**[0:04] [Music]** **[0:23] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** we'll call the city council regular meeting to order for Monday March 17th 2025 would everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance **[1:01] Audience:** to the flag the United States of America to the for it stands Nation God indivisible withy and justice for all **[1:15] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** call the rooll please council member Wilson **[1:19] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** here **[1:20] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** council member ctis **[1:22] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** here **[1:24] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** mayor Hoy **[1:25] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** here **[1:26] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** council member berat **[1:27] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** here **[1:28] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** counc member [Nick Lien] **[1:29] Councilmember Nick Lien:** here **[1:30] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** all right any changes to the agenda col none I have one ad yep and it's under the consent agenda 7 tac5 and it has to do with the lease agreement with the city of Empire to use space for a breakfast with a bunny scheduled for April 5th all right any other changes all right I'd seek a motion to approve the agenda uh with the modification of the addition to 7 tac5 to the consent agenda **[1:43] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** motion approved **[1:45] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** motion by Steve second **[1:46] Councilmember Nick Lien:** second **[1:47] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** second by Nick all in favor say I **[1:48] City Council:** I **[1:49] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** all right we'll start first with our announcements under 51 is the Park and Recreation Department's 2024 annual report Kelly **[2:19] Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Arwald:** good evening mayor and city council we are excited to present the Parks and Recreation Department's 2024 annual report this is the 22nd consective year the department has created an annual report the annual report covers program and programs and events offered Parks trails and Facilities projects completed maintenance work performed in parks on trails and in facilities at this time I want to thank Missy who compiled all the information and sorted through probably a 100 plus pictures uh to develop this annual report I think she got it down to about 40 pitches so thank you Missy for all your work on the annual report tonight Jeremy Missy and Emily are here to help present the annual report feel free to ask questions during and after the presentation at this time I'll turn it over to Jeremy to kick it off **[3:08] Parks and Facility Supervisor Jeremy Pier:** good evening I'm Jeremy Pier the parks and facility supervisor um the first slide here we have uh we replaced the LED lights at the ice arena um one of the bids that we got was for $18,000 around $118,500 um it also with that there was a rebate from EXL for $13,500 so it cost us total about roughly $5,000 to replace the lights uh just above the ice sheet in the ice arena so that was a really good deal for us um Kelly thought it was too good to be true she made me uh call other rinks around the community communities that had used the same company to make sure that you know they didn't have any issues and I sent several emails to that company so we definitely double checked on that it was a good deal we've uh instant on instant off um didn't have any issues with them all season so that was uh really good for us um the next one we had was I hit this button yeah we had a hydraulic holes break on the Zamboni in a Saturday afternoon um Damon's one of the Mechanics for the city I gave him a call he came down literally had it fixed within an hour we didn't miss a resurface so we wanted to put this on here and give him a thank you Sav the day for especially for me weekend um so that was great that he could help us out with that next one um the last uh winter that we had that was bad we had a real bad ice build up on the roof it uh crashed the and wrecked the gas line to the dehumidifiers on the right side for the rink there um broke the line um we uh Kelly uh had the idea to reach out to Minnesota Energy to see if they could help us out with the cost of it um it was turned out to be 7 $7,500 to do the repair and they gave us $5,000 for it um we were looking at options of how to divert the snow off the roof and um there wasn't really a good solution for it one of the um the building maintenance worker actually had the idea to run the pipe along the building under the drip line um and so that uh we won't have that issue again here's a picture of a lacrosse practice in the spring um at the ice arena we have turf in the rink um first week in April till miday us about six weeks we host two craft shows they've got lacrosse Monday through Thursdays this year we added um uh Farmington youth football is going to do their trainings on Sundays at the ice arena in the past they had done it at the dundis so that was an addition for the turf this year here we've got John Carpenter he's one of our newer Park maintenance workers the DNR asked if we had anyone that could help out stock in the river with trout um he's an Outdoorsman so we thought he would enjoy the opportunity and and and he did next slide here is uh one of the main reasons we wanted to relocate or the main reason we wanted to relocate the playground at Rambling River Park as you can see it's flooded um this playground we had perck in there for a um fault protection when we move the park over now obviously it's got the port in place um which is the best base that you can have for the playgrounds um Switching gears in the last spring we started the demo of the tennis courts to for the location of the new playground the guys took the light poles down the fence demoed the um asphalt put the base down packed it uh they put in drain tile uh so it would drain there's a picture of the the playground and be installed the guys put the base down um on the left hand side you can see Where the Sidewalk Ends the guys poured new two new um walkways to the playground one of the projects we had we uh remodeled the we updated the the bathrooms at the rambley River Park um put in new handrails new sinks uh painted them all and then we replaced the pad on the um in front of the bathrooms there was was a lip going into the doors and then for Ada regulations the where the doors opened up we needed to expand the concrete pad so Walkers and wheelchairs could get in the bathroom why we were looking at the guys had the suggestion of replacing the trail um sidewalk from the parking lot to the bridge and um we were able to do all that work in house we've got a couple of guys that have had that do concrete um in the past and and to have the guys to have the skills to be able to do that to not have to pay a contractor it turned out great and it looks really good we now have Wi-Fi and security lights in all the parks um like to thank Peter for that uh he put in a lot of work um organizing that and working with the guys to get that done the building maintenance staff they spend a lot of their time cleaning the buildings um cleaning carpets sealing the tile of floors and and doing painting here's a picture of Robert one of the issues we've got down here at City Hall is carpet squares like to pop up and we've got Corner sticking up and a picture of him scraping the glue off and and gluing the tiles back down and here the um parks and facility workers work together um over at the raming River Center packing up the equipment and the furniture we ended up having three pods that they packed it in and then they um did a bunch of demo of walls and stuff that that was within their ability **[9:01] Recreation Supervisor Emily Shear:** all right uh I'm Emily Shear I'm one of the recreation supervisors um and so this is a class A picture of a class um that is our adult pickle ball lessons um they are offered in May so they were offered last May and they'll be again offered this may um and Rachel Krug who is in that Aqua hat and t-shirt uh she is the instructor for the course she's been teaching and playing for 15 years uh and she's highly decorated she's got like 110 medals and I don't know national championships and all that so it's it's really good to have her uh lead these lessons for us so this is a picture of one of our um t- ball and Andor soccer uh practices and specifically what happens at this particular practice it's the second to last night of the t-ball SL soccer uh lesson period it's six week period uh so it's the second to last night it's called Saints night that we like to call it after uh and so during that time the kids play more fun interactive games so things like um a game against their parents or uh a game where they have to like hop like a frog in between the bases instead of running or things like that uh and then the other one is um when they hit a ball or hit a ball off the tea if they hit a bucket um then they get to pie a coach in the face at the end of the practice and so um this is one of the times this past year where they got to pie their seasonal staff coaches uh in the face and it's a ton of fun for not only the kids but also for our seasonal staff they actually really like it um they take selfies after and it's they they have a blast do it as well but this year we actually uh implemented it at soccer uh so it was kind of a new thing for that uh age group uh so Farmington Parks and Recreation we have partnered with over 100 um businesses Civics Civic organizations government agencies and families uh during 2024 um we have had sponsorships for movies in the park and music in the park as well as the Do Run um we've had volunteers help out at secret holiday shop or breakfast with the bunnies um we've had families and businesses and organizations help clean our Parks the list can go on and on um and it's it's really great to have a supportive Community um that is willing to help us and partner with us um this particular picture is of the Dakota County uh Library so um we have three Partnerships with them the first is geocaching which is essentially kind of like a scavenger hunt um where they go to the 27 parks and they find the little boxes that they need to find and then it comes to a prize at the end but um the other ones are the story trails with the library where they walk the trails uh and read a story um on those trails and then this one in particular uh the woman in the blue that is Amy sh or Amy and she is uh the child's librarian and then we have Josie our seasonal staff member uh and they are both interacting with a a girl for um our story time in the park story time in the park is where Amy reads a story or a couple collection of stories uh for the first half an hour and then the last half an hour our seasonal staff uh does a craft and plays a game with them and this theme was adventure and so that's why she's has a pair of binoculars uh for more Partnerships as well as some new programs that we were offering uh this past year we offered the uh little due days ambassadors uh program with the Farmington ambassador program and then we also offered helmet Heroes with uh the Farmington Police Department as well as a couple of City Council Members um and from there we can or from this program essentially we offered free helmets to children who signed up as well as helped them get fitted for those helmets and then offered um a bike safety program and that was through children's Minnesota and then we also offered uh a bike maintenance kind of tip course um and that was through or that was uh done by downtown bicycles uh in Northfield and then the whole thing came together at the end to have a bike ride um Kelly wanted originally to go for a 10- m bike ride and we slowly talked her down from that uh and so in the end it just was you know around the parking lot but it it all turned out fine it it was rainy too so you know we'll we'll hopefully have a better uh weather related instance next or this upcoming year and then we received the No Child Left inside Grant from the state of Minnesota and Department of Natural Resources um so this year we were able to buy archery equipment with that Grant uh and so this was the first time we were able to offer an archery class this was in the fall uh and so we hope to continue with that throughout the remainder of the future and then we also were able to buy Snowshoe equipment as well and then with us we also collaborated with duay and it's volunteers to provide the weekend um with a the community with a festival um this is obviously a picture of Nick with his son uh who ran the one mile um and so our staff helped hang up the banners around downtown helped hang up the lights um in that four-way intersection over here um on Third Street in Oak and also we put the Puppet Wagon out and entertained kids in the morning of Saturday morning and then also helped uh run the de run so this was a City administrator Gorski had the idea of celebrating winter holidays in downtown by having a holiday lighted parade City staff Farmington rotary and then we uh recruited Homestead Homestead church we met first in August of 2024 to start the discussion and planning for a lighted parade and on Saturday December 6th 26 lighted floats rolled downtown Farmington to 3 to 4,000 people way more than we would have expected or anticipated um this is a picture of the the choir singing after the parade um in the homestead Church lot uh we had rented a couple of fire tables uh from Crown Rental uh Lynn and I were here at City Hall and we walked down to Homestead after the parade and we turned that corner and both of us just went wow we did not know Homestead church was going to bring out all their Christmas decorations and all their trees and it was it was so awesome and so magical um after the event um I think it was Chief Rutherford that says you've now created an annual event so we have created an annual event um we will be uh starting the planning here in the next few months for the 2025 uh lighted parade so want to give a shout out to the Farmington rotary and also Homestead church for all they did for this this parade **[16:55] Recreation Supervisor Missy Knbec:** hi I'm Missy kbec I'm the other Recreation supervisor here with the city of Farmington park and rec department and I work mostly at the Rambling River Center and you see a few of you there um mayor Hoy council member Wilson and chief ruford along with some of our puzzle ladies so we're always trying to make money we're always fundraising constant fundraisers if you need anything shredded it's $10 for Banker box or two Brown Bags if you buy anything at happy hares please mention us and they give us 10% back we've made lots and lots of money so we're always fundraising so council member Wilson bought us the million dollar puzzle big the biggest dud ever I mean just so we triy if you get the puzzle together it's a QR code and then you if you get it together by a certain date you scan the QR code and send it in and you have the chance of winning up to a million dollars well we tried and we had help from some of the best brains in the city as you can see and we could not get that puzzle together so I don't know council member Wilson did you get yours together at home uh I may have thrown it away with yes I may have thrown this one away as well um we had a lot of help as Jeremy mentioned earlier maybe Kelly um packing everything up it's amazing what you collect it's amazing how much we've got rid of that needed to be getting rid of but it's it was amazing how much we still had we ended up with three of these containers that have furniture and equipment and we just had the best staff taking care of it and doing it all it's very very nice to not worry about it and just know you're in hands so want to thank those guys we moved over there on November 1st uh this picture doesn't show it very busy and I should have maybe taken one where it's very busy because I think um Chief price might be a little bit upset we were triple parked in his parking lot a couple times and we were told triple parking isn't probably the best safest option so we we are over there we are doing exercise class and coffee and Bingo and all of our normal activities um we are very much looking forward to being back in our own facility but it's been wonderful for them to have us there **[19:09] Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Arwald:** all the previous slides and pictures have shown Smiles win winds teamwork Etc however there have been several challenges last year and some that have run into this year vandalism graffiti Trail damage and emerald Dash boore um that life pole is just one example uh kid shook it until it basically came down that light pole is about $9,000 to replace so it's unfortunate when we have incidents like this that have to take City resources whether it be uh dollars or or staff time to fix there was several AC goals accomplished under the city's pillars in 2024 probably the two most sign significant under the Community engagement was the accessible playground with the poured in place rubber surfacing that was the momentum we needed at raming River Park to start that ball ball rolling and we're going to continue that into 2025 the second one was the approval of the contract with with CM construction company to complete the renovations at the Rambling River Center that that space is it looks so different right now and when we reopen in April it's it's going to be quite the quite the finished product we're really excited about this if you can read the the picture here um on the screen it says skateboarding is not a crime build build them apart so I don't know Gary do you want to tell the story or do you want me to tell the story so I'm going to tell it from Gary's point of view as he told it to me so he came he came into a meeting I think it was a Monday morning this this past summer or spring and there was a a young gentleman early 20s um out there skateboarding on our our bench and our our flower pots out there and Gary kindly asked them to to move off of our equipment and move along and don't skateboard on the on the city's property and he had some colorful words for Gary so Gary just continued on this business and came to the meeting well when I went home for lunch that day I came out and I'm like oh huh he wrote a message to Gary skateboarding is not a crime build them a park so if you remember at the the last meeting you did approve a application to be submitted for the DNR to build a skate park so we hope to we we are successful in in securing that funding this year so hopefully we'll be able to build him a park under infrastructure support goals probably the biggest win in 2024 was amending the city code regarding public parks trails and open space dedication have actually seen a developer um actually uh lenar who has actually uh figured out the calculation correctly um if you remember with our old park dedication it was very confusing not easy for developers to to figure out what the amount of land dedicated was needed or required um now we have a dedication is VE very easy for the developers to figure out what they owe and it's been correct so that that was very helpful the other thing obviously last year it was not a lot of snow so park maintenance was able to remove 236 infested ash trees and H Hazard trees um here's a picture of the the new bridge at the North Creek Greenway just north of the Jim Bell uh parking pres or parking preserve um that trail is now fully open but this is the when it was getting uh put into place uh this is a picture of Austin here um having fun at at work one day uh I think it was when we were packing up the senior center I want to take this opportunity to thank Austin for everything he has done for the Department City and Community he has been an excellent worker and an even better teammate Austin's last day unfortunately with the city is Friday we will miss him but we wish him well in his his new adventure so we continue to you know engage employees make sure they have the tools necessary to complete the job and they're having fun while working I think this uh picture shows that uh they were having fun that day looking forward um if you remember uh Angie Craig visited the uh Veterans Memorial in August um this was when she was uh when we were putting in a grant for the veterans Pavilion we have not heard about funding for that um probably my favorite story about this was uh we invited the park maintenance workers to to this uh visit and she went and introduced herself to every single one of the park maintenance workers and she said to them um nice to meet you guys the park maintenance workers are always my favorite employees so we we really appreciated her uh um coming to to visit uh she did tell Grant beel who she he's showing her the plans right now that she was going to come to the memorial Day celebration uh in May this year and I I think they're still planning on her being the keynote speaker under uh the city's uh pill ERS uh this is a picture of the uh R rotary holiday lunch in um continue to attend Farmington business networking monthly meetings and visit with the downtown businesses um reintroduce the Rambling River Center to them and have them stop in and visit uh the new and improved uh center community engagement we want to continue to the ball rolling at ramling River Park um we have a number of of Grant applications going to be out there so we want to keep that going and then uh complete the Rambling River Center improvements hold a grand reopening the other big one for this year is uh deep away Arts Park and engaging the community on uh potential improvements out there this is a picture of Tanaka they are a nonprofit profit uh they had reached out to the mayor originally and then Missy and I met with them and they hosted a murder mystery on the Rambling River Express in August it was a free event we probably had 70 people there from teenagers to 80 somethings and they all engaged together and it was a a really fun uh night so under infrastructure support we want to continue use of the asset management tool for replacement and new Investments uh replace the equipment at Westview Acres Park for 5 to 12 year olds and the swings continue completion of the Deferred maintenance projects identified in the facility condition assessments um replace the trail trails and Rambling River Park in conjunction with the construction of the new North Creek Greenway and then use utilize PCI ratings to help prioritize Trail Improvement projects and complete the Reconstruction employe engagement culture and wellness just ensure funding is provided so all staff members are provided opportunities to attend conferences workshops trainings continue regular meetings with staff encourage staff to attend willness events and activities and ensure staff has the tools and resources to complete their job duties e efficiently and effectively so Jay Weber he's from uh Weber recreational we bought our playground equipment from him for Ram River Park him and I were fortunate enough to be able to go to Riverview to present to the to the multi- AES classes those are two to um second through fifth graders and after the event uh they they sent us a bunch of of thank you notes so I wanted to highlight this one that Oliver sent us um I think it really hit home um the importance of that Park and and them being able to play on it uh all children be able to play on it but also uh his hope for us building a new skate park um during the presentation it was kind of a question an answer and there was uh students raising their hands and asking us just random questions and there was a young gentleman in the back he was probably a fifth grader is my guest he raised his hand and and he said to me so is this project going to be over budget and I'm like wow fifth grader holy smokes and I I was like I don't even know how to answer that and I said you know the the the playground equipment that P in place robber surfacing no that won't be over budget um we've signed a contract we know exactly what the cost was but the surprise we didn't anticipate was how many layers of asphalt was placed on top of each other on top of each other on top of each other for the tennis court so the amount of asphalt we had to haul out of there was way more than we would have ever anticipated and fill to to bring it up to line uh to the proper height for installation of the player and Equipment but it was a a really fun experience and um supposedly we're getting back getting invited back for the Showcase coming up here in in April or May so um happy to to do those kind of events with the students so city council park and rec commission in the ramling of our Center Advisory Board first to the city council we couldn't do what we do without you your support your time your dedication you show up at events um the things you do we we just we're very very thankful um without your support and the the funding of the arpa dollars this this playground went to happen Rachel would not have been cutting that ribbon on the on the new playground equipment at at raming River Park so thank you for all you do I know it's not always easy but we do appreciate it and um we're better because of it to the Parks and Recreation Commission thank you to them as well uh these are five outstanding individuals who look out for the better of the community not one of them had a single interest but did what was best for the city of Farmington and in the community they did celebrate a few uh wins this this past summer um we cut the ribbon at Flag Staff Meadows Park um that's just south of Farmington High School so some of the neighbors helped us cut that ribbon and then at Sunny Hills Park um this is Anne Jansen Anne won the naming contest a few few years ago to name Sunny Hills Park uh Sunny Hills Park um her story is uh she invited her granddaughters over they live in the distad Park neighborhood and they were standing on top of the hill by where the Gazebo is now and it was a sunny day and they were looking at Southern Hills Golf Course hence Sunny Hills Park so she's cutting the ribbon on on on the park there and to The Advisory Board they've had a busy year as well um they've been uh busy raising money and educating the community and doing doing so many things that that we need their help with um I don't think we've ever shown city council this video so we thought tonight would be a perfect time **[29:56] [Music]** **[30:15] Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Arwald:** I think they're excited for uh uh they're ready to be back in their in their home so as I said before we're always fundraising fundraising fundraising uh last last year they uh fundraised over $15,000 which is very exciting it'll be used for things not in the general fund most likely probably furniture and fixtures that kind of thing at the new building um this is a picture of them getting ready for some volunteers and Jeff from our Advisory Board getting ready for our silent auction thank you to everybody who donates and who comes and bids on baskets um Jeff had never been part of that before and he commented that it was a lot more work than he thought with that we'd be happy to answer any questions you have about 2024 or 2025 thank you **[31:13] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** oh boy you had to start down here Kelly and uh you know the entire team wow that's I mean just a great presentation thank you so much and you know what I'm I'm sure your team is aware of this but you're you're creating lifetimes and memories um for children and adults in the community and you know just an immense amount of gratitude to the Rambling River Center board the U the park and recck Commission because they they come up with a lot of the ideas too they work collaboratively with all of you but um you know and I think Jeremy you high highlighted this quite a bit too I mean our Park maintenance workers do the hard work of you know getting out there and making the Parks look good the Council made a priority of you know increasing funding in that area so we'd have attractive parks for our residents to go to so just thank you to all of you it's a phenomenal presentation Kelly so thank you **[32:05] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** no questions from me but again thank you Kelly Missy Emily and Jeremy for your presentation tonight um I really think there was a lot and I can't remember who mentioned it but there were a lot of smiling faces and I think that really goes to show the heart that's uh behind everything you guys do on a daily basis um so thank you for all your hard work um I know Steve mentioned the Rambling River Advisory Board I know my grandma sits on that board and she appreciates all the work that you do and and all the work that they do as a board so um thank you to the Rambling River board thank you to the Parks Board and and everybody on your team for everything that they do **[32:41] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** yeah I I guess the only thing that I would really add to this is just the uh special skill sets that a lot of the team members have that really help to support what it is that we're trying to accomplish having somebody on staff that knows about pouring concrete having somebody on staff that knows about replacing you know hoses in in certain situations like that that all comes together and that's a huge Testament to the um the variety of skills that the team itself really has in looking inward rather than just always subcontracting out which is super helpful in trying to you know allocate dollars toward things that make them stretch a little bit further um you obviously have built a fantastic team around each section of that department and you know as as we've said you're you're hitting these spots in people's lives where it's it's not parks and wreck is not just little kids parks and wck is not just um the Rambling River Center but it's really this whole experience that all of the generations that live in Farmington get to have and that's you know built off of all of the hard work that's been done by you and your team so it's it's heartwarming to see it you know not all the stuff is is fun and fancy right um cleaning graffiti is not fun and fancy cutting down dead trees is not fun and fancy um but uh there are great things that are coming out of the work that's being done so it's it's neat to see **[34:05] Councilmember Nick Lien:** Nick that was a lot I don't think I can top that um I just wanted to apologize I guess to Missy I know I used to be much better at making the coffee and Cafe on Fridays before IID switched jobs and it eats me up a little bit inside every time a Friday goes by and I wasn't able to come check on blanch and make sure everyone was okay there steal lemon bar s we haven't been doing it in our new building because we have exercise class followed by Bingo and it's really tight in there okay um so you haven't missed it for 2025 so I you know my PL are still okay and that you know again this next spring late fall Le great work all around though **[34:50] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** I think the easiest way to say it is Park and wreck finds a way to touch a high percentage of our residents right it's not just the programming it's not the music in the park it's not just through the large events and festivals it's through the collaboration with other local units of government the you know Dakota County and the library uh the Youth Hockey Association the figure skating Association um the open door and delivering food right like you could go down that list of dozens of entities that you guys partner with to offer services to our residents that extend far beyond just the classes I mean the currents comes out quarterly right about 60% of this is embedded in parks and wreck right and and one thing that you often hear from our residents is there's nothing for our kids to do right there's a lot of stuff to do in our community there are a lot of events that we know we would love to see much higher participation in and for one reason or another they don't have traction it's sometimes it's scheduling conflicts it's you know targeted age groups and kiddos a little bit older but um none of that takes away from the passion of your entire department to go out and to deliver in our community every week of every month in as many ways possible and we can't be more grateful for what you guys continue to do you and your entire team um from maintenance and upkeep to repairs as needed and then even into your programming it just you you hit so many areas um having the Rambling River Center having this renovation and the the grant that we received um not only reduced local Source funding right but it also it it helped affirm the importance of a landing place for many members of our community not just the membership that's 55 and over but all of the events that take place there the uh the Boy Scout classes the Girl Scout um symposiums the um the firearm safety classes that get handled over there that building is so used and it was identified decade and a half ago from prior city councils as it being a priority and through Partnerships again collaboration we are able to direct in sufficient funding to make sure that this building receives the long overdue upgrade that it needed and we we look forward I speak on behalf of my peers we especially look forward to the things that you're going to be able to do in that building in the years to come um I mean we were talking you know they started in November and all of a sudden it was like yeah hopefully by April or May like it's right around the corner and it it just I I couldn't be more estatic to to see what's happening and and what your team continues to do so thank you for everything that you guys do very much the next item on our agenda is 52 which is our Municipal separate storm sewer system ms4 annual review welcome **[38:00] Water Resources Specialist McKenna Rodin:** thank you yeah hello and good evening mayor mayor hoit and council members my name is McKenna Rodin and I am the Water Resources specialist tonight I'll be presenting 2024 Farmington ms4 year in review so I want to give a brief overview of the ms4 permit to start for those who are unfamiliar the um acronym ms4 stands for municipal separate storm sewer system if is a system owned or operated by a public entity designed or used for collecting or transporting storm water um and the ms4 permit really got its start when it was added to the Clean Water Act in 1987 implementation of the ms4 program began in the 1990s but it wasn't until the early 2000s that the Minnesota Pollution Control agency or npca uh started issuing these permits to Minnesota cities um these permits are issued every 5 years um and and the next issuance is later this year in November and the purpose of this permit was um or is to reduce the amount of sediment and other pollutants entering state waters from storm water systems and there's a few different ways that the mpca enforces this permit um one is by annual reporting so we are required to submit an annual report just to give a rundown of how we're meeting the permit requirements and what we're doing um and then a little bit more intensive we have audits um I know the mpc's goal is to audit every city at least once every seven years um as you can see we were last audited in 2015 so we are overdue they are a little bit backlogged I know after covid um and the pandemic they they've been behind on that so we're definitely due for one it's just hard to say when for sure we we will be as far as the permit requirements um we're required to keep um updated maps of our storm water infrastructure so the storm water pipes storm water ponds things like that um but the main components of this permit are refer to as minimum control measures are mcms mcm1 has to do with public education and Outreach mcm2 public participation and involvement mcm3 elicit discharge detection and elimination mcm4 construction sight storm water runoff control mcm5 post construction storm water management and mcm6 uh pertains to pollution prevention and good house housekeeping for municipal operations I will touch on these each as we go yeah so how is that exactly is Farmington meeting these requirements um so as of last year uh a Swip manual was completed for the city um Swip stands for storm water pollution prevention plan this basically serves as a reference document for how the city's meeting each requirement of the the permit that I just went through and also contains our St standard operating procedur as well um so it serves for City staff to refer to um as well as it's a public document so residents and the community can also take a peek at that as well as I mentioned um earlier for the mapping we have um updated our Maps as of last year or late last year um and you can see on there the storm water ponds and and the pipes catch basins some catch basins and outfalls are all present on there and then we also have elicit discharge priority areas so these are areas throughout the city that are identified as having um a higher likelihood of illicit discharges occurring education Outreach and public involvement activities um so this is MCM 1 and two the permit does require three topics pet waste cicing salt and elicit discharges um to be um educated on as well as the city's or city of farm all cities get to choose two additional topics um that we also educate on so those um other two topics are yard waste and residential bmps and so how are we educating um Outreach and providing public involvement activities we got the current newspaper that goes out quarterly um so we put lots of information about what we have going on or a lot information about um about each of these Topics in there um and we try to pertain them to you know the winter currents will put the DI salt and you know coordinate it that way similarly social media will make posts throughout the year um on each of these topics as well um also try to get out to events so I did go to the fire open house last fall as well as I had a table at the Dakota County Fair that's that picture up in the leand corner there um I have a table out there or had a table out there um and then we we have a number of volunteer opportunities so we have an adopt a pond program and this is where residents can adopt a pond for a two-year term and go out and clean at least twice a year keep it clean keep help keep it maintained um we also have the pond and park cleanup day um just a smaller time frame residents and Community can um sign up to help pick up garbage and and debris from ponds and Parks um we also have adopted drain program and storm drain stenciling where residents can help um clear debris and sediment and other things on or around um storm storm drains and then we also have a program um it's actually the administration of the training and and Gathering the volunteers of St Dakota County but it's the Wetland Health evaluation program or web um and this is where um residents can go and monitor Wetlands um throughout the city so we do pick the wetlands and then um also provide the funding as well for that and then lastly we have uh we are required for the permit to provide public comment on our Swip um again this just allows for um transparency and allows for residents to let us know if they have any suggestions or changes or things that you know they think could be improved MCM 3 pertains to elicit discharge or reporting and response um we do have an illicit discharge fact sheet when I go to events I'll carry these um on me and hand these out this gives kind of a rundown of what um types of illicit discharges to look out for and to report them um essentially an illicit discharges anything but or everything um I'm saying that backwards anything that is not rainwater that goes down the drain um so that also includes leaves and lawn clippings as well those are pretty common in the summertime um and then if we do get reports on elicit discharges or if City staff or myself are out and about and see an elicit discharge we are required to document it which basically just um entails um documenting what occurred and what was the action taken um to correct it that's an um mpca requirement to report correct so it's not that the city's driving around looking for people correct and trying to be a pain in the butt correct there's a requirement by the mpca that when you see an elicit discharge that it has to be reported correct yep okay yep and and again the purpose is to just reduce the amount of pollution eventually draining to you know the Vermilion River or things like that um and we also have a spill response plan so that if these elicit discharges do occur um and myself or if it's a non-emergency situation people can walk through the procedure to know what to do MCM 4 and 5 pertain to development plan reviews inspections and enforcement um so the city when we get development plans and we are required to verify that each construction site or each development has their own individual stormwater pollution prevention plan um and also has to include erosion and sediment controls so things like biogs and sell fences and soil stabilization um need to be called out and then any development that is installing an acre more of impervious surfaces also needs to construct a storm water treatment system um and those are the storm water ponds so ultimately anything the goal there is that anything for from their development would ultimately drain to that storm water Pond before draining offset um and then additionally we are um required to inspect these developments to make sure that they are um installing the erosion and setum controls on their site and following their Swip so 89 inspections were completed in 2024 and additionally we are required to enforce any non-compliance that we do see so we want to make sure that we're um that developers are maintaining those um controls to mitigate the pollution or sediment runoff from their sites so we kind of have three different tiers of enforcement the first one is an informal notice usually typically an email um or verbal you know phone call or if I meet them on the site um just highlights hey went to your site inspected it saw this please get it corrected and most often developers do that um 31 of those informal notices were issued in 2024 however there's always um a few instances where they don't get corrected um and so we do um bump that up to a notice of violation which is a more formal document that is issued via email um that um more formally lists out the violations and the corrective actions um in a timeline to complete um and so those uh there was six issued in 2024 and then in worst case scenarios it hasn't happened yet but we are able to draw on their escrow funds to either hire somebody to um go out and fix the issue or um buy the equipment ourselves and go install it for them part of mcm6 is Staff training um so all field staff that includes fire and police we are required to provide an annual Environmental Compliance training that basically just kind of goes over the permit requirements so that everyone's kind of aware um of of what we as the city are required to to do um and then there's a number of certifications some that are required um some that are just helpful in helping with compliance with the permit um a few are listed here smart salting is for City staff who are performing winter maintenance activities um it helps mitigate chloride pollution um and and lower the amount of salt that we're putting out on the roads and sidewalks um erosion and storm water management um this is for City staff like myself who do the inspections at developments uh to make sure that we are certified in what to look for um and same with elicit discharge detection they just want to make sure we're um we're trained on what to look for and how to respond to it and then any additional conferences work groups webinars that we take throughout the year we have to document as well um and those help to keep um our knowledge up to date um mcm6 also has to do a lot with the stormw water infrastructure so I just wanted to highlight um some of the infrastructure that I'll be talking about so of course we got the storm water ponds those are everywhere we got lots of them um outfalls these are where ultimately um our storm water either um um goes outside of the limits of the city or eventually outfalls into a major natural or not even major just a natural Body of Water so Lake River stream and then some catch basins um those are designed to allow the sediment and debris to settle out of the water uh before ultimately dring to the the storm water Pond and as you could guess we are required to inspect these these structures um we have to inspect all storm water ponds and outfalls at least once per permit term so again that's every 5 years and then we are required to inspect all some catch basins yearly so for ponds we have about 2 200 ponds in Farmington 66 ponds were inspected in 2024 72 in 2023 and 2 in 2022 so about 70% complete there there's about 56 outfalls in uh Farmington 30 outfalls inspected in 2024 eight inspected in 2023 it's kind of same thing we're about 70% done with those and roughly 200 some catch basins all were inspected in 2024 so for the 2024 calendar year they are 100% complete and um based on these inspection findings we must maintain um this infrastructure so typically with pwn and outfalls that um entails clearing vegetation clearing sediment any tree shrub removal um or adding rip wrap to those Outlets um anything that just really helps um the Integrity of the system and and Ensure maximum functionality and same thing with some catch Bas that usually requires vacuuming out the sediment that settles at the bottom so they don't overflow um and then repairing any cracks to the structure itself so challenges um I think just one challenge that comes to mind with all of this is is educating developers community and staff um I think developers um you know some developers I think mostly all developers um kind of get it by now that they need to have these these necessary controls in place um but you know sometimes just the lack of communication or just um getting it across that it's important to have these does isn't always super clear um the community um I mean like I mentioned before we try as much as we can to get it to the currents social media um you know public events things like that but you know not everybody reads the currents not everybody's on social media not everybody goes to the event so always just constantly trying to find um new and innovative ways to reach more people um and educate and then staff as well I mean um you know field staff especially police and fire we're always busy we're always out um so it can be difficult at times to find a time where everyone can come together and um and attend a training um but and then on top of that too I think just it's one thing to educate it's another thing for people to actually implement it um so you know it's we we try we try to to put the knowledge out there but it's really up to the individual to to um act on it so that's kind of what I had for the um ms4 permit I wanted to just briefly touch on 2025 projects and activities pertaining to storm water um so we have the fourth and Willow project which is um a structure that will be installed um uh by the Vermilion river which basically will significantly reduce um the amount of pollutants going into the Vermilion River so um pretty good pretty good project there to help with that um we have the industrial park ditch cleanout um historically there's been issues with flooding in the industrial park area um and we're hoping with the ditch clean out um that'll help mitigate that issue or completely um get rid of that issue um and hopefully clear out some of the congestion that we think is happening there um and then we have two um pond maintenance projects one is the fa Hills Greenway area other one is um Devonshire Avenue and 206 Street um these ponds require just a little bit more maintenance than what I had mentioned before um so things like dredging and stripping vegetation replanting um just basically because these are just older ponds and see a lot of activity so just require a little bit more maintenance um one thing that I kind of took on for this year my goal for this year um is I want to test the chloride levels in North Creek Middle Creek and the Vermilion River um salt watch is an organization that gives out free chloride um testing kits um so I ordered a bunch of those and I'm going to test quarterly for on each of these servers just to kind of gauge what our chloride levels are in each of our three main waterways um I will be completing the pond and outfall inspections per the permit timeline continuing education and Outreach activities and then as I did mention um earlier on the reissuance of the um new ms4 permit will be later this year and we do have to reapply um so once comes out I'll be working on that as well and that is all I have thank you for your time I can take any questions if you have any thank you **[56:19] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** no questions from me but I was almost completely unfamiliar with this process uh before tonight so thank you for your thorough presentation um and walking through all the different uh criteria in this permit process **[56:33] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** okay how uh for me actually the only thing that came up um was outside of what you would like explained in in great detail was the park and pond cleanup and the adua pond opportunity for for residents um you know aside from the basic things that we can all do clean up after your dog you know don't blow your long clippings into the middle of the road that sort of stuff um there are great opportunities when it comes to beautification of your individual neighborhoods Park and pond Pond cleanup being one of them and that's coming up on May 3rd um um and so just a great opportunity you know for for residents engage in and do some of the little things that you help with a bigger thing so yeah um absolutely great presentation a lot a lot of information that's really all that I have **[57:18] Councilmember Nick Lien:** okay yeah that amount of detail was consistent with uh typical Public Works presentation appreciate um I guess I thought maybe you were kind of under selling the fourth and will project I don't know if I was just me being surprised at the scale but to see that there were 40,000 pounds of sediment going into the river every single year that we can trap seems pretty significant to me so I appreciate that kind of attention that is getting paid to it around here so yeah but that's about it no thank you for pointing that out is it is a significant St yeah **[57:59] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** McKenna I just want to thank you for the the really really thorough report you did a really nice job with this I have a strong that the city of Farmington would be doing 100% of the activities that you outlined here but the reality is it is an mpca mandate onto the city of Farmington um so I think that's important for the community to know as well and the work that you're doing the proactive work with the chloride um you know our collaboration with developers and how they're supposed to treat our you know our Waters in our community and everything else is super important so you're obviously you and John are the two key people with that so I just wanted to express my appreciation and nice report thank you **[58:50] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** yeah very well put together um even for you know the average person who doesn't have much familiarity with it right it's um it's easy to understand and and easy to digest um as someone who works directly with water every day uh if you're standing at the at the rooftops and you could broadcast one message to our residents right how they can help um do their part what would you say to them **[59:16] Water Resources Specialist McKenna Rodin:** oh that's a good question you're putting me on the spot um um I would say I mean I guess any little effort goes a long way I think it's kind of the cliche but you know if you maybe one out of all the people in community maybe you think it doesn't make a difference but when you put all them together it's going to make a big difference so um even if it's as simple as just picking up your pets you know poop um you know in the yard or things like that I mean that that you know bacterial um runoff contributes a lot to to the LG blooms even in the ponds that we see so um a little goes a long way I guess would be my my message **[59:51] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** I appreciate that thank you ma'am yeah thank you very much all right next item on the agenda is our citizen comments there's anyone in attendance at wishing to speak come up at this time remember that citizen comments is 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 five minutes the council will not engage in discussion on your topic but those issues requiring your response will be responded to by the next city council meeting go ahead **[1:00:21] Nancy Arad:** I'm Nancy Arad 22165 B Mont Avenue I do not want to be here tonight your city staff won't respond to my questions and emails so I'm forced to come here I don't enjoy this Josh you said that issues you've said that issues requiring a response will be be responded to by the next city council meeting this applies to my issues I want them responded to by your next city council meeting or before Steve Wilson some of my words tonight do not include you you'll know which ones don't if you can help me though out though I would appreciate it first on February 18th we submitted to you two formal ethics complaints involving actions at the city your director of development Deanna Konan and your building inspector Brock haskamp that was a full month ago I've asked for an estimated time frame for the city's investigation I've received no answer will it take 60 days four months two years you should be able to provide a time frame and a timeline track sure had all of you hopping when they had a timeline for you to keep if there's one thing you guys can do I know it's to keep a timeline track was even telling Tony when to schedule our very first public Hearing in May so I know I you can make things happen quickly we asked for an independent investigator but we're told no so the city is going to investigate the city and your timeline is infinity that does not work you are not being transparent I would like a simple time frame you are already one month in next I submitted my first data request on October 16th 5 months ago after back and forth over an $88,000 invoice and getting the state data practices office involved I finally received a partial batch of data on February 5th I've asked when I can expect the remainer and I just get the ever convenient it's with the city attorney I want a reasonable time frame from you delaying this data benefits the city everyone can see that with the damaging information already uncovered the ethics complaints the two lawsuits filed against the city not mentioning the current investigation by the state auditor regarding your My Town series problem I know stalling probably seems like the best strategy the problem is this data is our right it belongs to the people it isn't a favor you bestow it's ours after we uncovered misconduct with that First Data batch we submitted six smaller data requests we know Deanna received a dozen or more internal emails from our Coalition group forwarded to her by your building inspector using City devices City time and City resources you guys had two spies working on your side all summer long how many of you knew that offsetting the opposition it's sickly unethical did she forward those emails to anybody here tracked other City officials we want the data ASAP we also C trct sent sent Dean and Tony a document literally labeled talking points for the Farmington PC and Town Council why would a developer be writing the script for our city officials that's not collaboration that's manipulation of the public process who are these talking points passed on to all of you I have very good reason to believe they were I want that data this is a severe breach of public trust when a city receives and accepts and distributes messaging from a developer to use on their citizens it's a fundamental betrayal of the city's role as a neutral decision maker and a public servant what makes it even worse is that these were sent to Farmington before your residents even got their very first public hearing so much for serving the people I wonder does track send talking points to every city they work with does Rosemont get theirs Canon Falls gets theirs do all the cities they work with get get their talking points to use against their concerned citizens pretty handy I heard track doesn't like being called predatory or slimy on Facebook feelings got hurt so we're also requesting emails from Joshua Hoy and Brock hamp's personal email accounts they use theirs for official business now that's public data we want it while we're on Josh Hoy Josh I'm wondering why you were emailing Angie Craig's office the morning of your big vote declaring the pending Victory why was a federal office being looped in do any of you know what is Andrew Craig's involvement in this project I think that needs to be looked into **[1:05:41] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** your time's expired Nancy **[1:05:43] Nancy Arad:** um can have my five minutes you can come up she gets her five minutes you can stand here there's one data request i' like in the next 48 hours **[1:05:54] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** n your time is exped ex your time is expired I bet it is where' you leave off fancy okay I don't have my glasses can you read that for me there's one data request I'd like in the next 48 hours I want the exact same data re link that was sent to a Star Tribune reporter the data has already been gathered reviewed deemed public redacted and released by your attorney and no and released as public information it's done and out there I want it and I'm getting no response from the city I want all of it all 5,000 Pages not a selective edit being reviewed by your attorney is not an answer like I was told two weeks ago Nancy **[1:06:55] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** however your time has expired I can't read it I'm asking her to read it for me I don't have my glasses I we're not we're not going to sit here and hijack it to let one person go on for 20 30 40 minutes whatever they want see we we all know it's not being reviewed by your attorney like I was told two weeks ago that's another shameful stall tactic however if that's the truth then I'm assuming someone is pulling data out of there for my sake which you should be doing I want the link finally I've asked a simple question to the city and I can't get a reply this is not an accusation I just want to know our city staff and officials able to delete emails is that controlled by software or are we relying on an honor system at the city can someone empty their deleted folder and make messages permanently vanish if so how does that work with the Integrity of data collection and when public records are requested does the does the city search delete deleted folders as part of standard procedure these are honest questions by a lowly so-called not in my backyard group I'm not getting any response from the city on how this is managed we want basic human respect of an answer ly Gorski said the city is taking our ethics complaints seriously great then prove it show the people of Farmington what transparency actually looks like tell your staff to release the data now tell them it's a top priority stop stalling be the ethical leaders you promised to be when you ran for these positions I would appreciate a written reply to these questions I'll email you all to make it easy number one how are the deleted emails managed and tracked in the city of Farmington number two when can we expect a response on the two ethics complaints what is the time frame number three what can we expect the full remainder of the October 19th data request number four when will we receive an already public data sent to the Star Tribune we would like that by Wednesday 48 hours from now it should only take a minute of someone's time if not in 48 hours please provide a reason that will be shared number five when can we expect the six smaller data request tied directly to our ethics complaints number six is Angie Craig involved or linked to the data center we want real answers not we're working on it **[1:09:51] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** anyone else wishing to speak **[1:10:02] Jeff Shler:** my name is Jeff shler I live at 22420 calco court none of us want to be here none of you want to see us here I've said the same thing from day one I've never tried to say stop it don't build it do it right it's a year later nobody's put work on the changing what track demanded but changing that track said is not negoti ible Nick you've acknowledged that this is going to disrupt families and lives you've acknowledged it it's been put out in the data requests okay Holly you sat there with Nick at my house you guys acknowledge together without putting it on paper or saying that this is wrong you've said we're going to call Track and see what we can do Steve you've stood by what you said every time we've got three people up here that didn't think that proposal was right but it still got pushed through what's the point of this what's the point of having your neighbors sue you some of your residents sue you this is half of us wouldn't be here they're all pissed off I'm pissed off but we wouldn't all be here if it was something we could live with we can't even live with it and you guys know that it's causing problems all over the country and you haven't gone back to track they could have probably broke ground already you guys could be getting what you want we could still live our lives in our neighborhoods I've lost two families now the peaches and the folders direct result of this they won't raise their kids around that you're driving families and people that voted for you we most of us voted for you guys to be here because we trust you and your leadership you work so hard on everything else in this community you work to be proud of it that's all being clouded and shadowed by this one project because at no point have you really gone to bat for us you've gone to bat for track track stood here and said they'd keep a sight up for us to let us know the progression from day one they guarantee that that site's not there they guarantee to be in correspondence with residents they won't respond to none of us I'm not threatening to sue track there's no reason they shouldn't respond to me I get if you're not going to respond to me because I'm on a lawsuit I want off that lawsuit I don't want nothing to do with it it costs more than my spring break vacation so far just out of my pocket what I've spent on this I don't want to waste that time or that money I don't want to have an ill feeling I want to continue to promote the people that lead my city the way I always have none of you have ever heard my name unless it was a thumbs up or if I referred somebody to your company's before or I said hi to you before that's the only time you guys knew me you're coming in next to homes 250 ft away it's not acceptable track knows it's not acceptable at least three of you up here have acknowledged that you know in your hearts it's not acceptable but you're being told by them it's not negotiable this again I've said these same things over and over it's your city you get to make the rules on how they play the game they don't need to make your rules track walks away there's 40 other companies lined up waiting for that parcel so whether this lawsuit goes your way do your work work for your residents get tracked to work with you to give some livable space for people people if track walks away set something for the next group that comes in be responsible give some life to your people too we're all going to live here we're going to live for forever you're hearing about it now it's not even built once it's built what do you think the outcome is do you not think you're going to have at least one neighborhood full of people in here at every meeting talking about it this isn't need to be the future of Farmington it can be part of the future it doesn't need to be what we talk about for the next 5 years that put a data center on top of homes do it do it right take a look at what's going on in the other communities take a look at what Ros M's doing talk to your local Mayors you have all these free resources all these people that'll talk to you there isn't a mayor there isn't another council member there isn't a house rep there isn't a senator that has said that 250 ft is adequate they won't back up some of the bills supported because they don't want to limit business coming to Minnesota but there isn't a single one ask them privately that thingss 250 ft is adequate it's not at some point take your time take your opportunity you had a year go back to track tell them you're not comfortable you people aren't comfortable look at the holdup it's done they should have been closed and ground broken already so that's all I got thank you **[1:14:51] Mark Pearson:** my name is Mark Pearson I live at 2475 225th Street West just on the east side of the gulf course I know I've addressed you before but I have a few other things to say that I probably haven't said before that is we've been we the residents of Countryside and Executive Estates have been supporting the city of Farmington for many years some of us for 30 40 years some of us for a shorter much shorter time than that but we have we work in the food shelf uh we worked on Mountain due days we worked at we support our local merchants and restaurants uh we participated in park and development activities uh Dakota County Sportsman's Club all kinds of things that I could name just infinite but we're not feeling the love back from you uh the city of Harington has done nothing to support our position um and I just have a couple of questions that I'd like to ask you directly this is this is this is getting personal it is personal um Mr Mayor if Dirk Ry came to you and said mayor the only place we can locate the cement factory that we really need is next door to your house how would you react to that Mr lean if it was determined that the very best site for a new sewage Lagoon was on Akin Road across from your development how would you react to that is there any wonder that we are fighting for our way of life it's our our ability to sleep at night to have backyard Barbecues in the summer who are you people and what are you thinking how do you ever expect to have a normal relationship with the c with the with the township of Castle Rock uh fighting the way you are for every every straw every bit of of damage that you can do to those of us who live out there the children of Executive Estates deserve better and the senior citizens of Countryside Estates deserve better do better **[1:16:49] Terry Pearson:** good evening Terry Pearson 2475 225 Street West many months ago I had a letter published in the Sun newspaper I'm going to read it my family and I moved to Farmington area 37 years ago we have supported Farmington businesses paid school taxes sent three children through the school district I also work for the school district for 27 years needless to say we have deep brots in the community sadly the city of Farmington has is considering the reason resoning of a property that is within 40 ft of my living room The Fountain Valley Golf Course also up for resoning is the Farmland just south of the golf course which is within 100 ft of my property the question before the city involves rezoning these two properties to Industrial this is necessary to build a multi-acre technical campus if Farmington wants to develop more Tech businesses they should number one follow the existing compan comprehensive plan for residential and Commercial development number two consider the rights of homeowners on all three sides of the golf course to a safe and healthy environment they should not sandwich millions of square feet of buildings up to 80 ft High between all of the existing housing developments number two allow construction that would be incompatible with the surrounding developments give away our natural resources for a short-term cash infusion and so the update I'd like to provide for you this was many months ago follow the existing comprehensive plan nope consider the rights of the homeowners on all three sides nope sandwich the forging the head with sandwiching millions of square feet of building yep allow construction that would be incompatible with the surrounding developments yep and give away natural resources for a short-term cash and fut thank you **[1:19:07] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** anyone else wishing to speak seeing none we'll move on to item seven which is our consent agenda I'd seek a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended with the addition of 7 tac5 **[1:19:30] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** I will make a motion to approve **[1:19:32] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** second **[1:19:33] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** motion by Steve second by Holly all in favor say I **[1:19:37] City Council:** I **[1:19:38] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** all right next item under petitions requests and Communications is 101 thank you for picking that up Tony item 101 is the Vermillion Commons fifth edition final plat **[1:19:49] Planner Tony Wippler:** all right good evening mayor council members before you this evening is the final plat for the Vermillion commin fifth edition uh as cemented by lenar us homes LLC uh the fifth edition is located southeast of the vermillian Common's fourth edition and is just to the west of the intersection of Denmark Avenue and 220th Street West uh it is that area shown in red um on the map uh on the board there uh the plant itself consists of 66 town home lots spread over over 7.25 acres of land it is consistent with the approved preliminary plat uh that preliminary plat also contains 67 single family lots uh which were final platted as ver Millian fourth edition uh last year the property is zoned R3 and is part of a planned unit development uh the approved uh PUD allows for private streets in that R3 Zone as well as a reduced width of those private streets down to 24 ft instead of a typical 26t wide private Street uh this plant does contain 12 outlots they're labeled a through L uh Outlaw a contains the private roads uh that service the uh platted area and then the remaining Outlets out Lots excuse me are the common areas around the town home units uh these areas will remain under ownership of the HOA uh this is the final plat uh with the uh 66 Town Home Lots uh again with the out lot a being uh the road road system throughout the development itself access for the fifth edition will come from two uh points of access uh both along 28 Street West uh one on the North side and the second near the southwest corner of the development as I mentioned all uh streets uh within the development will be 24 ft in width and will be private uh there will be a temporary access uh which is shown in the construction plans that have been uh attached or included in your packet uh that extends out from Rose drive out to 220th Street West this will provide a secondary emergency access for the fourth and fifth additions uh as 218th Street will not be constructed the original ver Millian Commons area directly east of this development um as you may or may not recall had the extension of 218th Street over there's four gas pipelines that bict that property North and South one of those pipelines is uh scheduled to be decommissioned within the next 1 to two years um and the gas company is requiring if they were to extend that road over those pipelines some pretty substantial upgrades and frankly they're not cost prohibitive to do right now specifically if they got to go back and uh decommission that line take it out you'd be ripping up all those improvements within a year or two um so with that uh they are providing that secondary access um because originally that 28th Street connection would have been that secondary access in and out of that development um so they are providing that as a temporary emergency access until that 218 Street connection is officially made in hopefully a couple years uh code does require 132 off street parking spaces be provided in the fifth edition that would be two uh parking stalls per dwelling unit uh each town home unit will have a double car garage uh additional parking can be provided on each driveway as well and the developer also prop proposing 26 off Street visitor parking spaces uh throughout the addition as well off of those uh private streets as far as Parks trails and sidewalks uh a 1.5 acre parcel was deeded to the city with the fourth edition as part of that overall preliminary plat um so with that there will be no additional Park land dedication or cash and Li required with this specific final plat uh 5 foot wide sidewalks will be provided in the fourth edition specifically on the south and east side of 218 Street West uh so those will Tim ately service this Town Home Development Planning Commission did review this final plan at its regular meeting on March 11th and they did recommend approval with a vote of 5 the action as requested this evening is adopt resolution 2025 tax 021 approving final plat for V Milan common fifth edition contingent upon the following number one the satisfaction of all engineering comments related to the construction plans for grading and utilities and number two a development contract between the developer and city of Farmington shall be executed and security fees and cost shall be paid submission of all other documents required under the development contract shall be required any questions thank you sir **[1:25:16] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** Holly any questions comments **[1:25:17] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** no questions **[1:25:19] Councilmember Nick Lien:** nick uh question and a comment the first question with the temporary access is there a reason that it has to be I guess temporary maybe that's a stupid question but is it something that becomes a traffic liability If eventually you do finish 28th and then there's three exits out of the place **[1:25:35] Planner Tony Wippler:** uh the secondary access doesn't meet County spacing guidelines sure so uh we wouldn't want it to be right permanent just from a traffic flow standpoint and again it's only going to be for emergency services right okay that makes sense um NE comment I guess is probably the more than and you was just uh you guys must be doing something right when my parents who drive by there to come visit their grandkids were like what's with all those tow houses exploding over there so fast so the demand is real they have said it's been a very good market for them **[1:26:04] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Steve Nick almost asked my question I was going to actually ask the the developer um in phases one through four like what type of percentage of occupancy do you guys have and how does that compare to where you you guys thought you'd be at at this point I mean it doesn't necess to be one through four but essentially your completed ones I mean are they close to fully occupied **[1:26:35] Steve Trosy (Lennar):** Steve trosy lenar great to be here this evening I've said it before but we're happy to be in Farmington and we'll continue to to build here we like the staff we like the council Planning Commission um clearly residents want to move here as well so we appreciate that it is moving faster than we had anticipated so I don't know the specific percentage of what is occupied or not occupied as we stand here today but I can say with certainty that it's it's it's good it's faster than we hoped which is why we're coming back to you so soon **[1:27:14] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** awesome no questions for me thank you both **[1:27:18] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** I know when uh I believe it was the I don't think the second edition had started yet but uh the administrator and I had an opportunity to come over and look at the the demo basically uh and the representative that was there the agent we'd asked the similar question like how well have these plans been received and her response paraphrasing was like we can't build them fast enough and I was that year and a half ago if that and just to watch it happen as quickly um number one thank you for being a good partner I mean that that property has sat for decades and it was an obstacle to of to many because of the the pipeline right and all the reasons why projects wouldn't work and we got creative put together um a mockup that is financially viable and uh deeming of a good investment and it also significantly addresses one of our housing gaps and this Council and prior Council made it an effort to ensure that we continue to diversify our housing mix so to watch us lean in into town homes that we haven't in almost 15 years now and then watch it explode in the way that it has is phenomenal I mean it's it's happening exactly as everyone would want it to and um I just I I couldn't be happier with the progress that's been made and I will absolutely support this going forward so thank you thank you **[1:28:44] Steve Trosy (Lennar):** I would like to invite you all to the model home when it opens up in the fourth edition we have some single family homes which is a new home in this market for lard this is the first Community that's building these smaller single family homes so you can probably see it when you go out there it's just you know Plywood And and whatnot now but uh you know be on the lookout for that and please stop by when that's complete it's it's a new product and we're excited to try it out here in Farmington thanks for the kind words thank you sir **[1:29:10] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** uh Tony my apologize my apologies uh when you read the action request did you did you read it all btim I did okay then I would seek a motion to approve as requested **[1:29:21] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** so moved **[1:29:22] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** second **[1:29:24] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** call the rooll please sorry council member bat **[1:29:29] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** yes **[1:29:30] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** council member lean **[1:29:32] Councilmember Nick Lien:** yes **[1:29:33] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** council member Wilson **[1:29:34] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** yes **[1:29:35] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** council member Cordes **[1:29:37] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** yes **[1:29:38] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** mayor ho **[1:29:39] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** yes thank you Tony next item of business is 121 which is a resolution sorry resolution authorizing uh resolution authorizing to request funding from the environmental and natural resources trust fund Kelly **[1:29:56] Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Arwald:** thank you mayor staff regularly looks for and is notified of funding sources to complete project to an approved rambling Park master plan recently a planner in Dakota County's office of planning reached out to me letting me know I should look at the legislative citizen Commission on Minnesota resources lccmr funding opportunities this has traditionally been a natural resources Focus program but over the past few years there have been substantial Park Improvement projects funded through the State including some Dakota County projects Dakota County was actually awarded uh two projects in 2025 the Lake billsby Regional Park restoration and Recreation and Thompson County Park restoration and accessibility improvements both of these projects were funded over a million dollars the lccmr announced funding opportunities for projects of all sizes that address several priorities including education and outdoor recreation and that aim to protect conserve Preserve and enhance Minnesota's air water land Fish Wildlife and other natural resources the lccmr reviews applications and makes funding recommendations to the Minnesota Legislature from the environment and natural resources trust fund the enf approximately $14 million is available from the en RTF for projects beginning July 1 of 2026 proposals for funding can be submitted by all who want to apply and have demonstrated a financial capacity there is no minimum or maximum request amount all applicants requesting funds for pre-design design construction or renovation of a building or Trail are required to provide a non-rf match of at least 25% of the total cost to complete the project and that could be cash or in kind during the Rambling River Park Master planning process public and stakeholder engaged M showed a strong desire for trails and more facilities support public our popular events in the Park Trail improvements were ranked as the highest priority in the survey um H KGI put out improved restrooms were ranked as the second highest priority and as mentioned during the annual report presentation the ex existing restrooms were improved this past summer new restrooms were ranked as the fourth highest priority and there was a need for additional restrooms to support popular events at the park during stakeholder engagement for the master plan a meeting was held with Dakota County Office of planning Dakota County was and is still interested in Rambling River Park becoming the trail head for the North Creek Greenway the county would contribute up to $400,000 to a new restroom building they would have an 8515 casare for replacement Trails the county would be 85 the city would be 15% and they would collaborate on securing funding for natural resource water quality improvements along and Beyond The Greenway Corridor thus the city would be the applicant submitting the proposal to the lccmr for en RTF funding with Dakota County as a collaborator Dakota County retained the services of H KGI to write the funding proposal for the service or for the city so there's no cost to the city for this service I want to thank Dakota County and Lil leam for this opportunity Carrie KUB the city's Regional funding manager is collaborating with h KGI on the proposal the proposals are due Wednesday uh selected proposals will be presented before the lccmr in June 2025 the lccmr is made up of 17 members including five Senators five Representatives five citizens appointed by the governor one citizen appointed by the Senate and one citizen appointed by the house by May of 2026 the lccmr recommend ations will be presented to the legislature for consideration via introduction as an Appropriations Bill and be considered and act upon by the Minnesota House and Senate upon passage the bill would be forwarded to the governor to be signed into law most projects are two to year two to three years long however more or less time can be requested the city's funding proposal includes design Rambling River Park Trail replacement with 10 ft wide Greenway Trails it shows a zoomed out version I'm going to move it to the closer version construction of a new restroom building addition of trail head amenities kiosk bike fixed station garbage and recycling containers benches Etc Shoreline restoration and fishing access improvements H KGI is estimating the total cost of the project with contingency to be $3,177 1800 the 25% match required for the project proposal would be7 $195,000 Dakota County and the city of Farmington would pay for the match of the if the project were funded Dakota County anticipates most of the match would come from them if the proposal is funded a determination will need to be made on the allocation of City resources for the project the plan is is to use monies from the parks and trails funds the action requested tonight is to adopt resolution 2025 tact 18 authorizing the submitt of a proposal to request funding from the environmental and natural resources trust fund for North Creek Greenway trails and trail head construction project with that be happy to answer any questions you have thank you ma'am **[1:35:36] Councilmember Nick Lien:** Nick your tag thing is taking off I think um I don't have any question this is all excuse me this is all kind of a great use of our our grant writer I think that's kind of coming into play as we've seen a lot more of these grants come through so I really appreciate how we're utilizing her and reaching out to her for these kind of high impact things so best of luck thank you **[1:36:00] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Steve yeah Kelly I mean I mean Nick Nick pretty much covered what I was going to say I mean just really nice job this is exactly why we wanted to get our grant writer and it's just really good collaboration with our other government Partners so thank you **[1:36:23] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Jak um I do have one question and I apologize for not asking this I of time it only just came to me now and if you don't know the answer it's yep fine I could have researched it too do you know you said recently more projects of this nature have been funded correct do you know what the percentage is or what the average funding amount has are we in line I guess is what I'm asking we might be a little high from what I saw was uh in 2025 but um the county felt good with that number considering they got uh two this year for over 2 million total so we'll see yeah they could also reduce the amount funded as well true um otherwise thank you and thank Carrie as well absolutely thank you **[1:37:10] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** hly I just like the creativity you know we've got things that we want to do we need to have Creative Solutions in order to be able to get them done um and as everyone else has already said it you know it's paying off to have people that know what they're doing um helping to support some of the writing of this um the partnerships are are huge um and if this is a a funding mechanism um that's available you can't say I guess I don't think you can say no to to taking a shot at it so here's the hoping I won't uh cun our chickens before our eggs are hatched **[1:38:00] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** but I noticed that there's that little spot that the trail goes underneath the railway MH right um um do we have any idea what kind of time frame and monies we're talking about to come up with a viable long-term solution to a Crossing **[1:38:15] Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Arwald:** we don't actually so we just had a PMT meeting for the Dakota County Greenways last Monday so Dakota County hired klj engineering so we're involved in those meetings um Tony McKenna Ben Hemley and Jeremy and I and obviously they're looking at that spot but they're also looking for further north for a crossing over the over the railroad um yeah I don't know what's going to happen with that under prass but it's part of their design yeah okay good cross that bridge when we get to it yep appreciate it it's trying to meet with land owners yeah yeah noed yeah that bridge when we get to it yeah no it's a it's going to be a complex Dynamic and the railroad we know is you know one of the more difficult or complex entities to work with and there just isn't a whole lot of Alternatives outside of complete completely omitting um a trail segment there so I appreciate thank you ma'am uh with that I'd seek a motion uh to approve the action as requested **[1:39:03] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** motion to approve **[1:39:05] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** second **[1:39:06] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** motion by Holly second by Steve call the rooll please **[1:39:10] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** council member lean **[1:39:10] Councilmember Nick Lien:** yes **[1:39:11] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** council member Wilson **[1:39:11] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** yes **[1:39:12] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** council member ctis **[1:39:12] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** yes **[1:39:13] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** mayor hoit **[1:39:13] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** yes **[1:39:14] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** council member berat **[1:39:14] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** yes **[1:39:15] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** all right round table Amy you up **[1:39:16] Amy:** good evening mayor members of the council um to be uh a little business um if maybe you know this already forgive me for being redundant but um a couple of cannabis updates from the legislature or from the state actually um there are a couple of kind of housekeeping things that uh staff will be having to take care of but just in case it's of interest um the state is the office of cannabis management is currently accepting their business applications but they haven't issued any licenses yet because the the ru process is not complete um but they are saying that they expect to send a draft of the rules to the office of administrative hearings in the coming weeks whatever that really means I'm not sure but you know if the timeline holds by the end of April they could start issuing licenses and so then all the work that the city has done to get ready will have to kind of move into into a position so um and then on the in on the fun side I did find F in fact since it's St Patrick's Day I couldn't get any Farmington specific data but I did find that 12.1% of in 2022 12.1% Dakota County uh people reporing their Irish ancestry I don't think they all live in Ros Mount but and that is% more than Washington County but it's also the US average was 99.5% so Dakota county is well represented on St Patrick's Day of course I think everybody's ourish on a day like today **[1:40:48] Councilmember Nick Lien:** nick uh last meeting I think I gave an example of life lessons that I've learned that you shouldn't repeat so we'll do that again um if if you're observ it you'll notice I have a giant bandage on my face uh so if you don't want to be a 40-year-old that a dermatologist uh wags his finger at please wear sunscreen that's all **[1:41:25] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** H uh just in case you missed it which I don't know don't know that you can currents are out and if you're like my family you open this up and you start identifying all the things you want to do all summer long and jotting them down in your calendars and there is a lot going on in here um ways that you can support ways that you can impact ways that you can have a little bit of fun in Farmington uh when we talk about putting Farmington first we don't just mean business we mean like recreational stuff too there's so much going on and there's so many opportunities to engage and since it's St Patty's Day and you started this I'm going to go for it I irel land is home to the oldest known bar in the world Sha's bar located in uh aone has been serving pint since 900 ad that's over 1100 years of continuous operation archaeologists even found ancient coins and waddle and dob walls I don't know what those are apparently they're old during Renovations confirming its history so the Hope in that is that 1100 years from now someone will be sitting here and saying something magnific about a business that's in Farmington and how crazy it is that it has been in continuous operation for 1100 Years it'll likely be the steakhouse that's that's just fine not wrong just fine and we can hope right there it is p **[1:42:19] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** just to piggyback off of Holly's comments I do want to congratulate a bunch of happy looking children and our own Kelly omelet and Steve Wilson for their debut as cover model and of the Farmington currents um but otherwise I was ambitious this morning and wanted to say happy St Patrick's Day in Irish but I realized that ain't going to happen so in English happy St Patrick's Day **[1:42:55] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Steve I also want to comment about the currents I uh I had my wife call me and say I didn't realize you had seven kids and I'm like I really don't we have three together honey Josh Ben and Elizabeth um but in all seriousness um the police department did a really really um good job of promoting this last year and um as was pointed out the weather wasn't as ideal um I don't remember a 10 mile bike ride Kelly I remember you know so it ended up being about two blocks and U because it was raining but I really what I would honestly encourage everybody um that is watching and we already know that the Arbitron rating for the Farmington City Council meetings is really really high so when you get this um I would actually encourage you to look through it put an event or two that you want to partake in for yourself with your family with your kids uh maybe with your parents at at the senior center um there is just so many good things in here and I also like the fact that um Lynn who do we have coordina putting this together it's our Communications Department yeah I mean so Karen did something really nice here too um which I believe she always does but highlight our new employees so getting to meet the new employees this is a really really I mean they're all good but this is a really really good packed edition of the current so thank you to Karen and everybody who helped put that together **[1:44:35] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** Lynn nothing tonight thanks surely I don't have anything tonight either David **[1:43:53] Assistant City Administrator David Chanski:** uh tonight you uh approve the appointment of Tory wolf to the senior administrative supports technician in the public works department uh while we are very excited to see Ken take on some new challenges in public works it does open up a key vacancy at the front desk uh that position really is truly a central service that is both physically located smack dab in the middle of the city hall as well as one of the first faces visitors to City Hall c um but also operationally as it supports Administration Human Resources Finance parks and recre ation liquor operations and serves as a backup to community Economic Development so uh Kim Kelly and I did take some time to review the job description to ensure it still you know best serves the needs of the city especially with tor's new position in public works that is going to be should be posted tomorrow and should all go well we are excited to have hopefully a new team member join us mid to late May other than that I continue my dive down the rabbit hole and uh needless to say there is no twilling of the thumbs occurring in my office that's all I have for tonight thank you **[1:46:08] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** Deanna **[1:46:09] Community and Economic Development Director Deanna Kuennen:** thank you mayor and councel um I just wanted to comment about our Eda meeting today we had the leadership from um DCTC and Inver Hills come in and talk with the Eda about the partnership and the collaboration that currently exists between the city and the colleges but then also we had an an opportunity to have a robust discussion about way that we can enhance their offerings and the relationship that we have to better continue to better the community so I'm really thankful for the participation that you all um had with that conversation and I'm also very excited to see where that partnership and collaboration can go we will also be bringing in additional Partners uh to the Eda meetings just so that we can continue to have these kind of conversations so thank you for that thank you **[1:46:55] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** Kelly **[1:46:56] Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Arwald:** with the delivering of the of the summer currence as mentioned uh earlier uh program registration is now up and going um as of this morning we had already had seven signed up for the helmet Heroes day that is a free event but we do uh ask for registration just so we know how many and who's going to be there and then the open door food pantry popup is tomorrow uh 3: to 4:30 at Faith United Methodist Church on 7th street thank you **[1:47:19] Finance Director Kim Sommerland:** nothing this evening yall deviating from the plan here Chief oh no I feel bad I was going to say nothing uh you can that's welcome David that was pretty good I don't have anything to add **[1:47:24] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** I'll seek a motion to adjourn **[1:47:26] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** I'll make a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:46 p.m. **[1:47:32] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** motion by Jake second by Steve all in favor say I **[1:47:35] City Council:** I **[1:47:41] Mayor Joshua Hoit:** hi we're adjourned at 8:47 **[1:47:42] [Music]**