost to replace those in today's dollars. Um, as far as the change from the prior year, basically all of your funds—taking out the solid waste fund transfer mentioned where that 1.46 million was transferred to your emerald ash borer fund—the rest of your funds did have positive operating years. You had operating income of about 1.5 million across all funds, another 1.1 million of other non-operating revenue such as investment income and other state grants. So income before transfers and contributions was about 2.7 million. You had capital contributions mainly from development of infrastructure for your utilities. Uh, also one project where you contributed some infrastructure from a street project that was paid for in the governmental funds—the total about $3.3 million that added to your equity. Um, and then you transferred out about $4.3 million for a net change you see there of about $1.7 million. Um those transfers in addition to closing out the solid waste fund—um you make annual transfers from these funds to support your general operations and the general fund and some other operating funds. Uh also some of the bigger dollars go for financing portions of capital improvement projects. You make an annual transfer out of your liquor fund for park improvements. Um and I mentioned the Emerald Ash Borer transfer already. Um I'm not going to go through much detail here. I will just focus on your liquor fund for a moment because it is different from the other utility funds. Um your liquor fund ended the year with a net position of about $2.9 million. Um the reason this is quite a bit different than your other utility funds is you lease your spaces. So you don't really have a big investment in capital assets for this fund. So 2.7 of that $2.9 million is unrestricted net position. Um that increased by about $476,000 from the previous year. Your gross sales for the year were just under $7 million, about a 3% increase from the previous year. Uh gross profit margins were very comparable to last year, maybe up a little more than a percent—about 26.8% on sales. Your operating income has been trending very nicely the last three years upward. You had $627,000 roughly in operating income in 2024. It transferred out about $224,000 uh for administrative costs and also your annual transfer to the park improvement fund. And the last table I will share is a very condensed version of the first statement that's in your basic financial statements. This is the summary statement of net position. This includes all of the governmental fund activity we talked about. All of the enterprise fund activity we talked about. Basically the top half of that, the governmental activities, relates to those governmental funds. The bottom part, business-type activities, relate to those enterprise fund operations. The business-type activities are on the same basis of accounting. So that breakdown of your net position there should look very familiar. It's dollar-for-dollar same as we talked about in the funds. The change comes in the governmental activities in those governmental funds. You're not reporting the long-term bonds outstanding, the long-term street/road/building infrastructure that you have. So, this converts those funds to full accrual to give you some idea from a long-term perspective what happened with your change in net position of the city as a whole. Um, so you did have total net position of about $150 million, increased about 12.4 million from the year before. We talked about the bottom part of this with the enterprise funds. So I'll focus just for a moment on the governmental activities where your total net position went up by about $10.7 million. Uh again about 2.5 million of that was in that net investment in capital assets. That's usually driven by how quickly your assets are depreciating versus how quickly you're paying back any debt that you issued to buy or improve them. Um, one of the reasons you're seeing that increase year-to-year is some of your capital assets are being financed with state funds. Some of your street improvements are financed with Minnesota state aid street dollars. And also, you did receive some contributions from developers here for street infrastructure. Um, most of the increase then was in that unrestricted net position, about $7.75 million. Uh basically we talked about fund balance—that unassigned fund balance in your general fund plus all of those committed or assigned fund balances, anything you control locally basically flows into that unrestricted bucket. So um some of those capital asset dollars that you have set aside for utility trunk, park improvement, your emerald ash borer and the change in your general fund all kind of fall to that unrestricted net position. So that's what I typically share as far as number overview. Hopefully nobody's eyes are glazing over too much. Questions on any of that? **[53:14] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** All good. Steve, any questions? No, no questions. I really appreciate the uh good report uh as you bring us every year and Kim, what an amazing job you did this year. Um and really every year our finance department does a great job, but I know that this is a major activity for your department. Um and I think this is the first year I can recall in all my different years of serving that we haven't had any kind of a notation of a correction needed or a modification. And that's a huge tribute to you. So, thank you. **[53:57] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Okay. **[53:59] Councilmember Nick Lien:** Um, I'll just echo most of what Steve said. Thank you, Bill, for uh distilling these several hundred pages in the report to a succinct PowerPoint. Um, and and congratulations to Kim and team. **[54:15] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Nothing new to add. So, whatever they have said already, I echo that. I am not a numbers person. I am a creative person. And so I don't promise that my eyes didn't glaze for just a split second. But um the reason that I even feel okay stating that is because I do have so much trust in the department heads and the departments and in this case, Kim, with all the work that has been done. Uh it's it's not a job that I could do and I am deeply deeply grateful for people with um immense skill sets that I don't hold. **[54:41] Councilmember Nick Lien:** Thank you. Nick. Uh, if there's one department I want to be as boring as humanly possible, this is the one. Wow. I'm being totally honest about it. So, I guess I can. No big surprises, please. Um, so this is uh I appreciate the update every year. So, like I said, no questions for me. **[55:04] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Bill, as always, thank you. Thank you. Um, I won't use boring, I'll use predictable—is a better term. We like things in finance and budgetary to be predictable and um I mean Chris did a phenomenal job, right? Kim did a phenomenal job, but I think just all of the different funding sources, right, from federal grants to um appropriated money to um state grants—all the all the things that we're getting and um just watching it stay clean while also continuing to put ourselves in a uh net positive position overall, right? Just positioning ourselves for the next decade. And it's promising to see this and it's good to see the profitability of the liquor store and knowing that that's not part of the levy every year. Um, overall very very good report and very much appreciated. So, thank you. With that, I would seek a motion to accept the audited financial statements and independent auditors report for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2024. **[56:04] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** So moved. **[56:05] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Second. **[56:06] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Motion by Jake, second by Holly. Call the roll, please. **[56:09] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Council member Bernatz. **[56:10] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Yes. **[56:11] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Council member Lien. **[56:12] Councilmember Nick Lien:** Yes. **[56:13] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Council member Wilson. **[56:14] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Yes. **[56:15] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Council member Cordes. **[56:16] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Yes. **[56:17] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Mayor Hoy. **[56:18] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Yes. Thanks again, Bill. Appreciate it. Thank you. Did you bring an umbrella? It was raining pretty— **[56:22] Bill Lau [Auditor, LB Carlson]:** It was. Yeah. **[56:23] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Yeah, I think it's— It was either that or the AC. I couldn't tell. That was raining. That was raining. Okay, we'll start with round table. Amy. **[56:32] Amy [City Attorney]:** I have no report tonight. **[56:33] Councilmember Nick Lien:** All right, Nick. I hope everyone had a happy and safe Fourth of July. Um, Holly, I know that took a lot, so I appreciate you being honest and being willing to speak up. Josh, I'll say this. One of your biggest strengths is that I have never felt afraid to speak my mind to you, even if that is contrary to your opinion. Um, people can say what they want about that, but you are a great person at creating a level playing field for everyone to have their opinions heard. Even if I don't agree with you all the time. I appreciate that very much. That's all for now. **[57:25] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Uh so we haven't been here since Top the Tater Days. I know we're going to hear more about that hopefully at the next meeting. Um but it was a a fantastic event. Like kudos, kudos, kudos to the entire team of organizers and executors and volunteers that showed up to make it absolutely spectacular for as many individuals as wanted to come out and enjoy it and somehow the weather cooperated this year which is just an added bonus. Um the other thing I wanted to highlight actually during round table is one of my favorite reports to get is Josh Solinger's report when he does our municipal liquor report um every month. And the reason I'm bringing it up is because I think sometimes there's this narrative around the idea that shopping locally for municipal liquor um it's going to cost you more money. It's going to be this, it's going to be that. And ultimately at the end of the day, your investment in your or your enjoyment in some of these things help to do a lot for our community that couldn't otherwise be done. So that's step one. But step two is that we're not just sitting on that. In his most recent update, he was talking about negotiations that he's done to reduce the price of product. Okay, if you can't hear that, it's really raining—um to produce the product here, reduce the cost of product here locally. And I love that that was a part of our report because there is intentionality still around making it the best possible product, the best possible investment at the lowest possible price point while still doing good for your community. So kudos to Mr. Solinger and his entire team um for at the very least entertaining us and far more than that um being dedicated to and loving their jobs every day. Thank you. **[59:08] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Yeah, Jake. Um I also want to thank the organizing committee uh for a successful first annual Top the Tater Days. Um, on Friday night I was working the Rotary Bar and people kept coming up and I had the opportunity to talk to them and I met people from Superior all the way down to Albert Lea from east and west across the state and from other states and it was just remarkable the number of people that came to Farmington. And at one point somebody made the remark that, "you know, I haven't seen this many people downtown for Dew Days or Top the Tater Days in a decade." And I said, I got to take a time out and go see this. And I walked out on the streets and it was packed wall-to-wall people. So, it was just an incredible weekend to showcase what we've got in Farmington and and a huge thank you um to to those individuals that helped organize it, who volunteered throughout the weekend and our community for coming out and and supporting um our festival. And Holly, thank you uh for sharing those words tonight. That was uh courageous from the heart and I know it took a lot to say that. **[1:00:26] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Steve. Um on our consent agenda, we approved a very nice donation from David McKnight for a treadmill for uh the fitness facility. Um and David is very generous to the city and of course served as our city administrator and council member. So, just want to extend our thank you to him. I do want to— He will not be watching. It's a guarantee. But I do want to publicly congratulate Brad Marissa, our beloved band director, for winning the consolation uh chip eating with the dip contest. Um it was Jeff Kerr and Brad, and Brad won because he was the only one that didn't break the chip. So congratulations to Brad. Have to learn from him next year. Um, and lastly, um, Holly, I just want to thank you for your integrity, um, your honesty, and truly your commitment to serving the residents. Um, you know, I think I knew that you'd be an amazing council member when I first met you and the dedication that you poured in to Rambling River Days a couple years ago. Um, and even this year with all the amazing, incredible work that the volunteers and staff did, there's still people that you heard— "I just want it to be Dew Days," you know, and um, and that's fine. They can have that opinion. Um, Top the Tater Days is such a great name. But again, going back to you, I know you've endured a lot over the past year—um probably more than um you know many or any would would have to just for serving. And as all of us up here know, you know, we serve. Um you know, our fire department serves, our police department serves, and the men and women who serve. There's a family member and kids at home and other activities that you're taking away from to serve the community. And you know, it's not a glamorous role. We don't make a lot of money doing it. Um, but I would just want to thank you for having the courage to lead with conviction. Um, as a colleague of yours on the council, I appreciate you. Um, and I value everything that you bring to the council and to the city. So, thank you. **[1:02:49] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Shirley. I don't have anything tonight. **[1:02:51] Assistant City Administrator David Chanski:** David. Uh, first just want to thank you again for a productive—yet another productive work session. We look forward to bringing the items we discussed for further action here in the near future. Notice Chief Price isn't with us this evening. Uh we had five firefighter candidates that began their onboarding this evening. Uh you approved three more as part of the consent agenda and we're looking forward to having hopefully three more on the consent for approval on July 21st. And then we'll have um all 11 beginning the fire academy in September which will be the largest class that Farmington has had in many, many years. So, we're looking forward to that. The only other item I have is that a couple months ago, uh communication specialist Karin Hajki submitted the city for two Northern Lights awards through the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators, and we were informed last week um that we are getting both of those—are getting awarded. One is for the city's website redesign and then the other is for Josh Solinger's monthly liquor specials videos. So, we don't know if they'll be a bronze award, a silver award, or a Northern Lights award. Um, but we will find out uh at the awards ceremony on July 30th. That's all I have. **[1:04:12] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Solinger's beer was the best one. Put that on repeat. Thank you, Deanna. **[1:04:17] CED Director Deanna Kuennen:** Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um the one thing I have tonight is an announcement that on August 13th from 2 to 4 at the library in conjunction with uh DCTC we will be providing for free to our businesses of all sizes a class called AI for Business. And so, as you'll recall, we have been bringing our partner organizations to the EDA to have a discussion to really explore how we partner today, but then also look at how we can be partnering and additional value-add that we can be providing our business community as well as our community at large. This is the first follow-on, I guess I can say, or results from one of those conversations. And so we have been working with DCTC. They will be providing the instructor, the content. Um we're just helping with the location and we'll be working to notify all of our businesses. But I'm really excited about this opportunity to showcase what can basically be a resource that's in our backyard and how that can help and be um even more of a resource to our existing businesses. So, August 13th from 2:00 to 4, if people are interested or if businesses are interested, please contact city hall and we'll make sure that they get the information to register. Thank you. **[1:05:41] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** John. **[1:05:43] Public Works Director John Powell:** Thank you, mayor and city council members, and thank you for your action earlier this evening on the preliminary design for the 2026 street improvements at Second Street from Ash Street to Spruce Street. So, that together with our Willow Street project—our 2026 reconstruction project planning is well underway. Additionally, uh if you've noticed the large excavation near the central maintenance facility, that is for footings for the salt storage. Greystone was on site starting the footing construction today. So, we're very excited to see that moving forward. And finally, uh for the public, they may notice a large—um looks like an above-ground pool on steroids located south of County Road 50 west of Denmark. That is part of the Northern Natural Gas project. It stores water. They use the water to pressure test the gas main before they put it in service and then they capture all the water that they use and before they discharge that water anywhere at the end of the project, it's all tested to make sure there's no contaminants and whatnot. So, that's what that facility is for. **[1:07:00] Kelly [Parks & Recreation Staff]:** Thank you, sir. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Dave McKnight also for the donation of the treadmill. Um, when we moved the fitness center over here to city hall during renovations of the senior center, we did uh lose one of our treadmills. It was from 2005. Um, it no longer works. So, we definitely got our money's worth on that. So, him purchasing that treadmill was well needed. Um, and he's just got such a soft spot for the seniors. So, thank you, David, for everything you do for the Rambling River Center and the members there. Uh, the Rambling River Center is open. Um, we are open for tours now, um programs, stop by. Uh memberships start at 50 and plus, but if you just want to stop by for a tour, we'd be happy to show you around the new facility. It's gorgeous. Uh we do do rentals, so we are open for other things besides just uh senior center. And then the big news—uh we found out probably just less than two weeks ago, uh the city was awarded a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources grant. We believe we're going to get the full amount, $350,000 for the skate park. So, we are very excited about that. Um, Holly brought up the liquor store and the match—we do have to match the same amount. So, $350,000 will come from the liquor store community project funding. So, once we uh get the grant executed, we will work on um getting an architect, a skateboard company, to start doing designs and plans and that's when we'll start with the input. So, um, skaters, we're coming for you and we'll have open houses on what you want to see happen there. So, we're very excited and we'll wait to hear. We'll put out on the social media and the city's website the next steps. **[1:08:37] Finance Director Kim Sommerland:** Thank you, ma'am. Kim. I just want to say I appreciate all the accolades about the job well done on the city's audit, but it was a team effort. Um every staff member here directly helped with that effort and you know without their support and responsiveness it wouldn't have been as successful as a process as what it was. So, I appreciate everyone here, their teams, and the finance team. Thank you. **[1:09:05] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Chief. **[1:09:06] Police Chief Nate Siem:** Uh, mayor and council, update on our security fence project. Uh it is up for bid currently. Um the bid period closes on the 17th. We'll review those and hope to have a contract before you by uh your next meeting. Our other grant process right now is our ICPOE cadet positions. That's $150,000 grant for three separate positions. Um we just interviewed, had our first round of interviews for that third position to be filled. Um that cohort starts September 8th. We have our second round of interviews this Friday. Our first candidate that uh was approved for hire graduated from Hennepin Tech last Thursday. Uh he is uh taking his post-test tomorrow and hopefully be starting with us after next meeting. **[1:09:53] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Beautiful. There's a lot of places to go there. Um, I'll start with Top the Tater Days. Like, what a phenomenal event. I mean, what an incredible week off of what I thought was an extremely successful prior year, right? And just to watch the committee continue to put in and put in and put in—the volunteers, the businesses, all the different programming, everything. It's phenomenal to see what that event has become and even more so to feature a longtime local business as a primary sponsor naming rights and then to watch the collaboration of some of their business partners in the space, right? To watch Old Dutch and others come in and be a part of that. Like when you look at an event like Dew Days and you look at it from '79 to today and you see what it's done size-wise and event offerings and everything, it's hard to not look at it and see like, hey, this is a big event and it keeps growing. But I truly believe that the people that sit on that committee, the businesses that have long participated, whether it's sponsorship or activity-based, they're looking at it like, "it's here and we know it can go here." I think that's what's most exciting is you see the pictures of all of the people downtown and all of the events that they're doing and you just go—and we're just getting started. Like Pan-O-Prog wasn't the event that it is today 30 years ago. Top the Tater Days is not going to be in 25, 26, 27 and years beyond what it is today. It's going to continue to grow and that's more people coming into our community experiencing what it is that Farmington has to offer and deciding whether that's some place that they want to live, work or play in. And every year something big comes out of it. And I'm just excited for all of the progress that that committee has made. Um the impact to our community—I mean we got to feature a brand new remodeled amazing Rambling River Center at the same time. Um lot of talk about it and just continue to reinvest. Um and Holly, on your comments—um one, I sincerely appreciate them. Um contrary to what people might believe, I somehow didn't tell you to write that and make sure you say your things about me and us, right? And I think that's what struck me the most is, you know, as elected officials, I often say the term and I use the phrase: "we know what we signed up for." You just don't know the circumstances under which that's going to be applied. Nobody saw COVID happening. Nobody saw civil unrest and George Floyd. Um, when we sat as the economic development authority and we said to our team, "go push, push, push, put the pedal down." We didn't know what the project was going to be, but we said, "Go get it." And it was brought forward. And to Amy's point and to the legal points that have been brought up over and over and over again, like we have to follow a process. We don't get to arbitrarily choose whether or not we're just going to say, "Oh, DNR, I know you said that's what we need to do, but we're going to ignore that." We don't get to do that. The MPCA has regulations. We don't get to just arbitrarily work outside of them. We have to follow rules. And there's a lot of them. And projects of this size and scale take years to develop. Cast your stones, grab your things. Like, if you want to be upset at us, be upset at us. But we're trying to do the best for the community as a whole. There are going to be people who feel as if they're losers, that they are more impacted than someone else, just like the issue before it and the issue before it and the one that's going to come up in six months. Like, we don't get to make those decisions. We don't get to stand here and say, "Well, because it's this, we're going to apply this different standard or because it's this we're going to do something completely different." Like, we have to follow guardrails. And the longer you sit in these positions in this role, your circle gets smaller and the people that are around you get smaller and they speak with you less and less frequently because there's blowback. There's um guilt by association. There's all of those things that happen. And much like you—and I won't speak for my peers, but I think I can confidently say this—I don't show up for the pay. I sure as hell don't show up for the perceived legacy. I don't show up for the notoriety. I show up because this is a community that I graduated from, that I grew up—that gave a poor white trailer trash kid an opportunity, that had a bunch of our local educators who put into me when my parents couldn't through after-school activities, through sports, through all the things they put into me. And I'll never forget Herby Nivela calling me out in 2018 when I was so upset at what Dew Days had become. It's on Facebook. You can see it because all my stuff's public. He said, "I know a group of people that's looking for volunteers." And I raised my hand. That's how I started getting involved because I was called to the carpet and I wasn't going to be a bystander and just cast the stones and tell people what they weren't doing. I wanted to be part of it. And I've been very fortunate to sit here in one capacity or another for the last six and a half, almost seven years now, and serve this community. There are no FedEx envelopes showing up that are packed full of cash. There are not secret agreements that have been made. Do all the FOIA requests. Do all the things. At the end of the day, the net result will be the same. You can't find what doesn't exist. This council, our team, those that continue to work on bettering our community do so because we know it's the right thing to do day in and day out. Um, and we will continue to do it. I point at that guy often—"Proud Past, Promising Future"—but we couldn't define what the promising future was. And now I think we have a really good idea of what it looks like because it started to take shape over the last four years. And we will continue to push harder and harder and harder because we know what the next decade of financial obligations looks like to this city. And there are going to be some losers from time to time. There are going to be some people that feel slighted—that they weren't listened to, they weren't heard, we didn't do as they say. It could be 75 and sunny and someone is going to argue that there's not enough sunscreen available for sale in town. Just how it works. Um, but I appreciate everything that you said and we have to provide a voice for as many residents as possible in our community, whether they choose to come in here or not, whether they choose to speak up publicly or privately on social media platforms, whether we see them at local events. Um, we have to advocate for everyone—even the even the quiet ones. And I believe that we continue to do that. So, thank you to each of you. Thank you to our entire team, to those that are not present, um and most importantly to our residents and our businesses that continue to show up and believe that Farmington is an amazing community and will continue to be. With that, I would seek a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn at 8:16 p.m. **[1:17:42] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Motion by Jake. **[1:17:44] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Second. **[1:17:45] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** Second by Holly. All in favor say I. **[1:17:47] Councilmembers:** I. **[1:17:49] Mayor Joshua Hoy:** We're adjourned at 8:16. This [Music] [Applause] [Music] black hey. [1:18:17] [Music]