Call the city council meeting for
Monday, August 17th, 2026 to order. Will
everyone please rise for the pledge of
allegiance.
» 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.
» Call the roll, please.
>> Council member Wilson.
>> Here.
>> Council member Cordes.
>> Here.
>> Mayor Lean.
>> Here.
>> Council member Burnett.
>> Here.
>> Council member Windshield.
>> Here.
>> Any changes to the agenda?
Seeing none, I'll look for a motion to
approve the agenda.
>> So moved.
>> Second.
>> Motion by Jake, second by Steve. All in
favor say aye.
>> Aye.
>> No announcements tonight. Look for a
motion to approve our consent agenda.
>> Motion to approve.
>> Second.
>> Motion Moved second by Phil. All in
favor say aye.
>> Aye.
>> We are all the way down to 11-1.
Construction manager risk selection,
police department expansion and remodel
project.
We have Chief Seem.
» All right, thank you Mayor and Council.
Uh tonight uh I'm here to update you on
the progress of our expansion and
remodel project
um and then eventually to uh request the
authorization of staff to negotiate
construction manager at risk contract
with Kraus Anderson.
Um as you you know, back on May 4th,
Council approved
uh us to hire BKV as our architect. And
since then we've been working on uh
the schematic and uh design development
phases of the project. Also, on June
15th, we were authorized to issue RFQ
uh for the project uh to seek
construction managers.
Uh like I said, we've been working
schematic design, design development,
and
I'm working towards our CMAR
acquisition.
Just to kind of lay out that decision
the the construction manager decision
for us was it was pretty complicated and
um hard to
you know,
figure out which direction we wanted to
go. Uh there is a construction manager
advisor and a construction manager at
risk. And I kind of laid out what those
differences are.
Um
uh construction manager advisor
represents and advises the owner, does
not become the prime builder, owns owner
holds contracts and delivery risk. Uh
the construction manager at risk advises
again.
The uh construction manager holds all
the contracts and controls the job site,
assumes construction performance and
safety duties, and then, importantly,
commits to a guaranteed maximum price.
And when we evaluated those, um
the construction manager at risk was
much more appealing to us for the
situation that we are here we're at here
in Farmington without, um
someone that could be on site every day
really advising where where the project
is going. Uh this construction manager
at risk can fill those roles for us, and
then,
uh providing the guaranteed maximum
price is something we're very interested
in as well.
When the price is set, they are
guaranteed not to go over that amount.
With the construction manager at risk,
though, we do have to go out for bid for
that position. If we didn't do that, and
we went advisor, we would not have to go
out for bid.
>> [snorts]
>> Um when you authorized the bid, we uh
issued uh the request for for uh
qualifications on the 17th, 2 days after
your authorization. Uh we eventually
received responses from Roshan, Terra
Construction, RJM, and Kraus-Anderson.
From those responses, staff uh reviewed
each firm's qualifications and made a
consideration or decision to move
forward finalists.
Those two finalists were RJM
Construction and Kraus-Anderson.
Uh we requested uh detailed RFPs from
both of those
firms. Uh written proposals were scored,
and both firms were interviewed, and
those interviews were scored.
Between the proposals being scored and
the interviews being scored separately,
Kraus-Anderson came out on top in both
of those scenarios. Uh so we ultimately
made a decision to go with
Kraus-Anderson
uh for construction manager.
Uh going forward, BKV continues to lead
the design. Kraus Anderson's addition is
going to help us develop our cost
estimates,
schedule, and phasing, and bid package
planning. Uh very important to get on
board as soon as we can cuz
to get an accurate estimate of how much
the project is going to cost is
critically important in moving forward
with budgeting for next year. Uh so the
sooner we get them going, the sooner we
can get that process moving.
So that's what brings us here tonight.
Uh I'm requesting that you authorize
staff to negotiate with Kraus Anderson
for construction manager at risk
services. Negotiations will cover scope,
fees, responsibilities,
uh that uh GMP and contract terms. The
negotiated agreement will return to
council for consideration.
Authorization to negotiate is not final
contract approval. So
when we have a contract uh with that
maximum fee, that's when we bring it
back to council for approval.
And then we have our um architect
Michael Healey here with us today, as
well as representatives from Kraus
Anderson.
If you have any questions.
>> Great.
Phil?
>> Sorry.
>> No. No, it looks good. I have none.
We've looked it over earlier and
appreciate all of everything you're
doing.
» Any questions?
>> I don't have any questions. We've been
working on this for a few months. We
were working on it and looked at it a
few years ago. Um I'm you know,
personally excited that we're at a point
now where we are making some forward
movement on something that's been
deferred for a long time.
And uh excited to see where it goes.
I've I've had the ability to uh
get a a peek behind the curtain a little
bit at at what some of the the details
of the project look like as we all have
um tonight and uh it's needed and
warranted and I'm excited to go to the
next step.
>> Thank you, Jake.
>> Uh no questions tonight, but like my
colleagues excited to see this move
forward and excited to work with
Kraus-Anderson.
>> Steve.
>> Yeah, I really
>> [clears throat]
>> I really like this and you know,
ironically I think Lynn and I
happened to um talk about the value of a
construction manager up at a League of
Minnesota Cities conference a couple
years ago.
And for the benefit of the public, I
just want to kind of just I mean and
Nate you did a good job of highlighting
this, but yes, this is an this is an
additional cost that comes into the
project, but ultimately based on
essentially Kraus-Anderson being our
advocates,
um it's going to ultimately save the
city [clears throat] and the taxpayers
money, I believe in the long term. I
think every study I've looked at shows
savings um to the overall project, cost
overruns, better management. Um I think
maybe even have it having a dedicated
person on site. And I don't think we've
done this before as a city. So, I think
this is a really big deal and I think
it's a I think it's a great um component
that we're doing for this project. So,
100% in favor.
>> It's well said, Steve. I think I just
wanted to comment for clarity like
you put it in big capital letters, but
this was not the final approval and the
next step is generally going to be the
open house that was advertised at
National Night Out, right? As we kind of
start to move through the communication
path of what's coming and what's coming
down the road, right? So, just
proceeding with Kraus-Anderson as as the
designer, right?
>> Yes.
>> Okay.
With that, I don't have any other
comments other than what the Steve had
added here. So,
any final questions?
No. Sorry, one second. My screen turned
off on me here.
We would look for a motion to approve
staff to begin contract negotiations
with Kraus-Anderson for construction
manager at risk services for the police
department expansion and remodel
project. Motion to approve.
>> Second.
>> Motion by Steve, second by Holly. Call
the roll, please.
>> Council member Wilson.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Cordes.
>> Yes.
>> Mayor Leino.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Brunette.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Winchell.
>> Yes.
>> Excellent. Thank you.
Citizen comments tonight.
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 5 minutes. The city council
will not engage in discussion or debates
in those 5 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.
» [clears throat]
>> Hello, my name is Paul Putt. I am at
20150 Erickson Path in Farmington. Um
you know, this is my first council
meeting. I've stepped up to the mic many
times at school board meetings.
Um as an educator, I try to um put my
teacher hat on, though I'm not a
Farmington educator at the current
juncture at any point, but I like to try
to
think about what I'm speaking on.
Um today I just wanted to come here and
I want to say thank you.
I don't think you guys up here have
heard that enough in the past 2 years.
Thank you.
guys have online at different points
received the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune and take up arms
against a sea of troubles and by
opposing end them.
To quote a little Shakespeare. Sorry, if
my English teacher would like that.
I'm very proud of the fact that I'm a
Farmington resident where I feel like
you guys are doing your jobs here today.
We are standing here and you're
listening to an expansion of the police
department. We are forth
We are forward looking at what could be
potentially 40,000 people in the city.
We have roughly, according to the state
of the city, which I rewatched the other
day, about $67 million worth of
um
how should I say? Investments and you're
looking at the police department and
you're saying, you know what, we're
going to spend some money and we're
going to save some money. You're making
educated decisions to help Farmington.
And you sit up here, a few of your
candidates for our next mayor and I
would say that we have some great
candidates up here. Um, that's my own
personal opinion, others will disagree.
I think for the most part people who
have seen my online forums knows my
opinion on certain hot button topics,
but the fact of the matter is you sit
here, you would do the work of the
council.
You will be online trying to give
fact-based statements and can't always
say things back before the fact that you
represent Farmington.
And I'm here to say that there's
probably
an unsung majority of people that would
say you're doing your job. They might
not always agree with things, but you're
trying your best and you deserve to hear
more citizens that take the time to come
up here and say thank you. And so that's
why I wanted to come up here in today. I
could go into different topics, things
that are have disagreements like with
people in this room and I don't need to.
I want you to hear the words thank you
because as a citizenry you have
volunteered, you've you've at to and you
need to hear it more. We need other
citizens who may agree with me who don't
want to go online and online forums and
are willing to put their name out there
to also hopefully be able to say thank
you, because there's over 24,000, 25,000
people in Farmington. 24,000, 25,000
people.
And they have differences of opinions.
They don't always come up here, and they
don't always say them.
And they may, in fact, agree with many
of you on some of the decisions, but
they have families. I was late because
I was helping my kids.
They can't always get here.
They don't always have the ability to
say thank you. And just like, and I'm
going to say this for as the son of a
cop, the police officers don't always
hear thank you. First of all, thank you
very much.
You have done a wonderful job. I look
forward to the expansion of the
Farmington Police Department. Um and I
think we need to be a little bit more
gracious
even if there's disagreements.
There's numerous issues on this docket
that don't have to do with some people's
topic number one.
And you're doing that work. And so,
that's the reason for my standing. I
thank you very much. Again, disagreement
is healthy. It does not mean that we
have people who are quote-unquote on the
take. It does not mean we have people
who have agendas. It means that we have
people who are stepping up and doing
their job. So again, I say thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Budd.
Anybody else?
» Nancy Arstead, I live in the sacrifice
zone in a Castle Rock.
Denzel Washington, I'm a huge fan. I
love Denzel Washington.
Man on Fire, Flight, Training Day. He
was so good at being bad in Training
Day.
If he's in it, we're watching it. He is
so cool.
I saw an interview of his last week, and
they asked him what his next film was
about, and he said,
"All money ain't good money."
All money ain't good money.
I was so excited. I thought it's kind of
like he's standing right next to me here
is talking to the Farmington City
Council. All money ain't good money.
It's something we teach our kids, right?
That there are good ways and bad ways to
make money. The basic test, if you are
causing harm to other people to make
that money, it's bad money.
Harming others to make money is bad
money.
Booster clubs and sports teams, you've
got to understand if you accept from
this developer and slap their logo on
your shirts, you are asking kids in and
around the sacrifice zone
to wear that thing and for parents to
put up with it. What would that logo
mean to you guys if you lived up in the
sacrifice zone?
The skills to determine good money from
bad is clearly lacking in 4/5 of our
city leaders.
But sadly, that is not all that is
lacking.
You lack transparency, the NDAs, the
rush rush pushing through approvals, not
giving even basic information to the
people.
How about integrity? Do unto others as
you'd have done unto you? For 4/5 of
you, that basic human standard of how we
should treat each other seems to be
missing.
You lack respect for all your residents.
It doesn't exist. You decided on a
sacrifice zone and four of you are
perfectly fine with it. We've all been
dismissed.
You are currently ignoring a petition
signed by 940 people right now, given to
you 11 weeks ago. We hear nothing.
We want to ask We want to know the
cooling system going in next to our
homes, and then we ask you to follow
through with protections.
How many signatures will make you care?
We are almost at a thousand now. The
petition is on Farmington Data Center
Watch on Facebook if anyone wants to
sign it.
This city could be so much better.
People out there, if you are happy with
Farmington's direction, you think your
taxes are awesome, you like running to
other towns to buy basic staples, you
enjoy lawsuits, you're fine having
petitions be ignored, then you have two
people up there running for office again
in the fall who are more than willing to
give you the same.
However, I think most of you are sick of
where Farmington is going, sick of the
disrespect, sick of watching surrounding
towns plan more carefully and be more
productive.
Sick of lawsuits, sick of your high
taxes, sick of being the laughing stock
of the state right now with the status
center, and sick of being mentioned in
news articles not for good reasons.
Do you know a small group of us talked
to Erin Brockovich just a couple weeks
ago?
Yes, the Erin Brockovich.
We had She had all the time in the world
for us. We had a nice long meeting with
her. We are talking to people like Erin
Brockovich.
That means Farmington is not famous,
it's become infamous. There's a big
difference.
This city needs to change. It clearly
needs a new and better direction. There
are two council seats open this fall. We
need two people, Ben and Dave, Ben
Blomgren and Dave Seaburg. They are the
team that need those seats.
Both brought bought their homes in
Farmington and intend to retire here.
They are here to stay and they want to
make things better.
They care deeply about your tax burden,
the growth of this city, bringing in
good business,
making this city something to be proud
of for a change, proper growth and
planning.
They will respect the people they serve,
all of them,
not just some of them.
They will seriously address petitions
signed by hundreds of people.
They will always put the residents
first.
Ben and Dave are not in this for
accolades or status. They come in with
humility and a strong set of ethics.
They know that all money ain't good
money.
They would bring honor and trust back to
this town, both sorely missing.
Two council seats open, Bennett Blomgren
and Dave Sieberg. Ben and Dave, remember
those names. Farmington, it is critical
that you get this one right.
» Nancy?
» Uh good evening uh mayor and council. My
name is Nate Ryan. I live here in
Farmington.
Um something that just keeps just I hear
so many times is that because we come up
here to oppose things or because we come
up here to say something means that
we're not on team Farmington. Means that
we don't like Farmington, that we hate
Farmington. That's just not true. We
just want to see what's best for
everyone in Farmington, not the minority
of people who are in Farmington who may
back some of you who sit up there. Um I
It doesn't mean that I don't like living
here, right? My daughter's going to be a
senior this year. Uh we like living
here. Our son plays football, right? One
of his coaches is sitting over there
with the police badge on. Uh last year's
coach anyways, but you know, you
we love Farmington. We love what it's
about. Uh we have been property owners
here uh since we were first married and
we've owned property in Farmington for
over 20 years. So, it it's it's not
about whether or not I like Farmington
or don't like Farmington. It's about
stuff like this.
Dirt.
It's about you not understanding
what this means.
So, back when the data center was first
talked about, when it was first brought
up, you guys said, you trust the
process. Trust the process. Trust the
process. Everything will come out. Trust
the process.
It's all going to
come out.
Do you know when they found mercury
in the dirt from the golf course?
Do you have any idea?
when they first dug
their first holes?
What happens if I were to open this up
right now and we all took a big whiff of
it?
How would you feel about that?
What about if we gave it to your
children and had them take a big whiff
of it?
That
is asking what you what you're asking
our children to do.
Dirt
at the golf course site
is laced with mercury.
I would be very curious what Track tells
you when they first found out.
That's what you want us to do. You're up
there talking about faux windows. You're
up there talking about 80 ft. You're up
there not even understanding one bit
what the ramifications were from going
and putting this site in a in a
mixed-use commercial industrial zone.
You weren't up there asking, "Hey, what
is 70 years worth of chemicals do?
What What if chemicals being on that
golf course since 1970? What do they do?
to the soil? How far
does it go down? What about the
wetlands? What about the What about the
lake or the river that has beautiful
trout that are in it? What about those
things? No.
We're going to ask about faux windows.
We're going to get talking points from
them.
That's what we're going to do.
Then we're going to go to the fair and
antagonize people.
I haven't seen you for a while.
That's what we're going to do.
We're not going to care
about the dirt.
We're not going to care about the
mercury.
We're not going to care about the
residents. We're not going to care about
the children. This stuff, when blown on
an average windy day,
can travel up to a mile, a mile and a
half.
But you want to You want to talk about
four windows. You don't want to talk
about 80-ft buildings. You don't want to
talk about property rights of owners
that have already been there. You don't
want to talk about zoning that's already
been in place for 20 plus years.
You want to talk about four windows. You
want to talk about your tax revenue that
we're going to get.
This is all about tax revenue.
Same person who said that talked about
four windows.
It's all about tax revenue. We're going
to tell you there's all kinds of great
benefits, but when it comes down to it,
it's about tax revenue.
Well, what about all the other great
benefits that you couldn't tell us one
of? No, it's about tax revenue.
You're willing
to have mercury-laden soil
going all over our community
for a mile or more around. And that's
just on a moderately windy day.
But you don't you don't you don't want
to talk about that.
2024 April 2024 is when they did their
first borings.
They knew.
A few council meetings ago, I came up
here and I said, "Hey, what about all
the chemicals that are in there?"
Now what are they doing? They're
drilling hundreds of holes all over that
golf course to figure out where it is.
They have to. They know they have to.
They know that they got caught.
They know.
So, I'm curious. Should we open this?
Or should we not?
What do you think? Should we pass it
around and have you all give a big
sniff? Maybe you want to bring it home
and have your kids give it a big sniff?
Is that what you're asking my kids to
do?
And it's wrong.
By the way, this is still in my
backyard.
I hope it's harmless, but I don't know.
» Thank you, Mr. Ryan. Anybody else?
Round table.
» No report for me tonight.
>> Nothing for me. Thanks.
>> I'm good.
» I just want to wish families, students,
teachers, and everybody best of luck as
back to school starts to ramp up in the
next few weeks.
>> Steve.
» Jeez, I wasn't prepared for that
comment.
I was going to say Nate, I may have an
extra team Farmington shirt if you'd
like to proudly wear it, but
can let you know.
Um
I think we had a fairly incident-free
Dakota County Fair as I understand it.
Uh so, I appreciate our team um
and then others in the community uh
others other neighboring jurisdictions
being there.
And uh that's all I have.
» Nothing tonight.
>> Melissa.
>> Last election thing for a little while.
Uh so, the election on August 11th went
great went great. Um thank you to all of
the people, the staff, the election
judges,
um Church of St. Michael, Farmington
Lutheran, and Bible Baptist for opening
your doors for us.
Um everything went well, so we look
forward to the general in November.
» [clears throat]
>> On the topic of elections, I just want
to boast on Melissa a little bit. Uh she
did a fantastic job with with the going
through of the primary.
Um as I probably told people, I don't
think people would realize that this was
her first election as city clerk. Um and
I just want to help people understand,
you know, elections is beyond is is goes
beyond um
just election day. There's the 16 days
of direct balloting prior to the
election. There's the absentee period that goes 45 days before the
election. And there's all the other
prep, the hiring of election judges, the
scheduling of over 60 election judges,
the managing of six different precincts,
and working with all those different
property owners.
Um
Lois has been working on it since April.
Um and been doing a fantastic job. So, I
want to give kudos to her.
Um all the election and all to all the
election judges. We had a lot of new
election judges this year who all did
fantastic.
Um
and now get a little bit of a breather
um before we start again in just just in
a month in preparation for the general.
Um and I believe absentee balloting for
that, believe it or not, begins
um almost a month from today on
September 18th, I believe it is. So,
that's all I have. Thank you. Very good.
Diana.
Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight we
had our monthly Economic Development
Authority meeting, and I just want to um
thank you for the robust conversation
that we had.
That's it. Mr. Poll.
Thank you, Mayor and Council.
We do have a citywide speed limit study
and policy development process underway.
Uh if any resident wants to go to the
city website in the upper right corner,
do a search for speed limit. Top of the
list is speed limit study. That'll take
you to a page where there's a hot link.
You can go to a map and drop your
comments on there, and that should be
open for at least the next uh month and
a half or so.
Thank you.
Kelly. Good evening, Mayor and Council.
It's hard to believe, but next week
already the final music in the park.
Wednesday, August 26th at 7:00 p.m. at
Rambling River Park. Feeling Minnesota
will be performing. They blend country,
rock, and pop favorites with an acoustic
twist. Want to thank the sponsors. Um
without them, we couldn't uh do music in
the park. Castle Rock Bank, Farmington
Youth Hockey Association, Hobo, the
Legacy of Farmington, for our VFW Post
7662, and Marshall Alliance um, for
being out there doing face painting with
the kids and and free popcorn. Hope to
see everybody next week.
>> Thank you.
Jim.
>> Mayor and Council, uh,
all cities have the issue of dealing
with delinquent utility bills. And so,
the process like two processes that
cities might take right to shut off
people's water, um, or we can certify it
to the taxes that which is allowed by
Minnesota state law. And just want to
remind everybody that if you do have a
delinquent um, balance on your utility
bill that to pay that off, otherwise
it's potential that we will be
certifying that to taxes. We'll be
starting that process next month.
>> Thank you.
Chief.
» Mayor and Council.
Uh, first I wanted to uh, thank you for
approving uh, Deputy John Meeden on the
uh, consent agenda to be hired as a
police officer and become
Officer John Meeden. Uh, he's a Dakota
County Deputy that works very closely
with our patrol officers and is very
well known by them. And you wouldn't
believe the amount of correspondence I
got from my officers telling me that we
need to hire this gentleman. And uh,
we're very excited to have him coming to
Farmington Police Department.
Uh, and then Christina Calderon, our
CSO, recently departed Farmington PD.
She Her last day was this past
Wednesday, and I wanted to uh,
congratulate her and wish her the best
of luck with her new employer though,
uh, Duluth Police Department. We'll be
She'll be starting as a police officer
next week.
And finally, uh, with our expansion
remodel project, um,
we're trying to get as much information
out to the public as we can on what the
project actually is, what the needs
actually are. And the best way to do
that isn't for me to just tell everybody
cuz um
not everybody believes me, believe it or
not. But
I think the best thing to do is just
come and see it for yourself. And uh so
what we're doing is hosting a couple
open houses uh September 19th and
September 22nd. Uh they're not on social
media yet, but they will be shortly. Uh
come down and see the police department
for yourself. Let us walk you through
and show you what we're talking about
when we say that we need more space for
officers, for administrators, for
supervisors, for record staff,
for social workers, uh all the all those
other ancillary things that we don't
have now that we'd like to have. We'd
love to show you the space that we have
and uh what we hope to grow into. So,
please join us for those.
>> Thank you.
I do have prepared comments to to read
tonight, but
I do just want to make one comment, I
guess, is
any contaminants that were found on the
golf course seems to me that it
suggested it was found as a part of a
development process that is in place.
And if you don't know that they're in
your yard or not, it seems to suggest
that those processes are being more
rigorous than residential development.
And when the counterargument is that
you've been asking for houses instead of
industrial, you would have gone on
living not knowing that those chemicals
were there.
So,
Okay.
I'll read my prepared comments for
tonight.
It did come to my attention that my
response to Council Member Wilson's
comments during round table at the last
council meeting may have been
interpreted as having a change of heart,
cracking, or being otherwise in favor of
a moratorium.
I would like to take a moment to clarify
both that response and my current
stance.
I am not in favor of implementing a
moratorium on data centers in Farmington
for the specific reasons here.
Number one,
moratoriums only apply for a maximum of
up to 1 year.
If people are telling you that we should
implement a 2 or 3 year moratorium, at
best they are legally incorrect, and at
worst they are lying to you.
Number two,
the current lawsuit involving the Tracks
data center currently does not resolve
until June of next year pending any
early settlements.
The next 10 months are functionally
identical to a moratorium in that no
development will occur on that land
until the suit resolves,
and we will be spending that time
studying best practices and acted by
other cities regardless of the outcome
of that suit.
There is no gate to us implementing
these lessons learned even without a
moratorium.
Number three,
the moratorium does not apply to the
Tracks development. Once again, if
people are telling you that it would,
they are legally incorrect or lying.
Grove Heights is living through the
scenario of what would happen if the
city did try to apply the moratorium to
the Tracks project.
They did try this exact thing and are
now facing a $20 million lawsuit and are
scrambling to exempt the current
development from that moratorium.
This brings me to the most important
reason.
Every time that Council Member Wilson
has called for a moratorium, I hear
claps
from the residents who live near the
Tracks project.
To me, this means that a moratorium is
giving those residents a sense of false
hope that the city and council can
suddenly change its mind and undo this
specific project.
Rip up the contract as I've heard it
said.
Since I fundamentally believe that any
course of action to walk back the
approval of the rezoning and PUD exposes
the city to the same type of lawsuit
that Inver Grove Heights is facing,
this is not something that I could ever
consciously be in favor of.
And since the topic of data centers
appears to be the single biggest agenda
driver of our council and mayor
candidates this year, it is extremely
damaging to enable candidates to run on
stopping the data center because it is
taking advantage of the fact that the
average resident does not pay close
attention to the fine details of this
project or how the process works,
but instead is allowing the state and
national trend of saying all data
centers are bad to influence the the
election.
That is not an incrimination of our
residents at all.
In American government, the basic idea
is to elect officials who we believe
have our best interests in mind and
accept that they may know more about the
topics than we will.
In a healthy government, the average
person is allowed to be uninformed.
In an unhealthy government, people use
that ignorance as a weapon. And
unfortunately, with this project, I have
watched the unhealthy pattern play out
for the last 2 years.
We have mitigated every concern that
gets stated in the national opinion
about data centers, but people continue
to play off the same risks that as if it
still exists here.
To me, it is clear that calling for a
moratorium only further enables these
unhealthy patterns.
So, one commitment I make to you in
these last 3 months as your mayor, I
opened my office hours as a place for
people to come and feel heard because
the chief complaint was that the council
was stonewalling residents.
I had a handful of people come and I've
enjoyed and appreciate those
conversations.
I've also heard complaints that
residents feel they should be allowed to
talk at council and work sessions and
that the public comment period is too
one-sided.
Our council meetings and work sessions
are not free for alls.
We have agendas and critical business to
get through.
What is really being asked for with
these comments is a town hall format
where larger groups of residents can
learn and have discussions with the
staff and their council.
To meet this ask, I have directed Lynn
and the staff to help organize such an
event or series in the near future.
The goal here is to continue the cycle
of learning and address any thoughts or
concerns that might exist with the
specific project in Farmington.
We will communicate details as soon as
we have them available.
I highly encourage those residents who
feel as they would like to know more
about our specific project to attend.
Regardless of how strongly you feel one
way or another about the data center
topic in Farmington.
That is all I wanted to say tonight.
Look for a motion to adjourn.
at 7:35.
>> Second.
>> Motion by Jake, second by Hall. All in
favor say aye.
>> Aye.
>> We are adjourned at 7:35.
» [music]
» Mhm.