City Council - Regular Meeting

We'll call the City Council meeting for Tuesday, September 8th, 2026 to order. Would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pledge of 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.

Call the roll, please.

Council Member Wilson.

Here.

Council Member Cordes. Here. Mayor Leen.

Here.

Council Member Burnett. Here. Council Member Winchell.

Here. All right. Any changes to the agenda tonight? None. No. Look for a motion to approve the agenda.

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion, Holly. Second, Jake. All in favor, say aye. Aye. No announcements tonight. Item six is our consent agenda. Look for a motion to approve.

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion filled. Second, Steve. All in favor, say aye. Aye. On to 11-1. Donations from the Farmington Firefighters Relief Association to the Farmington Police K-9 Program. Chief Seam.

Thank you mayor and council give it a minute here for our guests to come in officer. Kyle Miller and officer Claire Kennedy with a canine partner moose. And more brought in, because I know everyone loves to see our, our canine partners come in and. Interact with everyone, but we're here today because. Our customers at Farmington liquor stores were very generous this year and surpassed last year's donations by about 1500 dollars for a total of 6000 dollars in roundup campaign campaign donations specifically designated for Farmington police department canine program. Those donations go directly to the canine program to support vet visits, to support food for our two dogs throughout the year. That money is what funds the program for the entire year, every year. And then next year, It starts all over again, so we're very thankful to liquor stores for making that donation, but to the citizens that have the option to donate to the canine program when they go in there and make a purchase purchase and decide to fund the program. We really appreciate it. So today we're asking you to adopt Resolution 2026-069, accepting a donation of $6,000 from the Farmington Firefighters Relief Association by way of Farmington Liquor Stores Roundup Campaign. If you have any questions or comments for the handler.

I don't know, Moosty was pretty excited over there. Any questions, Phil?

No.

Holly?

I don't have questions.

none thank you for bringing moose i don't either but i'm wondering if there's i mean the ev people don't listen just wonder if there's a way to get the the canine on camera i'm gonna walk over my chief i think yeah maybe kyle bring him bring him bring him up to where nate is

this is moose who's actually our our support canine at the police department is designated for support of our police officers i appreciate it like i said i appreciate all the efforts to go through this from the people who donated to the liquor store over the last couple years here for for all of these kind of things um i guess my only request is you might need to have him go wait in all the hallway because he's very distracting for the rest of the meeting i want to watch him Thank you, guys. Look for a motion to adopt Resolution 2026-069, accepting a donation of $6,000 from the Fire and Renting Firefighters Relief Association.

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion by Steve, second by Jake. Call the roll, please.

Councilmember Wilson?

Yes.

Councilmember Cordes? Yes. Mayor Lien? Yes. Councilmember Burnett? Yes. Councilmember Winchett?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you again. Citizen comments. Comments are a time for anyone to address the city council on matters not on the agenda. Comments from speakers must be informational in nature and may not exceed five minutes. The city council will not engage in discussion or debate in those five minutes, but will take the information and issue a response to those requiring one by the next council meeting. when you come up to the podium state the city or township that you live in as part of the protocol it is unacceptable for any speaker to slander or engage in character assassination or discuss personnel complaints at a public council meeting as such speakers will not be allowed to identify city employees either by name or position or to identify any other person by name during the public comment period if one does their comments will be deemed done Please address your comments to the council as a whole. If decorum cannot be maintained during a speaker's time, the council will recess to allow decorum to be restored. Upon return from recess, citizen comments will resume, provided order can be maintained. If order cannot be restored, the meeting may be adjourned. Is there anyone who would like to speak tonight? Go ahead, Paul.

Council, members of the audience, and families at home. Last week I, last, councilman, excuse me, I stepped up and I said thank you to this council for enduring what I think is a lot of slings and arrows of the public. I'm sad to say that in the last week I endured some of those slings and arrows because I have a different opinion. Last week on the Facebook, because I have a different opinion, I was informed by someone that in fact there are others who want to hurt me. That was a statement that was stated on the Facebook, that there are others who want to hurt me, because I post a different opinion regarding the data center. I filed a police report with Mr. Siem's great police department and stated, I don't have information who, it's stated as others want to hurt me, but I filed a police report. Now, I agree we can have differences of opinion and have disagreements, but the fact of the matter is my difference of opinion has come through a lot of research using firsthand primary documents and a goal of trying to inform the public of another viewpoint that's not the narrative that's been seen through our public Facebook comments. And the fact that I got a threat for having a difference of opinion, that in fact this morning I was called a bootlicker and asked if I like the taste of the leather because I have an opinion that's different than theirs, is unacceptable that we're seeing in this community. Now the fact is, in my personal opinion, a lot of this has to do with the history that goes on for 25 years. It goes all the way back to when we had the Angus property and whether or not the high school was gonna be placed at the Angus property 25 years ago. I've been doing research at the Farmington Library using microfiche, finding planning documents, finding city documents that state different opinions. That in fact, they did not want to build the high school on the Angus property for fear of annexation, Castle Rock residents. Um, that they would lose 50% of their revenue that was fought. Also, because they said there was safety concerns, because the fire and police, when it got moved, could not come to the West side, but never it was brought up about Farmington elementary school since that. Superintendent Meeks got that information at the time and said, you know what, we had difficulty with getting Meadowview and Riverview, which was called Meadow School East, established, one through condemnation, one was established by contracts that fell through, and he said, you know what, we don't want a third one. So Angus property didn't get built into a high school, and the people in Castle Rock who opposed that, as according to the minutes, they won. We then fast forward and we had the Garvey development. The Garvey development, there was medium residential. Well, there's ultra low density on Castle Rock residents. That was fought. Then there were town homes, two stories. It was fought to one story. That got fought. Never it was developed, the Fountain Valley Data Center project. We fast forward to today. And today we have this data center project, which is a site plan. It is not a definitive what will be built there and who is going to be built. It is a site plan. And there is a lawsuit that is going on. It will be adjudicated tomorrow on nine nine at three thirty. And I have posted on public comments in the local paper as well as on Facebook. I encourage all residents to watch firsthand documents. I'm not posting Internet stories about data centers that are positive elsewhere in the community. I want you to focus on the facts of Farmington. The facts of Farmington Data Center show how long this process has been taking place, that it went through a process, that in fact the plaintiffs and defendants are gonna dismiss three out of five, and that's been agreed upon already, and they're gonna look at the two other claims, which are environmental claims. I'm gonna say that again. Three out of the five claims are going to be dismissed. There was much talk about the OAA. That is going to be dismissed tomorrow in that hearing. But we don't wanna go into all the facts, because that makes the other side less emotional. I look at it and say, I've seen the city say, you know what, why did we pick 250 feet instead of the 100 or 200 they saw? And at the planning meeting in September, 2025, there were people who said, no, that's not right. Well, if there would have been a conceded effort, perhaps that you could have worked with them and said, well, 250, maybe three, 350, I don't know. Instead, this has become a contentious issue for residents around the area, which then spurs into emotional debates where you are labeled as uncaring, you are labeled a bootlicker, and you have threats against you for having an opinion that, you know what, I want taxes mitigated. During the school levy debate, constantly to not pass the school levy, I heard, seniors are on fixed incomes, how dare we raise their taxes? We have an opportunity here to try to work with someone that helps mitigate our taxes, and no one can respond to that. What about the seniors? because that was brought up repeatedly in the school levy debate. Our taxes are too high. Our taxes are too high. We have an opportunity, and there's a whole history behind this data center development. Now, I don't have as much time as I would like, because I'd love to talk about more of this with the executive estate side of things. But the fact is, is this is a long history. So anyone who just says this is a short thing, this is a 25-year story of development. And I could go on and on, but unfortunately, I'm out of time. So I thank you for the time.

Mr.

Bud, next.

David Pritzloff, 20255 Aiken Road. I want to go back over the last couple meetings, specifically with you, Mayor. Two meetings ago, Councilmember Wilson brought up the openness of having talks about a moratorium or just have an open discussion about the data center. You kind of told everybody you were open to that. The last meeting you came back and just slammed them in the face. It's like you weren't open to nothing. And then you wanted to go farther and say that you're gonna direct staff to get some information together about the data center and that you're gonna have a neighborhood meeting or a public meeting with people to tell them where it's at. You haven't talked to nobody for two years about the data center. and now you think you can turn around and direct staff without, I don't think the rest of the council even knew because that just came about on your speech, but you're going to do it all by yourself, direct staff, to get stuff together and to talk about the data center. I urge you not to do that because I believe you doing it within the last two months of campaigning because you haven't talked to the residents for two years, that will be classified as election interference. You will probably get the city involved in more litigation and or yourself if you commit election interference. Getting this information, people have known it. You make comments, quotes, It's just wrong to do. If you want to do that, and I would like your answer tonight, if you would like to have that meeting and step the line of the election interference, tell me that you'll have that meeting after November 3rd, because that will be your true answer. If you have it between now and then, you're committing election interference. Think about it.

Thank you.

anybody else tonight carolyn keifer castle rock township um one thing that i don't understand is why you believe the proposed data center is such a good fit for this land that shares fence lines with residential homes I don't know if you're naive and only listen to the information that you get from TRACT. I don't know if you're callous and don't have any concern for these people about their quality of life, mental and physical health of the people that live there. I don't know how much research you've done on your own or just what you've gotten from TRACT. Does TRACT say to jump and you just say how high? Does TRACT get everything they want and the residents are unimportant to you? Track wants 80-foot buildings, which are not allowed in Farmington. You say, okay. So maybe we could get a better footback, a setback 250. They say, no. You say, okay. Have you asked for money for decommission of the data center when the technology is outdated? Technology gets outdated pretty quickly. If you rent an apartment or something, you need to pay a security deposit to cover damages. Do they need to pay any deposit? Will they be required to put money in escrow for decommissioning? Or will Farmington be left with the toxic waste dump and no money to clean it up? What will be the legacy of this city council? Every day there's more information that comes out about the environmental, mental, and physical health issues created by data centers. If you allow the data center to be built without asking questions, no monitoring of low frequency noise, other noises, no regulations, lawsuits will explode over issues that are caused by the facility. This is happening all around the country. Track says the data center will use less than 2.8 million gallons of water a day. That's just a worst case scenario. How do you know? You don't know the end user. Do you understand that using less water typically means using more chemicals, which will go into the wastewater system? You do not know what will happen to the wastewater. I have asked and got no response. It's not addressed in the AUAR. Do you understand that the Empire Water Treatment Facility is not equipped to handle PFAS, which is a chemical that is used in many data center cooling facilities? It will go into the Mississippi River for cities downstream to drink. Not a very good neighbor. Woodbury and Hastings have a huge PFAS problem. Water bills in Hastings are skyrocketing due to this chemical. Will the data center use infiltration, which is treating the water and holding ponds? What will happen to the glycol, which is the chemical being used in the Rosemont facility? Sometimes they say they treat it with the bacterium, but there's bactericides in the wastewater. Do you think that the revenue you get from the end user, the tax revenue, will pay for the issues caused by the data center? Will the tax revenue from this data center be used to help students that suffer from cognitive and mental issues caused by the data center? Farmington Elementary is less than one mile. New research is coming out about cognitive issues from Brown University about these issues, mostly in math. um will be used to help people who suffer from health problems so much data is coming out of harvard about the potential health hazard from these two million gallons of diesel being burned that's a lot of pollutants in the air will be used to fight lawsuits caused by the data center if these data centers are so safe and they don't harm people or the environment why are people crying out all over the country they're suing their city governments Do you understand that as a city council, you can require regulations, monitoring, and environmental studies, especially as new information comes out? You can require the end user to pay for it. It's not a cost to the city. Why would you not require it? Are you afraid of what they will discover? 15 states across the country are trying to pass legislation to either ban moratoriums or to slow it down until we have more information. So much is unknown about these. A data center that was originally written in the city ordinances is not what's being built out in Farmington. It's not the same thing. I won't get through all of these. In Delaware, moratorium on permits for data centers over 100 megawatts. You want 708 megawatts until January 2027. Georgia forbids local governments from permitting data centers until December 2028. moratorium on data this is from maine moratorium on data centers over 20 megawatts until december 2027. i think we need more information and i would hope that you would try to get it thank you nothing tonight but okay

So, depending on Steve's roundtable comments, you guys might get out of here before 730. That's not common. So I am literally so Katie Porter, Farmington resident. I'm really just here to say, thank you to everyone serving our current city council. You guys, I understand the sacrifice. I understand. Being away from your families and your jobs and all of that. And so just it's a contentious time with election and I just want to thank all of you as well as everybody running for for council and mayor. Um, it takes a lot of courage. It really does. So, um, I'm not going to take more than approximately 30 seconds to just say that that's, that's all I have.

Thank you. Anybody else tonight? No. All right. Round table.

Good evening. Mayor members of the council. I don't have a report tonight.

Sorry.

No, I just want to remind everybody that this Saturday, September 12th at 8 o'clock, it's the sixth annual Corey Slifko Memorial Softball Tournament at Stezzle Fields. It's in honor of the late Corey Slifko, police sergeant of South St. Paul. um just a little bit of background on over the last six years they've raised over 265 000 uh nearly 60 000 uh raised just last year um this money is goes to a good use it's raised uh to support mental health for for first responders um you know that's please fire ems anybody know it's a good day you can come out watch softball games eat buy raffle tickets a bit on silent auctions as the kids say buy some swag or just come and support the police and fire and people that are out there uh for this good cause um i'll be playing in it i know farmington's got a team in it i hope they've been practicing um but yeah just come out and support it's a great cause and it all goes to a good uh good cause so thank you thank you holly

Uh, well, I hope that everyone had a great, uh, Labor Day weekend. We've got a week under our belts for school. So just a gentle reminder to continue to pay attention to the buses bus activity kids going in and out to and from, um, the 2 things that I wanted to highlight were calls to action brought forward by, uh, residents that were answered by residents and also by businesses, uh, 1 being, um, Pam McCarthy stuff, the bus, uh, which. She did actually fill an entire bus with school supplies and was able to deliver that. And that's in large part due to the businesses here in Farmington and the independent supporters um and residents that step up and made massive donations and then also um the call for water bottles uh for the fire department something that uh was a reminder of how much they need and go through just in an average call and i know you've gotten a few pallets um and there again residents and businesses that have stepped up so if you're not on the community pages or you missed that particular good news post uh just a huge thank you to those residents and businesses that were involved in the donations that went in both of those directions thank you jake

Um, yesterday, my family completed our summer tour of all the Farmington parks. Um, so I just want to shout out the parks and rec department, um, for 22 awesome parks with playgrounds. Um, next year we'll have, we'll come up with some kind of a rating system that Oliver can employ, but, uh, just encouragement to, you know, instead of sending your kids to the neighborhood park, just across the street, try one of the other 21 parks in our community. Cause they're all great and they all have great things to offer. So that's all.

Thank you. Steve. All right. Well, thanks to council member, former council member Porter, apparently I have to talk for longer than 30 seconds. So I will try to try to do that. Jake, was that 22 parks in one summer or over the course of a couple of years?

No, one summer. That's impressive. Yeah. There's a lot of parks.

I really appreciate the comments that my colleagues made tonight. It's pretty common that we see donations come in from happy Harry's, and maybe it was you, Kelly, that pointed this out, but over the course of, I'm assuming, looks like 2011, um, we just approved another donation tonight, almost $20,000, um, from Happy Harry's, which comes by virtue of Framington residents, township residents, anybody else donating a portion of their purchase to the Rambling River Center, um, But man, that's a big number. And it's a really awesome program that Happy Areas has. So I just want to thank them and thank everybody who's contributed over time. Nothing, nothing, Melissa, no comment tonight.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor council tonight. I just want to thank those in our community that have been reaching out to the city and asking some great questions recently. I think I can speak for my colleagues up here that we do enjoy and appreciate when our residents engage in local government and with the community that you all live in. Those questions also help bring forward information that might not regularly be showcased or featured on our website. We are continuing to work on new ways for everyone to engage with what's going on in the city and feedback always helps us know what people might want to learn about next. To that extent, I'm giving a little bit of a sneak peek to keep an eye out for the winter edition of The Current. So they'll be coming out here in just a couple of months. It will include a survey on how we can better communicate with all of you. So thank you.

Thank you.

Deanna?

Thank you, Mayor and Council. To continue on the community engagement theme that David started, I do want to continue to encourage our residents and businesses to provide your input on the 2050 Comp Plan. There is a webpage and an interactive option on our website that people can visit to weigh in on what they would like Farmington to look like in 2050. And so to access this area on our website, it's right on our homepage under latest news, it says, we want your input 2050 comp plan. So I just, again, encourage our residents and our businesses to go check that out, hit the more information and provide your comments through that portal. Thank you.

John. Thank you Mayor and City Council members. We also want your input from all residents and businesses on the citywide speed limit study that's underway. There is a map available via the website where you can click on it and add your comments directly to the map and those will all be collected. The map will be available for comments up until October 15th. Also, as part of the 2026 street improvements, second street from Ash Street to Spruce Street is being completely reconstructed. That includes replacement of the water main. It also includes extension of the water main up to Spruce Street to connect to the water main existing on Spruce. Why I'm telling you that is because the roadway at Spruce and 2nd Street, the intersection will be closed tomorrow to make a tap into the main on Spruce Street. So that'll be a one-day closure. The signs are already out there. They actually intended to start it today, but because of the weather and the rain, they pulled off. But they should start around 630 tomorrow and certainly have it done by the end of the day, and it should be reopened tomorrow night. Thank you. Kelly.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. This weekend Parks and Recreation has several free family events. The first one is the Whodunit Hike, Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Registration begins at 9 45 a.m. Play Sherlock Holmes by collecting clues, gathering information, and solving the mystery while walking the trails in Ritter Farm Park in Lakeville. This is a joint program with all the cities south of the river, so that's why it's in Lakeville. This is also a dog-friendly event. Saturday evening is the movie in the park at Distead Park and Greenway. A Minecraft movie will be shown at dusk. I want to thank the sponsors of this event, Castle Rock Bank, Farmington Liquors, Farmington Youth Hockey Association, Hobo, State Farm, Sierra Jewel, and the VFW Post 7662. And this year, the Schmitz Mackey Arena turns 50. It opened in 1976. So to celebrate this milestone, we are hosting a free open skate on this Sunday from 11.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. There will be skating, snacks, and giveaways. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has played a part in 50 years of ice at the Schmitz Mackey Arena. There are too many people to name but but this milestone wouldn't have been possible without each and every one of them. So thank you.

Thank you, Kim.

Thank you mayor and council earlier this evening we held a work session and we discussed the 2027 budget and we will be bringing a budget to you based on the discussion this evening at the meeting later this month. But the city taxes are only a portion of what our taxpayers pay right on their tax bill. It's not only the city taxes, but also school district and county and just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention that the county is holding a budget of property tax open house. This week at the, um, Western service center in apple valley, and there's more information available on the Dakota county website, but that is being held from 5 to 6. 30 PM.

Thank you chief. I'll start by echoing the same thing as comes member bananas that I'd like to think, uh, fritz mechanical and Jenny 2 to all for the many, many cases of water that they donated. It helps with both the physical and mental aspect of many of our calls to stay hydrated. It's one of those things where, again, it gets overlooked, but without a case of water sitting on a truck, it makes a long day even longer. So thanks to both of those individuals who personally use their personal vehicles or drive cases of water down to the fire stations for us. I also want to mention on September 16th, we have our fire prevention open house. It is from Fire Station 1 from 530 to 830. Many, many activities, bounce house, food trucks, demonstrations. We'll have Sparky the Fire Dog. We partner with the NFPA, the National Fire Protection Association, for Fire Prevention Week, which is always October. This year is October 4th through the 10th. This is a nationwide for all fire services that do their prevention open houses. This year is charge into fire safety. Safe charging is superpower. This year is focused on lithium ion battery charging storage, which we're seeing a huge uptake in fires and residentials and commercials from these batteries. So step on down, learn more about proper charging, chargers, storage. It's a great time. If you can get your kids out of the bounce house, there's a ton of other activities that we have. We also have our little...

Obstacle course that will be happening for the with a little fire gear and helmets and all that Thank you chief Thank you quick update on the expansion remodel project two weeks ago We approved us to enter in negotiations with Krause Anderson, and that's what's been going on for the last two weeks. We're nearing Executable contract with them. It's going back and forth between attorneys right now, but we should have something for you soon and Somewhat related in that it affects what we asked for in our police project. The first center in Lakeville is open for business right now. If you guys have seen that project as it's gone through, as it's progressed through and finished up, it's now open and we will begin training in there next month. And that's going to accommodate all of our firearms training, our defensive tactics, use of force training, scenario, virtual reality training. And how that affects the project is that we don't have to incorporate those items into our police department project. And that saves a lot of money in the expansion. All that training can be done at the first center. And it's right down the road, actually. Farmington Police Department is the exact same distance from the training center as Lakeville Police Department. So we really benefit from that project that they put together. And again, I will be at the softball tournament this weekend. So I look forward to seeing our community out there and supporting us and seeing other law enforcement partners and West St. Paul PD. I will be on the field. I hope to see you out there too. Thank you.

um real quick before i forget i apologize to you chief and officer miller it turns out i really do have a hard time focusing when there's a dog right in front of me so if i butchered any part of the thank you or anything i apologize for that that was difficult um i you know as as mr putt mentioned there were there is uh a hearing tomorrow for the the ongoing litigation and i guess on that i have a lot of thoughts and comments and people have asked me you know what's going to happen and all these things. And all I'm going to say right now is please just go directly to the source of truth. As you said, it's right on the Minnesota court records. You just go in there, search for city of Farmington, second case down. All of the pages are in there. There's lots of them, right? Take it right from the source, make your own opinions, go that route. I do want to let the legal process get through this final finish line here and see where we go from here. Amy, can I put you on the spot? Of course. With respect to my rights to organize a work session, am I, as mayor, allowed to do that without the consent of the council?

You are putting me on the spot because... Typically, off the top of my head, I don't know the rules in your bylaws, but typically organizing a work session of the council is not something that one individual member does. It would be done in conjunction with other members or with the body as a whole. So I but I don't know exactly what the rules are under your your bylaws. Maybe I can check on that and get back to you just to be clear about that.

I would appreciate that. I do want to follow the rules as to why did I do it that way?

I was looking for a response from you, Norma. The only thing I would need is a yes or no answer to the question after November 3rd. Your protocol is not to respond and to get the last word in like you're doing. It's not fair.

Okay, but you said I would like to get an answer tonight, so I was trying, but if you'd like me to wait until after the record, I can do that too, so.

After November 3rd is the question and the answer, yes or no?

I will not be in office after November 3rd. How could I possibly have a council work session?

Turn it over.

actually don't because the because of the fact that mayor lean filled a vacancy the winner of the mayor election in november will take the office as soon as the election is certified not after january thank you uh to respect you then of me not having the last word then i'll just look for a motion to adjourn second uh motion steve second jake all in favor say aye aye 734.

Thank you.