[0:08] Mayor Hoy: We'll call the city council, regular meeting to order for Monday, August 5th, 2025. Would everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance 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. [1:20] Clerk Shirley: Call the role, please. Council member Cortis, [1:20] Council Member Holly Cortis: here. [1:20] Clerk Shirley: Mayor Hoy [1:20] Mayor Hoy: here. [1:20] Clerk Shirley: Council member Bernetts [1:20] Council Member Nick Bernetts: here. [1:20] Clerk Shirley: Council member Lean [1:20] Council Member Jake Lean: here. [1:20] Mayor Hoy: All right. Any changes to the agenda? No. No. All right. Seeing no changes, I would seek a motion to approve the agenda. [1:36] Council Member Jake Lean: So moved. [1:36] Council Member Holly Cortis: Second. [1:36] Mayor Hoy: Motion by Jake, second by Holly. All in favor say I. I. I. All right. Nothing under announcements. Uh, next item is citizen comments. Anyone wishing to speak, come up and do so at this time. Right. Citizen comments are a time for anyone to address the city council on matters not on the agenda. Those speaking should state their name and address and limit their comments to 5 minutes. The city council will not engage in discussion on your topic, but those issues requiring a response will be responded to by the next city council meeting. Go ahead. [2:04] Citizen Andrew Clott: My name is Andrew Clott. Uh I live at 120th Street West in Farmington, Minnesota. Um, my discussion is uh after your officers hanged me at the at the police at the police department. Um, I I haven't received the video. I've been asking for it and you guys have been refusing to give it to me for many years and I've asked for it many times and you've been hanged the way I was at the police station there. My arms don't work anymore. I can't sleep. I have all kinds of pain. I had skull fractured by Gary Rutherford. I heard he just left, which is nice for him, but I don't really appreciate that you guys sit here and cover it up for him. I don't know. What are you going to do about that? That's not fair. I mean, I know I've talked to you. You got me to file a complaint against uh Brian Linquist when he threatened to plant drugs on me if I spoke about this until the statute of limitations was up. And I did file a complaint. And you did have him fired. But who did you bring in for the chief? You brought in Gary Ruffford, the same guy who fractured my skull at the police department. All I need is a video. That's all I've been asking for. And it doesn't matter now cuz I can't sue. And you guys win. That's great. Yay. Good for you. But it's not right what you did. You know that you've destroyed me. You and your officers who are above the law apparently in Farmington. It's not right. And you guys could consider releasing that video and giving it back to me at the very least. [4:05] Citizen Nate Ryan: Good evening, Nate Ryan. Um, Camry and Wayey here in Farmington. So, I apologize. I haven't been here in a few weeks. Been going out doing some family things and enjoying family time and uh it's been great not being here. So, but a few weeks ago, Holly had mentioned a few things and I just wanted to come and hopefully clarify a few things. So, first of all, parrots. Yes, I did call you all parents. And that was specifically around uh a memorandum that you were reading that was with the realtor association and incorrectly you spoke and said that there were seven protected classes and in real estate laws in Minnesota there's 11. And uh it's unfortunate that Steve's not here tonight, but because Steve did email me afterwards and said, "You're absolutely right." And basically said, "We got this from the realtor association, the association of St. all and they just gave it to us. That does make you parrots by definition. You got something, you read it, you didn't look into it. You're parrots. So, all of you sitting here are. And that was my only reference to parrots. And I will stand behind that 100%. I have zero issues calling you parrots because that's what you were. And uh Steve can more than likely confirm that. And you're welcome to read any of the emails that he sent me about this subject. So, there's that. Holly uh decorum. Collie also mentioned and spoke about decorum. What I think is very interesting about that is I brought up the mayor's decorum on on more than one occasion. So, and that was buried and under the rug, right? So, when Lynn was here, she said, "We didn't have a policy. We don't have a policy for that. So, we can't do anything about it." Holly, I brought it up to you, Jake. This was before that you were on the council, but Mr. Mayor was out there in a public setting giving double middle fingers and dropping fbombs, right? And when I came here and told the council about that, I got an email back, not from not from Holly, um, but from another counselor saying, "I can't believe you would come and say that at a meeting." I didn't say that. That was the mayor. Those are the mayor's things. So, you want to come out here and publicly bash people for their decorum, do it to the mayor. You have an avenue. You would want to distance yourself from those from those com from those um from those comments. My guess is that you'd want to distance yourselves as a council from what the mayor said. By doing nothing, you're agreeing with them. By sitting there and watching someone get torn down because of their race or because of their fat or because of whatever, right? And you sit there and you say nothing, you do nothing. You are just as complicit as the person who is making those comments. And that is the truth with what the mayor did. All of you are just as complicit as what the mayor did. You agreed with those comments. And you could say, "No, we didn't. No, we had discussions in the back. No, you need discussions up front. You need discussions in that transparency that you all lean on so much. You need discussions here in this open public setting. You need to say publicly that you don't agree with that and there is mechanisms for that 100%. So that is decorum. Also this online notion decorum. Um I'm not going to speak for whatever anybody else post. I don't post a lot in social media. I I kind of agree with you, Holly. It is somewhat disgusting uh what people are saying out there. Um but just me personally, uh I I think that that's people talking. That's what people are saying about you. Why wouldn't you want to listen to them? Why wouldn't you want to hear what they say? Because they offend you a little bit. Welcome to public service. Welcome to the life of being in the public spotlight, right? It's okay for people like Donald Trump to get bashed or people like Joe Biden. I don't care which side of the eye you're on. It doesn't matter. But it's okay. And again, you don't speak up when some happens to them or you don't speak up when it happens to, you know, any of our state senators or anyone else or you sure as heck didn't speak up when it happened to um our our local state representative just a few months ago. I didn't see any of your post there. So, if you're willing to speak up, I I think you should do it for everyone. And I think they should have that same decorum for everyone there. The last thing uh that I'd like to talk about quickly is the is the lawsuit just as as an option. So um with the lawsuit, this is your opportunity to negotiate. The mayor said, "Well, we can't do anything now because it's in a lawsuit." B as in B. S is an S. You can absolutely negotiate inside of a lawsuit. That's what it's there for, especially a civil lawsuit like this. This is not criminal charges. These are civil these are civil matters. You have the opportunity to negotiate. That's where all of this is heading. That's where all of this is going. And I know this because I've been involved in two federal lawsuits. It's fantastic sitting in a judge's chamber for three or four days. It's great. It's awesome. And I sat there as a city council person. I sat there as mayor of prompt for the city of Dundis and went through that. I know exactly. I can tell you what where this leads to negotiation. This doesn't lead to you're right, you're wrong. This leads to where can we finally stop spending money for attorneys. That's where this leads to. And even after this lawsuit happens, right, because this is really between you and the and the township, you're going to face more lawsuits. I can tell you that. So, why not get out in front of this. Why not head off some of those other lawsuits that are likely coming before you even happen? you have the option to negotiate. The other thing too is that I'm that concerns me a little bit is you have um Miss Amy here. You have her talking about the lawsuit. I've read her scope of work. She's not a civil litigator. She's not an expert in in civil land matters. The reason that you have separate attorneys with the League of Minnesota is because they are. That's what they do. That's what they live and breathe. It's what they just get up for in the morning and just can't wait to get on their socks and head out the door. They love that stuff. Miss Amy is, I'm sure, is a fantastic attorney. She seems great so far with the interactions that I've had with her, but she's not a civil attorney, and that is not her scope of work for the city. Criminal matters, right? Misdemeers and blow, those are definitely something that she's looking for. Anything that's going to be a gross gross misdemeanor or a or a felony is going to go out to the county attorney's office, city attorney generally doesn't deal with that. And she frankly just doesn't do civil, especially in this large land matter, which is why you have another attorney who's dealing with that. So, um, the other thing I just want to mention is I did send an email and asking Miss Amy to provide me all of your communications. So, back and forth between each other about me and there are they exist. I know that they exist and um one of them there are two two or three sets that are redacted and she sent me back this thing saying well we can you know we accidentally sent you a whole bunch of information. So I got a whole bunch of information that was accidentally sent to me. She can confirm that she knows exactly what I'm talking about. She I got that and she said, "Well, we can give you that information." And she sent me all the laws and statutes that go along with it. And I turned that around and used that exact same law and statutes. Said, "Where are these things?" Remember, you said it, Josh. You're transparent. Just go to the website. Everything is there. That's not true. Everything is not there. And when I try to get something that Amy says that I can for surely have, she won't give it to me. Why? What are you hiding behind? Right, Josh? You said there's no smoking gun. There's no bags of cash. There's nothing to hide behind. Really? Have her send me the stuff. Let's see. Have her send all the communications. Have her send all of Deanna's information from her personal account that is on city business. So, I appreciate your time. I appreciate you letting me speak for much longer than five minutes. I surely do. Um, and I'll just leave you with this. This is this is the time to negotiate on this lawsuit. And for the record, I am for data centers. Let's build them. Let's build a whole bunch of them. I am not a green person who's worried about the speckled speckled spotted owl. I want to see data centers lying 50 all the way up and down. Let's do it. Let's make the city rich in data center money and all the people will leave. When I The other thing says the mayor really pissed me off. You said well nobody signs up. I signed up to be in the planning commission was one of the most experienced people that you had apply. Person who had experience, person who had done it before, person who has a a great history in the real estate industry and understands the legal side and ramifications of growth and development. I stepped up. Don't sit there and tell me that I didn't step up. Don't sit there and be like, "Oh, it looked down on your nose. You guys never do anything." I did and I will continue to step up and I'll continue to apply to be on boards and commissions and whatever else not so that we can have banters disagreement but to really truly provide that absolute transparency that you all talk about but you don't actually do. Thank you. Have a nice day. [13:36] Mayor Hoy: Anyone else wishing to speak feel free to do so at this time. Seeing none, we'll move on to item seven, which is our consent agenda. Seek a motion to approve the consent agenda. [13:53] Council Member Nick Bernetts: So moved. [13:53] Council Member Jake Lean: Second. [13:53] Mayor Hoy: Motion by Jake, second by Nick. All in favor say I. I. I. All right. Nothing else on the agenda, so we'll go to round table. Amy, [13:53] City Attorney Amy: no report from me tonight. [13:53] Mayor Hoy: All right, Nick. [13:53] Council Member Nick Bernetts: Uh, everybody be safe at National Night Out tomorrow. Hope you can find time to get out with your neighbors and have a good conversation. Um, then also it's fair week, so everybody be safe. Watch for kids, watch for adults, have a good time. Can't believe it's that late in the year already. [14:13] Mayor Hoy: Holly, [14:13] Council Member Holly Cortis: uh, he said what I was going to say. [14:13] Mayor Hoy: Fair. Jake, [14:13] Council Member Jake Lean: um, unfortunately I missed the last meeting. we were out of town uh on a family vacation, but I do want to thank Christy Kerr and the ambassadors for coming to that last meeting. I did watch it when I returned and they were all eloquent as always. [14:43] Mayor Hoy: Thank you, Shirley. [14:43] Clerk Shirley: I have nothing tonight, [14:43] Mayor Hoy: David. [14:43] City Administrator David: I do have a few things tonight. So, uh first, back in June, you may remember that we were notified that the city was a finalist for two awards through the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators. Well, July 30th was their uh awards ceremony and at that ceremony uh we were announced for two awards. The first was a Northern Lights award which is their highest level award uh for best use of humor for small entity and that was for Josh Salinger's um annual liquor special videos. And then we also received a bronze award for website design or redesign small entity and that was for the city's new website. So I do want to thank Karen, Josh, Peter, Tim and his team for all of their hard work because it's really because of them uh that these two awards were made possible. also let I'll let the chief seam speak about this more, but I do also u just want to recognize and congratulate uh Bob Solder and Andrew Van Dorne on their promotions to captain that you just approved as part of the consent agenda. Also, last Wednesday, uh we had the opportunity uh to recognize five firefighter candidates who officially graduated and are now full-on paid on call firefighters with the city of Farmington. And then lastly, I am looking forward to being part of the city's contingent for National Night Out tomorrow. [16:18] Mayor Hoy: Thank you, Diana. [16:18] EDA Director Deanna: Thank you, mayor and council. I only have one thing tonight, and it's just a reminder that um our EDA is partnering with DCTC and Inver Hills to offer AI for business. Um and that will be held on August 13th from 2 to 4 at the library. So for any businesses that are in Farmington that are interested, please reach out and we'll make sure you get the registration information. And that's all I have. [16:44] Mayor Hoy: Thank you, John. [16:44] Public Works Director John: Thank you, mayor and city council members. Uh just want to mention the Milan overlay contract award that you approve this evening. That work does extend into October. It's less disruptive than street reconstruction and we allow a longer time period to complete it. So we keep our unit prices down. So far that's been successful. So, we're looking forward to working with Magnamer again this year and when we do the milling overlay. Usually, it's in and out and I think last year it was less than a week start to finish. So, thank you. [17:14] Mayor Hoy: Thanks. Thank you, Kelly. [17:14] Parks & Recreation Director Kelly: Good evening, mayor and counselor. Just a reminder and an invitation to the community. The Rambling River Center grand reopening and ribbon cutting event is Wednesday, August 13th at 10 a.m. Um, we'll take folks on tours, have uh some salvatory cake and coffee, but we please invite you to come celebrate the the new and improved Ramling River Center. [17:36] Mayor Hoy: Thank you. [17:36] Finance Director: Thank you, Mayor and Council. On tonight's consent agenda, you accepted the second quarter financial report and just wanted to note that for the general fund, it showed revenues above 50% and the expenses below 50%. So that just is a reflection of our strong financial position and that we're managing res resources responsibly. Thank you. [17:58] Mayor Hoy: Thank you, Chief. [17:58] Police Chief: Thank you, Council Mayor. Uh I just wanted to say again thank you for approving the promotions of uh now Captain Bob Solder and Captain Andrew Vanor to their positions. Um and I want to thank uh many here at the tables that assisted with that process. The interviews were very difficult. The selection was incredibly difficult. We had four amazing candidates and and it was uh um it was great getting to know them in the interviews a little more and uh I think they'll do a great job and I look forward to presenting them to you um at the next or or first meeting in September maybe. Uh also tomorrow night at national night out I look forward to seeing you all out there. Thank you. [18:42] Mayor Hoy: Thank you. I don't have anything to add hit all the uh community events coming up. Again, the fair started today uh officially. Sounds like there's some some new attractions and some uh some new features out there. So, that's always good for the community. Uh national night out tomorrow. We got the ribbon cutting at the Rambling River Center. So, um lot happening. Before we know it, kids are going to be back in school. So, and summer just flew right by. With that, I would seek a motion to adjurnn. [19:10] Council Member Holly Cortis: Motion to adjurnn. [19:10] Council Member Jake Lean: Second. [19:10] Mayor Hoy: Motion by Holly, second by Jake. All in favor say I. I. I. We're adjourned at 7:18.