**[0:00] [Music] [Applause]** **[0:48] Mayor Nick Lien:** We'll call the city council regular meeting to order for Monday, May 20th, 2024. Would everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? **[1:00] All:** I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. **[1:13] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Call the roll, please. Mayor? **[1:15] Mayor Nick Lien:** Here. **[1:16] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Bernatz? **[1:16] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Here. **[1:17] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Cordes? **[1:18] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Here. **[1:19] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Wilson? **[1:20] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Here. **[1:22] Mayor Nick Lien:** All right, any changes to the agenda? Leah, Jake, or Holly? **[1:28] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Not for me. **[1:29] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Not Steve. **[1:31] Mayor Nick Lien:** I have a change that I need to remove under the announcements, Kari Kubichek, item 5.2. Any other changes to the agenda by our team? All right, seeing none, I look for a motion to approve the agenda with the removal of item 5.2, the introduction of regional funding manager Kari Kubichek. **[1:50] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Motion to approve. **[1:51] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Second. **[1:52] Mayor Nick Lien:** Motion by Steve, second by Holly. All in favor say aye. **[1:55] All:** Aye. **[1:56] Mayor Nick Lien:** All right. Moving on to item 5.1 under our announcements is branch manager Barb Swoboda from the Dakota County Library. Welcome back. **[2:04] Barb Swoboda:** Well, thank you. Glad to be here, always glad to be here, you know that. So nice to see all of you. Thanks for giving me a little bit of your time tonight. For those of you who haven't met me before, I am Barb Swoboda. I am the branch manager across the street at the Farmington Library, and every year I try to come at least once a year to just kind of update everybody on what we're doing across the street there. Yes, I know that this is the old flag. I'm sorry, it's an old picture. The new flag is flying; we'll get that fixed on our slides for next year for sure. The staff were teasing me about that earlier this afternoon. So, okay, so you're used to seeing this slide now. This is kind of our annual 2023 report at a glance. We have 81,823 visits, 236,164 items checked out just from the Farmington Library. We have 5,837 people attending programs—that is actually a system-wide number, we haven't gotten it broken down to just Farmington yet. The first two statistics on this slide, the 81,000 and the 236,000, those are statistics for during our staffed hours, not including our self-service hours—I'll get to that in a minute. I do want to point out that the visit number is a 34% increase over 2022, and the items checked out number is actually a 14.4% increase over 2022. I point this out because Farmington has been tooting our horn a bit lately. We have been consistently the branch that has had the highest percentage increases of visitors and checkouts for 23 months consecutively, so almost two full years. So thank you to all Farmington residents and patrons for patronizing our library. We really appreciate it. And also, a full two-thirds of our items checked out are actually children's items. That kind of correlates with what you're seeing at the city level of new, younger families moving into the area—they're coming to the library, too. And so we have a lot of young families and a lot of children's materials being checked out. Okay, so indulge me on this next slide. We're looking back 10 years ago. We were enjoying a temporary visit with you all up on the second floor with the temporary library space while we gutted the library building, both inside and outside. These are the struts for the little children's playhouse silos that we have in the children's area. And we made the building bigger on the inside for those of you who remember when it was partitioned off. So, it's done a really great job over the years of just being a larger space and more readily available to accommodate all of the new patrons that are coming in to the city and to the library in these past 10 years. And it's also kind of a segue into what the Dakota County Library as a system has been doing. In the past few years, we've been working with the city of South St. Paul to take over management of the South St. Paul Library. We actually built an entirely new building for that community, and that had a grand opening on February 20th of this year. It was really wonderful to see—Senator Amy Klobuchar was there, a whole bunch of folks were there. It was a great grand opening, and they have had a lot of business since they reopened. We're really happy to welcome them as a full branch. So now we have 10 branches in the Dakota County Library system. A few more system highlights for you: In 2022, I came to you and mentioned that we were removing the fines for the children's items, and now we have removed all of the fines—well, we have removed the fines for all items unless it's a lost book, in which case we'll charge you for the replacement of that book. But if you're just a few days late getting it back, there's no fine for that. It's not like we're going to charge you 10 cents a day like we used to. It's been a really wonderful thing community-wise because we've seen families coming back to the library who have said, "You know, we had huge fines on our accounts, and now that that's gotten all taken care of and we don't have to worry about getting books back, we feel more comfortable being here." We've seen lost and missing items be returned to the library as well. So that's really wonderful. It's just a really good way to make sure that everybody in the community has access to the library system and all of our resources. In terms of technology, one of the services that was created during COVID was a collection of Chromebooks and hotspots. Those are still available for checkout, but you won't ever see them on the shelves because they are still very, very popular, and so there is a waitlist for those. You'll want to make sure that you put in a hold for those if you plan to use them. So, they are still around; that's kind of the point I'm trying to drive home here. Also, you know, the library is committed to assisting patrons who speak a wide variety of languages, and I don't know that we advertise this as well as maybe we should. You know, some of the branches in our system have staff who can assist patrons who speak Spanish, Russian, Somali, or Vietnamese. We all have access to a phone-based interpreter service that gives us access to interpreters for about 30 different languages. If you are someone who's new to the country and your English isn't so good, we can make sure that you are able to be served in the language that you're most comfortable with. And of course, we have learning resources for English language learners; we have books in other languages as well for people to check out to read. Some of our branches are actually doing story times now—children's story times—in Spanish, in Somali, in Bengali. So that's really wonderful to see how we can support all of our families, no matter what walks of life they're coming from. And lastly, our community engagement van, which I know I mentioned to you already once. Well, now we've got a new van this summer—it's all electric! We're very excited. You'll see it during Dew Days; it will be here during Dew Days at least one day. Anyway, we're committed to trying to get as much of our fleet turned into electric vehicles as we can. Okay, and the self-service hours that I mentioned earlier—all I can say is it's just going so well. It's really been fantastic. Over the last 16 months, over 15,000 people have been able to visit the Farmington Library during self-service hours on their own schedules to have Girl Scout meetings, pick up a book off the hold shelf, whatever it is that they need to do on their own time. It's worked really well. So, they have 15,000 people—that's in addition to the 81,000 stat that I gave you earlier in my presentation. We're just really thrilled to be able to have been at the forefront of rolling that whole program out for the county. We only have—we've been slowly rolling self-service hours out to all of the branches. Galaxie is up to roll out in July, Wentworth is going to roll out sometime in August, and that will be all of them, because all of the branches have been rolling out slowly over the last few months. So, we have that almost completely employed across the county now. Okay, you ready for summer time? Here we go! Summer Discovery: June 10th through July 12th is when we'll have the active portion of our Summer Discovery program. You can come and pick up a reading log. We have two this year. They look like this; you've seen these before. The only difference now is we used to have three—one for the little kids who are pre-readers, then one for children, and then a different one for the teens. The teens' looks a little more like the kids' this year. Anyway, all the branches are going to have some sort of a kickoff party during that first week beginning June 10th. Our kickoff party is on June 10th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. We're also returning to a more traditional format this year. When it was COVID, we had everything up front and you got your book up front, and we're going back to that more traditional format where you pick up your log, you do all the activities, and then when you bring your log back, we can have a conversation with you and find out what kind of fun you've had all summer long before you get your free book. It just gives us more touch points with our patrons to be able to talk with them and interact with them. So we're doing that this year. What else can I say? You'll have until July 31st to return your full activity log and get your free book. And then lastly, I just want to make sure that everybody understands that because we do so many of our programs with our city partners—Parks and Rec and Community Ed's ECFE program—we do a lot of our programming offsite in the summertime. So, when you're searching on our website calendar, you'll want to click on "offsite" and "Farmington" to make sure you see all of our programs. That's partly why I passed out that little paper calendar for you so that you could see all of what Farmington is doing this summer. For example, the Jolly Pops—we're so happy to be able to sponsor this program for Dew Days this year. Saturday, June 22nd, 10:30 to 11:15 under the big tent. We're very, very excited to have them. We've also got kind of our traditional Dew Days programs too: the kids' craft fair will be that Friday, and our annual cookie contest will be that week as well. We're really happy to be able to continue having a part in the Dew Days event each year. Summer Discovery Story Times in the Park: We've got a whole bunch of parks in Farmington and we'd like to help you highlight them. So, these are all of the dates and all of the different parks that we'll be at. And if you're wondering where—you all know where we got this map from, so just go to the city's webpage and you'll be able to find this map too if you need help locating some of the parks that we're going to be at this summer. And our Musical Mornings program: That one is going to be at Evergreen Knoll Park on three different days—June, July, and August. And that is in partnership with the Community Education Early Childhood Family Education folks as well as the Friends of the Farmington Library, who helped to pay for that as well. So, that's a fun morning of music and activities. What else do I have for you? I have geocaching for you! Starting June 17th, the booklets will be available and the program will run all the way up until August 25th. You can pick up your booklets at the library—that gives you the coordinates in order to help you find your geocaches. We're trying really hard this year to make sure that the hiding spaces are more accessible for folks who have mobility concerns. So, if you need a wheelchair or a walker or you've got a stroller, you shouldn't have to go digging through the weeds quite so much as we've done in past years in order to participate. Well, we're not stopping in July; we're not napping in August either. August 1st will be Mighty Machines, and August 5th through 10th is going to be our week-long book sale. So we're just busy all summer long. And a big thank you again to all of our partners, but I'm basically done sharing for now and I'll be happy to answer any questions you've got. Thank you. **[15:40] Mayor Nick Lien:** Steve? **[15:41] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Barb, I don't have any questions. You always have an amazing presentation, so thank you for really everything you do for the library but the broader community as well. With regard to the increase in the number of folks coming into the library, would you say that dropping some of the barriers, even the fines and some of that stuff—I mean, are there trends that you're seeing? What are some of the commonalities? Is it diversity in visitors? Is it kind of all of the above? **[16:21] Barb Swoboda:** Yes, yes. We definitely have a more diverse clientele coming into the library. I think that's reflecting the more diverse folks moving into the area, really. So yes, we definitely have that. I think that—oh, what do I think? I think I've been waiting for us to really get rolling really well for a long time. I mean, COVID slowed everybody down, right? But we've got more housing developments moving into the area, that brings more people into the area. That can only speak well for us being able to serve more folks, right? **[16:51] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** And I'm going to say something that you probably wouldn't say, but your staff, whoever is there, is so welcoming and you just kind of feel like you're just visiting a family or friend. It just feels very inviting to be there, and I think residents really appreciate that. **[17:09] Barb Swoboda:** Thank you, I appreciate that. Miss Amy in particular is just very well-loved by all of the little kids who come to story time for sure. She does amazing work and offers a lot of new programming that we haven't done before, and that's bred excitement amongst families to bring more folks in. She's doing more regular outreach to the schools, so she'll actually go—she's got, I think, three of the elementary schools where she'll go every month to do a story time with the kids at their schools. So it gives the teacher a break, it also gives the children an extra way to interact with books. They get it one way from the teacher, of course, but bringing in a guest speaker like Amy to be able to read to the children gives them a whole another experience of those titles, too. So yeah. **[18:08] Mayor Nick Lien:** Nick? **[18:09] Mayor Nick Lien:** I was kind of shocked, honestly, when you said there was a 50% increase because I remember you saying that exact same thing last year. So I thought we were getting the 2022 report again, but that's kind of amazing. I'd be kind of scared if it was 50% again next year, I suppose! Oh, that would be wonderful, wouldn't it? Might start getting cozy in there. But as a parent with two kids who like to stuff their library books underneath the couch so that I find them a year later, the fine thing has been a little bit of a lifesaver. So I really appreciate the county doing that and all the activities. Like I said, my kids would live there if you let them. So, great work all around. Thank you. **[18:54] Mayor Nick Lien:** Holly? **[18:55] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Yeah, I guess the part that I was surprised by is that all of the renovations that happened, happened 10 years ago. I feel like I'm constantly being reminded of the passage of time—my kids were eight and five when that happened. And you know, I think like many of us, the library was and continues to be, for different reasons, a second home. It was where we went and they picked out all of their little kid books, and now it's where they go to get homework done and do all of that. We are regular library visitors; I know my husband is there at least a couple times a week and my kids are usually in there too. And so we're certainly part of the numbers that exist and very grateful to be that way. I just love how many colors I see on the calendars and how many different things are available and all of the different things that you participate in. So, thank you. **[19:54] Mayor Nick Lien:** You and your team continue to do a phenomenal job. It's proof in the traction that you're having in the community, the increased attendance. Your enthusiasm is second to none. It's just a repetition of great things over and over and over again, and you're to be commended. Only question I had for you, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but with the addition of a vehicle that's going to be EV, do you have charging stations over there? **[20:25] Barb Swoboda:** I don't have any in Farmington, but they are slowly starting to put charging stations in different locations. The Hastings branch has charging stations in their parking lot, Rosemount is getting some—they're not there yet—I believe Galaxie is getting some as well, and I believe the Northern Service Center is also getting charging stations. **[20:47] Mayor Nick Lien:** But no talk yet from County? **[20:49] Barb Swoboda:** Not yet for Farmington, no. You know, one thing at a time. We're one of the smaller branches, so the fact that we're doing all this fantastic stuff, we have to still remember that we're still one of the smaller branches in the system. Understandable, and there's not as much space in our parking lot either; we'd have to really figure out where would you put it. **[21:14] Mayor Nick Lien:** All good. Thank you, ma'am. We appreciate it. **[21:17] Barb Swoboda:** Thank you all. **[21:18] Mayor Nick Lien:** All right, moving on. Item 5.2 was removed. The next item up would be item six, which is our citizen comments. This time is reserved for anyone to speak on items that are not on the agenda. We do have two public hearings tonight, items 8.1 and 8.2, so if your comments are reflective of the public hearing, I'd ask that you reserve them until that time. But if there's anyone in attendance that would like to speak, please feel free to come up and do so, and then if you could just please state your name and address and limit your comments to five minutes, please. **[21:59] David Pitof:** David Pitof, 20255 Aachen Road. This is in response to what I brought up on May 6th. "We understand the importance of completing the punch list items, particularly regarding the grassy areas, and I want to assure you that it remains a priority for us. We are actively pursuing resolution of all outstanding work issues. We remain committed to ensuring the final result meets the standard expected by Farmington residents." That project out there—this is a very vague letter. It doesn't give us anything as to what the punch list items are. So I'm going to ask that we have something on the agenda so that it's not at citizen comments, so that we can have a dialogue with any residents that come here. Mr. Mayor, you came out last year. I suspect we have a list of those punch list items, and so I named off, you know, the silt fences, the tubes that are laying out there. Ironically, a day—and it had nothing to do with the council meeting on May 6th—ironically on Tuesday, MC trucks were out there spraying, I'm going to guess, hydro-seed or the blue stuff, all over what I had brought up: that straw mesh that has the vinyl stuff in it, which is a safety hazard if people's feet get caught on it when they're walking off the path. They sprayed right over it. And I would just urge all of you to say, if that happened in your yard, if you had dead straw on the ground, would you allow somebody to come in and just put grass seed on top of it? That is not going to grow. So we need to have an agenda item with all the punch list items on there, and then we can have a dialogue about it as to what's going to happen with them and when they're going to be done. Because when I read this letter, it kind of says, "When we are actively pursuing a resolution," that sounds like MC is not working with coming back and doing their punch list items. That looks like the city is trying to get a resolution for them to come back, and quite frankly, isn't that their obligation to come back and do these things that we talked about? So that's my first request on that whole project: that we get this thing to where it does look somewhat presentable. It's never going to look like it was. I've got neighbors that are cutting 6 to 12 inches away from the gravel that got thrown down last year on the right-of-way, but then when the city trucks did the little bit of plowing they did this year, that even pushed it farther. So people aren't even cutting where they used to have a yard. It will never be back to the way it was, but we certainly can work on getting it a lot better than what it is. As for the company out there doing the fiber optic, Crown, I had worked with Jason, and he worked tremendously hard with his staff and on my property to where they would not have to find the gas line again. They were very accommodating, they worked their butts off for me, and when it came down to if they had to go on my property, I was insisting that they don't. I asked them, what about boring underneath the road going north and the right-of-way coming back on my side of the road? They say, well, if they did that, they'd have to come in and file an amendment to the permit, and he said it took three months to get the permit. That sounds—he was flabbergasted that it took that long. So my response to that as a council, you guys, one of your rules is to set policy. If a company, whatever it is, comes to the city and it takes three months to get a permit, it's not very good. Like I say, they worked their butts off for me out there and they did not—they went where I asked them to go into the flower garden, they did not disturb any of the sod that I had to put down. They were very accommodating, and it had nothing to do with the city. Thank you. **[26:37] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, sir. Anyone else wishing to speak? **[26:38] Katherine Tubon:** Hello, I'm Katherine Tubon and I'm here with Gracefield Table. Address is 20240 English Avenue. Gracefield Table—we are a nonprofit organization working out of Faith Church in Farmington. We launched last October and we just passed 5,000 meals out to this community. And so this week we're having a really big celebration. So this is an invite to dinner, is what this is! On Wednesday—we get a lot of questions. We're really budding up to about 250 meals every week, and that number just continues to grow. We get a lot of new faces every week, but it is really a meal for the entire community. You come, you choose to stay, you leave—it's completely up to the individual. But as of the last probably six to eight weeks, our dining room is full, and we actually have to ask people we know, like, it's time to move along so others can eat, right? And so yeah, we're looking to add some outdoor seating and just do some things. So people ask us a lot how we're funded. We're a nonprofit, right? So we're funded basically in three ways. Number one: generosity of individuals, businesses, or particularly businesses in this community that sponsor an evening. The second way is by putting us to work—all of our catering and classes pay for all of these meals. And then the third one is our "buy one, give one" program. And so what that really is is just a creative solution to allow anyone that can pay to become part of the solution. So for 10 bucks a meal, you get a great meal—you pay for yours and somebody else's. And so on a pretty regular week, we have about 25% of the meals are paid for, which means 75% are going out free to our community. We have a ton of volunteers—there is no shortage of that in this community. Everyone from teens—we've got National Honor Society students that work with us all the time—college kids, all the way to retired. Businesses that sponsor are typically also volunteers. But I am simply here to invite you to dinner on Wednesday, and every other Wednesday that you wish. That's it. Questions? **[28:51] Mayor Nick Lien:** Time? **[28:53] Katherine Tubon:** 5:30 every week. We have some people that come at 4:45. **[28:56] Mayor Nick Lien:** 5:30. **[28:57] Katherine Tubon:** 5:30 until 7:30. So yep, just come, and it's pretty laid back. But it's been really cool to see the community just rallying around—people helping people in crisis, helping people look for jobs that need jobs. And so, you know, when we started not very many people stayed for dinner, and now it's full and there's just a lot of that great stuff that's happening in the community. So we'd love to have you guys all just come check us out at some point. There are people here that come pretty much every week and can attest to whether or not the food's any good. So it's pretty amazing. There we go. **[29:41] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, ma'am. **[29:43] Katherine Tubon:** Thank you. **[29:43] Mayor Nick Lien:** Okay, anyone else wishing to speak? All right, we'll move on to item seven, which is our consent agenda. Seek motion to approve. **[29:53] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Motion. **[29:54] Mayor Nick Lien:** Second? **[29:54] Councilmember Nick Lien:** Second. **[29:55] Mayor Nick Lien:** Motion by Holly, second by Nick. All in favor say aye. **[29:58] All:** Aye. **[30:02] Mayor Nick Lien:** All right, we'll move on to item 8.1, which is the first of two public hearings. Item 8.1 is a public hearing for the vacation of road right-of-way within the Vermillion River Crossings plat. I'd like to go ahead and open the public hearing at this time. Tony? **[30:23] Tony [Staff/Planner]:** Yes, thank you, Mayor and Councilmembers. This evening we're requesting the vacation of certain right-of-way within the Vermillion River Crossings plat. As Council is aware, Yellow Tree Development is proposing to construct a 168-unit market-rate apartment building at the northwest intersection of Duchaine Parkway and Spruce Street. In conjunction with this particular development, we are looking to develop plans for the reconstruction of that intersection, specifically at Duchaine Parkway and Spruce Street. Yellow Tree is replatting Outlots C and J of Vermillion River Crossings as part of the Vermillion River Crossings Third Edition plat, which will be before Council here later this meeting. I do want to note that right-of-way will be platted with the Third Edition plat to cover the reconstructed roadways. Right now, the roadways are in an outlot, which is Outlot J. With this, it cleans up the area as well as from a platting and title perspective as well. Per state statute, the City Council must conduct a public hearing regarding the proposed vacation after public and posted notice of said vacation. As shown in red here is Outlot J of Vermillion River Crossings; that is what is being proposed to be vacated. And then again, with the Third Edition, additional right-of-way will be platted and dedicated for that roadway. The action that's requested this evening, after any public comment is taken, is to close the public hearing regarding the vacation of a portion of right-of-way and adopt the resolution. **[32:27] Mayor Nick Lien:** Steve, any questions? **[32:28] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** None. **[32:28] Mayor Nick Lien:** Nick, do you have any questions for Tony specifically? **[32:30] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Just as a point of clarity, this does not assume a final road design yet, right? You're just vacating the current? **[32:36] Tony [Staff/Planner]:** Correct, we haven't settled on the actual [design]. **[32:38] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Okay, thank you. **[32:39] Mayor Nick Lien:** Holly? **[32:40] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** That was my question, I'm good. Thank you. **[32:41] Mayor Nick Lien:** Steve? **[32:42] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** No questions. **[32:43] Mayor Nick Lien:** I have no questions for you, Tony, either. Would the applicant like to come up and say anything? You're not obligated to, but it's a public hearing, so you have the option. **[33:04] Rob Lubow:** Good evening, Rob Lubow with Yellow Tree. We have really nothing to present other than that, but thanks for the consideration. Hopefully, the partnership on the housing—we're quickly approaching a year since we started this project, and the Council kind of identified this as a site. So it's exciting to be at this point, and we're available for questions. **[33:13] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, sir. Steve, any questions for the applicant? **[33:16] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** None. **[33:17] Mayor Nick Lien:** Holly or Nick? **[33:18] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** No. **[33:18] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** No. **[33:19] Mayor Nick Lien:** I have none either. Since this is a public hearing, this would be a time for any residents that want to come up and either voice their opinion and or make a statement. All right, if we have none, then at this time I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. Any deliberation or additional comments or anything for our team or the applicant? **[33:55] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** None. **[33:56] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** None. **[33:57] Mayor Nick Lien:** Then I would seek a—I look for a motion to approve the vacation of a portion of the right-of-way and adopt resolution 2024-42 vacating a portion of Spruce Street and Duchaine Parkway right-of-way. **[34:11] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Motion to approve. **[34:12] Mayor Nick Lien:** Motion by Steve. Second? **[34:13] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Second. **[34:14] Mayor Nick Lien:** Second by Holly. Call the roll, please. **[34:15] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Bernatz? **[34:16] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Yes. **[34:17] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Cordes? **[34:18] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Yes. **[34:19] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Wilson? **[34:19] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Yes. **[34:20] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Mayor Lien? **[34:21] Mayor Nick Lien:** Yes. Thank you, sir. **[34:23] Mayor Nick Lien:** Moving on to item 8.2. This next item is also a public hearing, so this time I'd like to go ahead and open the public hearing for authorizing tax abatement and abatement agreement with Apartments Farmington LLC. Deanna? **[34:42] Deanna Kuennen:** Thank you, Mayor and Council. We are going to continue talking about the apartment project that Yellow Tree is proposing with tonight's public hearing on the tax abatement. Just to provide a little bit of background, as Rob mentioned, about a year ago we started having these conversations with Vall Dutt and the Yellow Tree development team who wanted to do a project here in Farmington. After a while, they identified a site, which you can see here on the map. What they're proposing is to build a 168-unit market-rate apartment which will have a mix of unit sizes. It will be a four-story building with underground and surface parking. It'll be located on about a 3.5-acre site which is at the southeast portion of this particular site which is known as the Hy-Vee property. The site is zoned mixed-use, and multi-family is an allowed use with a CUP, and they're estimating to invest over $40 million on this project. Here you can see the site plan. What this does is it shows the elimination of the square-bout, which is being done at the request of the Council. This project will have outdoor amenity space and parking like we mentioned. Here are just some images of what this project will look like. So tonight, the public hearing is about the tax abatement request. Minnesota state statutes provide cities the authorization to grant abatements of property tax. This particular project does not qualify for tax increment financing. Tax increment financing is the tool that we did use for the Ebert Construction project down the street. Tax abatement is reasonable for this type of project as long as the analysis supports the request. Originally, the applicant asked for a little over $3 million in pay-as-you-go assistance. We get this information, we share it with our financial consultants, and they run through a whole lot of analysis using the pro formas and the numbers that are provided to us by the developer. This project costs—the expenses and the financing—all meet industry standards, which is important. The projected rents are consistent with their market study; that's another factor that gets looked at. And this project does show the need for assistance in order to achieve feasibility. Again, the developer has made that request. Back in April, we showed that the analysis showed the abatement should be $1.086 million. This would be provided over 10 years: 100% tax abatement on the new taxes—on that increase—for years 1 through 5, then 75% on the increase for years 6 to 10. Again, this looks at the yield on cost over term for the assistance, and this involves negotiation back and forth. We have an update to that. We are now looking at an abatement note of 1.72 million. The difference between what was presented in April and what's being presented now is this run—this tax abatement run—assumes 3% inflation in the assessed value over the term. None of the rest of the terms are changed, so everything else remains unchanged. We'd still be looking at an abatement of 100% of the increase of city taxes only for years 1 through 5, then 75% of that increase in years 6 through 10. If the full amount is not reached during that time, that's the risk that the developer bears; however, it will be capped at the 1.72 million. So if it reaches that return sooner than the 10 years, the abatement ends. This has been negotiated and discussed with the developer and also with our City Attorney. A couple specifics: The tax abatement would work just like TIF; it's only the increases from the project that we would abate. This is important to point out. It's the taxes that are generated because of the project that we would be looking to invest back into the project. We would continue to receive what we are receiving today on that 3.5 acres. The payments are made on a pay-as-you-go basis; that means no money goes upfront. The developer actually has to perform in order to get those taxes. And again, if the abatements aren't enough to reach that $1.72 million, the city doesn't make up the difference; again, that's the risk borne by the developer. We'd be looking at city-only taxes, and the developer would pay their taxes as they normally would, and then we turn around and rebate that amount that's agreed to as part of the terms. There is a benefit to the community, and this is something that we have to analyze before we provide any type of financial assistance, especially tax assistance to projects. This is not a business subsidy; I do want to point that out because it's housing. This project will add to our housing supply and it will provide variety. It will also be a $42 million-plus investment made into the community and will ultimately increase the taxes on that property. The existing taxes today, pre-development, on that 3.5 acres of city taxes is a little over $11,000. With the proposed development, the taxes on that property would be the $11,000 plus about $217,000 on an annual basis. So the recommendation tonight is that at the conclusion of the public hearing, the city council consider the resolution that was distributed that Leah has prepared to update the resolution and the abatement agreement based on the terms that were presented tonight, which is capping it at the 1.72 million and the abatement being years 1 through 5 at 100%, years 6 through 10 at 75% of the increased portion of city shares of property taxes. So tonight the request would be to authorize the resolution that was distributed at the close of the public hearing, which also authorizes the execution of the tax abatement agreement which is included, which reflects these terms and the amounts presented tonight. So with that, we do have the developer here; we have Yellow Tree represented with Vall Dutt and with Rob Lubow, so they're available to answer any questions or to further talk about this project. Thank you, ma'am. **[41:43] Mayor Nick Lien:** Steve, any questions for Deanna? **[41:45] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** I don't. **[41:45] Mayor Nick Lien:** Nick? **[41:46] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** No questions. **[41:47] Mayor Nick Lien:** Holly? **[41:47] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** I'm good. **[41:48] Mayor Nick Lien:** Jake? **[41:48] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** No questions. I just appreciate you taking the time to put the estimated taxes together so that we could see where that benefit ended up. So thank you so much for doing that. **[41:59] Deanna Kuennen:** You're welcome. **[42:01] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, ma'am. If one of the applicant representatives wants to come up, please. Vall, welcome, sir. **[42:15] Vall Dutt:** Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilmembers. Vall Dutt. Just want to again reiterate what Rob said—want to thank you for us to be part of this community. We're looking forward to being able to develop this project that'll—we think it's going to be a great addition to Farmington. So that's all I have to say. **[42:31] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, sir. Steve, any questions or comments for Vall? **[42:33] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** You know, I would just say I really appreciate the dialogue that we've had with our different work sessions kind of talking through this. I also appreciate the flexibility because we're taking out that square-bout, which had kind of a very different, thought-out use back when the original development was there. And I think ultimately it ended up—you guys went back to your drawing board—it ends up being really, I think, a cleaner and a nicer project both for the area and for your development itself. So I appreciate that. **[43:10] Vall Dutt:** Yeah, we do as well. **[43:11] Mayor Nick Lien:** Nick? **[43:12] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** I just want to say it again—I think I appreciate your willingness to have a dialogue. I know there was probably some uncomfortable conversation about what a lot of people viewed that land as being, and hopefully I didn't scare you off too much with the comments about, you know, retail this and whatnot. Right? You guys kept a very open mind and were understanding of where we were coming from on that. So I really appreciate all that, and I do really like the new design a lot better; it's got a nice look to it. So I really appreciate all the work and, like I said, openness to good communication. **[43:52] Vall Dutt:** Well, thank you. **[43:53] Mayor Nick Lien:** Holly? **[43:54] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** No, everything looks great. I'm excited to pursue next steps. **[43:59] Mayor Nick Lien:** I wanted to thank you and your team. I don't have any questions for you; we went through it in work session quite exhaustively and all to good points. But I did want to say to you and your team, thank you for listening and responding to the work that we had brought up in work session specific to the square-bout and how the initial look was kind of square-peg-round-hole. We said, "Well, hold on a second, let's kind of look at this whole area and see if we can't be more supportive of your ability to develop, have some continuity in the area, and redesign that thing that was there." And you did. I could see from a developer's perspective you're like, "Uh-oh, here go the elected people. This is where things get off the rails real quick," right? But you didn't. You listened, you responded, you worked with our team to find that solution that I believe in the end is going to ultimately be the best project that we could see happening there. The other thing I wanted to really put out there for you is you're actually coming to the table investing in our community. You know, there's a lot of opinions about what this land should have been or ways that it could have been used, and for the six years that I've been sitting here, there hasn't been anybody willing to step up and actually invest and put their money where their mouth is. And you see a need in our community; we have the absorption rate and the need for market [housing]. It's going to support prospective employers who are looking at bringing their businesses here. So, a very personal thank you for stepping up and investing in the community of Farmington. We appreciate you. **[45:34] Vall Dutt:** Well, thank you. And again, I want to reiterate, and I said it previously, appreciate everything Deanna's done and the process that she's brought to this point. And I appreciate your openness and willingness to be forthcoming and having those uncomfortable discussions, but they're important for us developers. So, Rob and I really appreciate that. **[46:11] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. **[46:13] Mayor Nick Lien:** Now, this is a public hearing, so this would be a time for any residents or persons in attendance to come up and either offer a comment, testimony, or documentation. If we don't have any, then I will close the public hearing at this time. Any additional comments or deliberation? **[46:33] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** I have none. **[46:34] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** None. **[46:35] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** None. **[46:36] Mayor Nick Lien:** And Deanna, thank you for the work with Vall and his team and bringing this forward, very much so. With that, we would look for a motion to adopt resolution 2024-43 authorizing tax abatement and abatement agreement with Apartments Farmington LLC. **[46:53] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Motion. **[46:54] Mayor Nick Lien:** Motion by Jake. Second? **[46:55] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Second. **[46:56] Mayor Nick Lien:** Second by Holly. Call the roll, please. **[46:57] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Cordes? **[46:58] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Yes. **[46:59] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Wilson? **[47:00] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Yes. **[47:00] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Mayor Lien? **[47:01] Mayor Nick Lien:** Yes. **[47:02] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Bernatz? **[47:03] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Yes. **[47:05] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, ma'am. Item 10.1 is the combined preliminary and final plat for Vermillion Crossings Third Edition. Jared? **[47:13] Jared [Staff/Planner]:** Thank you, Mayor, City Council members. So we're going to stay on theme here with the Yellow Tree Apartment project. This is for the combined preliminary and final plat for Vermillion River Crossings Third Edition, and obviously this is needed for the construction of this four-story, 168-unit apartment building at the northwest corner of Duchaine Parkway and Spruce Street. The applicant is Yellow Tree Development, and the property owner is Hy-Vee and City of Farmington right-of-way. Property location is this big 15-acre parcel that is proposed to be replatted, as well as contains a portion of right-of-way in the square-bout, and it's right across from Vermillion River Crossing senior housing. Getting into the plat review, they are requesting a combined preliminary and final plat. The applicant is proposing to replat this large 15-acre parcel owned by Hy-Vee and part of Outlot J (the square-bout) into two new parcels. Lot 1 here will be 11 acres and that will be preserved for future development, and then Lot 2 will be 3.5 acres, and this is where the apartment project site will be located. A 30-foot wide roadway drainage utility easement will be dedicated here on the north side, and then as well as an extension of Spruce Street here on the south side, paving way for the new intersection. And I just want to include this for Council's reference—kind of see how this site would mesh up with this intersection here. This is just a concept only; engineering has been working on it, nothing final yet. But showing kind of how a T-intersection might work here in reference to the building layout. As you can see here on the west side of Duchaine Parkway, it abuts the apartment building with the drop-off area here and it comes down to the T-intersection. And again, this is just for reference only on how this new intersection might work. So the Planning Commission did hold a public hearing on the proposed project at their May 14th meeting last week. The commission did approve the site plan that's included in your packet, conditional use permit, and three variances for the project, and then they voted to recommend that the City Council approve the plat for you guys tonight. The action requested is to approve resolution 2024-41, a resolution approving the combined preliminary and final plat for Vermillion Common Third Edition subject to the following: the vacation of right-of-way (portion of Outlot J) which was done just moments ago; the final plat must be revised to show a 30-foot roadway drain utility easement in place of the new street right-of-way; all engineering comments are satisfied; and then a development contract between the developer and City of Farmington shall be executed, security fees and costs shall be paid, and submission of all other documents required under the development contract shall be required. **[50:11] Mayor Nick Lien:** Awesome. Thank you, sir. Steve, any questions? **[50:13] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Jared, you were at the Planning Commission meeting last week, correct? **[50:16] Jared [Staff/Planner]:** Correct. **[50:17] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** I think for the benefit of those that might be watching—I know that there was some concern from our residents who currently live in the property across the street about some of the traffic maybe in some of the park area. Can you comment on that just for the awareness of it? **[50:33] Jared [Staff/Planner]:** Sure. Yeah, so with any of this vacant developable land, as the project comes about, there's always a potential for new increased traffic, obviously with new development. And then a part of their concerns too was with the square-bout, a lot of the open space potentially going away. But potentially with the new concept plan on the east side of the new intersection, they will preserve still some green space there. **[51:10] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Yeah, no, and I appreciated those comments. And I do think that is one of the key parts of this—that square was really a very unusable space, kind of an awkward space, probably not an ideal intersection design. But I did want to let the residents know who did speak at the Planning Commission that I did hear your comments and appreciated the fact that they were brought up. So, thank you. **[51:35] Mayor Nick Lien:** Nick? **[51:36] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** No comments. I think I said I got most of my answers in the Planning Commission meeting, so I really appreciate Blanch and company coming out for their questions on that one. I mean, yeah, on the traffic one, I think it's important to remember what the traffic situation was supposed to be prior to this, right? I mean, you're talking about a Hy-Vee traffic area no matter how this would have shaken out. So, something to be mindful of. I'm glad we're moving the road; it's nice to have that extra green space there for them just to add that little buffer of safety. So I appreciate that. And thank you again to Yellow Tree for coming to that Planning Commission. I know you guys have been here a lot and I really appreciate your willingness to be here to answer questions for them. **[52:23] Mayor Nick Lien:** Holly? **[52:24] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Yeah, I know one of the variances that was requested too for Planning Commission was a height variance, right? Because we ran into some water table and finished building things. And I just—I more than anything want to comment on that. Obviously, getting things a little bit higher than what we expect is not ideal, but I appreciate the work that was done ahead of time to ensure that we were able to move forward even knowing that we had a water table situation. And while a flat roof was certainly an option, the aesthetic of this is stunning. Like, I just think it's a beautiful building. So job well done to the people that are behind the scenes working on those sorts of things, too, because it's always nice to have something pretty to look at when you've got that much of an investment happening. **[53:23] Mayor Nick Lien:** All right. Can I take one credit back? How close is this to the radar station? **[53:30] Jared [Staff/Planner]:** We're nowhere near the height restriction because there's a [buffer]—you can't be over so high within that. No, you're not at 700 feet. We're not close enough for that. **[53:40] Mayor Nick Lien:** Okay, I was just trying in my mind when we talked about the height. No, you're good. All right, thank you. For those that didn't see the Planning Commission meeting, the team did a great job of explaining why the height variation from 40 to, I believe it was 53, was there. And that was because, like with the downtown project and it being a flat roof, it followed the consistency with the buildings that were downtown. In this area, with the CDA property and even the look of the Vita properties, they all had pitched roofs. And so having something that blended in and was more complimentary of the surrounding properties was something that they had recognized and proposed. So again, appreciate the due diligence of looking at it and saying, "Here, we're not just going to meet a requirement." At the same side, you know, the State Legislature has their way and they're going to remove height requirements anyway, so there's that for next session! But no, the team did an incredible job. Some clarity on the street is that we know that this project—it was two months ago we even talked about the redesign of Duchaine and Spruce. And so our team is working to ensure that we have a safe design. But we recognized—I mean, here we have a fair number from the fire department—we're not going to get the ladder truck into a square-bout with a multi-family property in the way that the lot was laid out. So this will allow for larger vehicles, egress, safety, and other factors of consideration as well. And we will make sure that the engineering design that ultimately comes forward that gets approved meets all of the standards that we have going forward. All is good with that. I look for a motion to approve or a motion to adopt resolution 2024-41 approving Vermillion River Crossing's Third Edition combined preliminary and final plat subject to the four presented criteria. **[55:41] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Motion. **[55:42] Mayor Nick Lien:** Motion by Holly. Second? **[55:43] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Second. **[55:44] Mayor Nick Lien:** Second by Jake. Call the roll, please. **[55:45] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Wilson? **[55:46] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Yes. **[55:46] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Mayor Lien? **[55:47] Mayor Nick Lien:** Yes. **[55:48] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Bernatz? **[55:48] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Yes. **[55:49] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Cordes? **[55:50] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Yes. **[55:51] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you guys, appreciate it. **[55:54] Mayor Nick Lien:** All right. Next item on the agenda is item 12.1, which is the appointment of our new fire chief. And thanks to our department for your patience; you got to learn all about Farmington! **[56:15] Leah [City Administrator]:** Mayor and Council, good evening and thank you for having us here today. I am honored to ask for the approval of the appointment of interim Fire Chief Matt Price to Fire Chief. Interim Fire Chief Matt Price has held multiple roles within the Farmington Fire Department. In 2012, he was hired as a paid-on-call, and in 2015 he was promoted to a fire lieutenant. On July 1, 2019, he was promoted from a paid-on-call lieutenant to a full-time deputy fire chief. Matt has held the role of interim fire chief since March 6th, 2024. Matt Price has 12 years of great experience within the fire department throughout the ranks. During the past 12 years, Matt has led with integrity and has earned the respect of members of the Farmington Fire Department, as we see many of them in the audience tonight—and thank you guys for coming for supporting him. You know, one thing: Matt has definitely led with integrity. He has earned the respect from his teammates at the fire department, but not only his teammates, from the leadership team, from Council, and the community members. Matt has proven his experience and dedication to the city and the fire department while serving in a multitude of roles. Appointing Matt Price as fire chief allows the fire department to move forward while continuing to uphold the high standards of excellence the department is known for. So tonight, I ask for your approval to appoint the interim Fire Chief Matt Price as fire chief effective of May 21, 2024. **[58:24] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, ma'am. Steve, any comments? **[58:26] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** You know, congratulations, Matt. You lead and you just serve as an example for the younger firefighters. As a community, you show up, you're willing to help, you're willing to be there, and looking forward to you serving as our new chief. Thank you. **[58:43] Mayor Nick Lien:** Jake? **[58:44] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Congratulations. I guess I know you've had to have some hard conversations lately; I appreciate that you haven't shied away from those. I guess anybody that runs a marathon without training must be tough enough to do some difficult things! So, I look forward to what you can do. Congratulations. **[59:02] Mayor Nick Lien:** Holly? **[59:03] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Gosh, I feel like I got to know you a bit when we were working on Dew Days the first time. I got to play around with that a little bit, and you were so knowledgeable and so accommodating and just fantastic to work with as someone who really had no idea what it was to make sure that things were safe from a fire perspective. And if you can do that for a group of volunteers that are trying to throw a monkey wrench into the system of Farmington for a few days, I just deeply appreciate your commitment to everything that it takes to do this job and do it so well. So, I'm excited. Thank you. **[59:52] Mayor Nick Lien:** As two men that served, we learn that you always learn the job of the person in front of you and the person behind you, because if and when there's ever a time, we rise to the occasion as needed. Much like you have led your brothers and sisters in uniform defending our country and serving in the military, you will continue to lead our team at the fire department, and I couldn't be prouder to be a part of this because I think you're going to do a phenomenal job. With that, I look for a motion to appoint interim Fire Chief Matt Price as the fire chief effective May 21st, 2024. **[1:00:35] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Motion to appoint Matt Price as our new fire chief. **[1:00:41] Mayor Nick Lien:** Motion by Steve. Second? **[1:00:43] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Second. **[1:00:44] Mayor Nick Lien:** Second by Holly. Call the roll, please. **[1:00:45] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Mayor Lien? **[1:00:46] Mayor Nick Lien:** Yes. **[1:00:47] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Bernatz? **[1:00:48] Councilmember Holly Bernatz:** Yes. **[1:00:49] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Cordes? **[1:00:50] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Yes. **[1:00:51] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** Councilmember Wilson? **[1:00:52] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Yes. **[1:00:53] Mayor Nick Lien:** Congratulations, sir. Thank you. Now you have to say something. **[1:01:03] Fire Chief Matt Price:** Say—you'll probably hear me enough when I have to come up and continue to talk! Greatly appreciate the vote of confidence. I'm super excited to move our department forward. We'll continue with the great tradition and history that we've done for the last 150 years. Super excited to work with the community. I'll kind of do my announcement that I was going to do earlier: our Fire Marshal just started today, so that's really exciting. We're just continuing to move forward, and I look forward to working with all of you. Thank you. **[1:01:36] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, sir. We appreciate you. Thank you. **[1:01:40] Leah [City Administrator]:** And we'll invite Matt back up here—tentatively we have scheduled for June 3rd for the pinning and swearing in. **[1:01:44] Mayor Nick Lien:** Perfect. Thank you. **[1:01:45] Mayor Nick Lien:** All right, round table. Leah? **[1:01:47] Leah [City Administrator]:** Great. Judge update: So Judge Monahan retired from the First District; he was chambered in Hastings. Governor Walz and the Commission on Judicial Selection has offered three names to replace—one of which will replace that spot that Judge Monahan left behind. So just an update that Dakota County is going to get a new judge in the coming months. **[1:02:15] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, ma'am. Nick? **[1:02:16] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Go Timberwolves! Okay, that was good. Congrats to the Class of 2024; they will actually graduate before we have our next council meeting, so they will next Friday. So anyone that has a graduate—I feel you. Oh my gosh, do I feel you! And just, you know, Farmington is producing great individuals to go out and do great things to hopefully come back and do great things for Farmington. Awesome event for the police open house. Always fun to see the Mayor destroyed by a dog! **[1:02:59] Mayor Nick Lien:** Destroyed? Come on! You notice I pulled the dog out of the car. **[1:03:03] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Oh did you? I thought you were kind of running from the dog. I have video proof of it. Okay, all right, it happened. And just another note of congratulations, Matt. **[1:03:09] Mayor Nick Lien:** Steve? **[1:03:10] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Well, as a follow-up to Jake's comment, I mean we really don't have to wait too long for some of these seniors to show what they have. For those that don't know, the Farmington girls softball team is ranked number one in the state right now—obviously number one in the section. So definitely wish them well. I know they went to state last year, they were close, and I hope and wish them all success, and hopefully they make it through the section and into state again this year. I did want to point out that I had encouraged Katherine to come and talk about Gracefield Table. Katherine is such an amazing person and does so many things for the community, and I just want to echo what she said: if you haven't been to the community meal, there's a lot of smiles, a lot of laughter, and a lot of interesting people you can meet. So you know, definitely try to show up for that. And then lastly, you know, Chief, thank you for you and your team that put the event together on Saturday. As has been said before, it seems with the unfortunate movement by a very select few, the police community doesn't get the just praise that should be automatically warranted by all of us day in and day out. And it's always great to just see everything that the Farmington Police Department does—the Minnesota State Patrol, Dakota County, all of our partners that assist all of us, our fire department. So just a job well done. Thank you. **[1:04:51] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you. Shirley? **[1:04:52] City Clerk Shirley Buecksler:** All right. Some of you may be wondering why I have a water gauge and also toilet leak detector indicator tablets that you can put in your toilet. Dakota County has started a friendly challenge amongst the cities in Dakota County, and it's called the "Waterwise Challenge." It's a friendly competition where we're going to ask residents to sign up on the Dakota County website to participate in the challenge, and you can pick these water gauges up and the tablets at our front desk at City Hall. So we just encourage you to sign up and participate in this challenge. Thank you. **[1:05:31] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, ma'am. Congratulations, Matt. I think you're going to be a great chief and I'm happy for you. Jared? **[1:05:40] Jared [Staff/Planner]:** That's all I have besides to welcome Matt to the team. **[1:05:42] Deanna Kuennen:** Yes, welcome Matt to the team. It's a great addition. The other thing that I would like to say is we had a wonderful EDA meeting tonight where we talked about a lot of the progress that has been made from an economic development perspective in this community over the last year and a half or so. We had those conversations so that we can set ourselves up to talk about: how do we continue the momentum? What does the budget need to look like moving forward? What are we doing? How are we meeting businesses where they're at? How are we working with our existing businesses as well as working to attract new businesses here with the intention of being able to add to the tax base and help this community grow in a responsible way? So thank you for all those conversations. We did talk about our Business Retention and Expansion program, where our staff will be out meeting with a lot of businesses over the course of the next number of months. This is an ongoing thing, but if you're a business in town, please expect a phone call from somebody on our team and please accept that phone call when you get it. We also will be doing more advertising for a small business resource fair that we're planning for July 16th. There'll be information coming out on social media; we'll be trying to do some direct mailing. Again, this is a way that we can reach out to our existing business base and let them know the kind of resources that are available to help them grow here in our community. So with that, I mean, thank you again for the great discussion and lots of good things to come. **[1:07:15] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, ma'am. John? **[1:07:16] John Powell [Public Works Director]:** Thank you, Mayor. I'll also extend my congratulations to Chief Price; we're very happy to have him as part of the leadership team. This week construction began on the 2024 street improvements with clearing and grubbing. We worked very closely with the elementary school to make sure that they could start the tree removal without interfering with the student activities, so the subcontractor's activities are limited to 8:30 to 1:30. That does allow them to get in ahead, will allow the gas company to start their work and keep the project on schedule. So if you see some activity down in that area, that's what's happening right now. We also had a neighborhood meeting last week with the contractor and the inspector, so the residents got to meet them directly and had some good feedback and we're excited to get going. **[1:08:15] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, sir. Kelly? **[1:08:18] Kelly [Staff/Parks]:** Good evening, Mayor and Council. Just want to congratulate Chief Price as well—well earned and deserved—and look forward to continuing to work with you. Tomorrow's Open Door food distribution at the Rambling River has been cancelled due to the forecasted inclement weather. They will be back on Tuesday, June 18th for regular distribution. Summer's coming, I think Holly mentioned school's out here pretty soon. Not too late to register for summer programs: FarmingtonMN.gov. Music in the Park starts a week from Wednesday, Wednesday May 29th. It is Dirty Shorts Brass Band. According to them, they're the real deal—a New Orleans style brass band. Rambling River Park, 7:00 p.m. next Wednesday. And then speaking of Rambling River Park, the playground equipment is all in. Tomorrow, the delivery of the pour-in-place rubber surfacing is supposed to happen, and then weather permitting Wednesday it will start to be installed. So we're hopefully getting closer to taking that fence down and letting kids play on the playground. **[1:09:18] Mayor Nick Lien:** Awesome. Thank you. Kim? **[1:09:20] Kim Sommerland [Finance Director]:** The only thing I have this evening is also to extend congratulations to Chief Price. It's been great working with you and I'm happy to have you as part of the leadership team. **[1:09:32] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you. Anything else you want to add, Chief? **[1:09:34] Fire Chief Matt Price:** No, I'll just—as I said earlier, our new Fire Marshal, Matthew Brown, started this morning. So this week is kind of his onboarding process. We have him logged into everything; IT did a phenomenal job to make sure there was a few hiccups but we got it ironed out, and his desk is now full of all the plans that used to be on my desk! **[1:10:04] Mayor Nick Lien:** Moving it forward, I like it! Thank you, Chief. Chief Siem? **[1:10:14] Police Chief Nate Siem:** Congratulations, Chief. Well done. I don't think there's a better candidate on the planet to lead this department than Chief Price. The men and women of the Farmington Fire Department, look after your Chief—he's going to need your help, we always do. I would like to point out—she has left, Katherine did leave—but Gracefield Table, she's super humble. Some of the stuff she does is absolutely amazing. She didn't touch on the fact, for example, that after the events in Burnsville in February and all the extra work that we were putting in, Gracefield Table provided probably somewhere in the neighborhood of about 150 or 200 meals to local public safety—the Farmington Police and Fire and the Dakota County Sheriff's Office—to keep us fed during those long days and nights, and it was greatly appreciated. And lastly, I would like to throw a big thank you out to everybody that helped us put on the open house. It was a great event like it usually is. We had great weather. From Park staff helping us get our grounds together, Street department sweeping our parking lot twice because they did it the first time and then somebody left us a leaf blower and we blew leaves all over the parking lot a second time back! The men and women at the police department that all showed up to staff the events, and mostly to the residents that came out and had just a great time. It's always a fun event and we really enjoy it. So thank you. **[1:11:43] Mayor Nick Lien:** Thank you, sir. Yeah, it's that time of the year, right? I mean, it's nice out, sun's out, school's getting ready to be out. All the activities seem to have a significant uptick and they're right around the corner. You know, there's two Memorial Day ceremonies, one at Corinthian and one at the Veterans Memorial at Rambling River Park. Both of them are on Monday starting at 10:00 and I believe 11:00. You've got Dew Days right around the corner. It's going to be Fourth of July before we know it, couple of trips to wherever it is that people go—County Fair—and then it's Labor Day and we're back in school. We're going to blink and it'll be over. It's just the reality of the summer, it's what we do. But there's also a lot of things going on in the community and there continues to be a lot of change, a lot of new opportunities, a lot of new development. You know, in my state of the city, I talked about it and I just want to continue to hit that message that we continue to send: that we can celebrate our past while also boldly defining our future. And while some of these things don't look like what we may have envisioned years ago, they are investments in our community by people who believe in the same things that we believe in—that Farmington is a place where you can live, work, and play; it is a place that you can call home. And they're building and creating opportunities to do that. Businesses continue to come, businesses continue to reinvest, and those are all positive signs. Those are all things that we've been working diligently and intentionally towards for some time, and we're starting to see it come to fruition. And that's a testament to the vision of the Council, the commitment of our team, and the work that we do every day to continue to deliver that. And I just thank our residents for your patience, because we're there and we're starting to realize it and see it firsthand. Thank you to my peers, to our team. Our future is unbelievable and I cannot wait to see what the next 6, 12, 18 months holds for the city of Farmington. With that, I'd look for a motion to adjourn. **[1:13:38] Councilmember Steve Wilson:** Motion to adjourn. **[1:13:40] Mayor Nick Lien:** Motion by Steve. Second? **[1:13:41] Councilmember Jake Cordes:** Second. **[1:13:42] Mayor Nick Lien:** Second by Jake. All in favor say aye. **[1:13:44] All:** Aye. **[1:13:45] Mayor Nick Lien:** We're adjourned at 8:13. **[1:13:48] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]**