government

The downtown Farmington liquor store will soon have a new location, and Farmington City Council members are hoping it will be a profitable one. Three of five council members favor a 5,058-square-foot site at Tamarack Ridge Center on Highway 3 over the present 6,280-square-foot location...

When Farmington city administrator David McKnight presented his first draft of the 2013 city budget with a tax levy increase of 11.29 percent, he knew it would not go over well. "I'm not crazy," McKnight told Farmington City Council members during a Monday night budget workshop,...

Andrew Brobston has already been a music teacher and a software engineer. Now the Vermillion Township resident would like to be a Senator. Brobston filed June 1 to challenge incumbent Minnesota Senator Dave Thompson in District 58. The filing fills a gap that has existed since March,...

Two days after Theresa Walters abruptly resigned from her position as finance director, the city of Farmington had started advertising to fill the position. Farmington city administrator David McKnight was close-lipped on the circumstances surrounding Walters' departure. "I don't...

When Dakota County voters approved a $20 million funding for the Farmland and Natural Area Program in 2003, their goal was to protect farmland and natural areas as development grew up around the county. Much of that goal has been accomplished in the past nine years. As of 2012, the...

Southern Dakota County residents who provide a residence or location for people younger than 21 to come together and consume alcohol will be held responsible as of June 1, according to a newly-adopted social host ordinance. At its regular meeting this week, the Dakota County Board...

The city of Farmington will stay in the liquor store business, but where the downtown liquor store will be located still remains to be seen. The Farmington City Council covered a number of topics related to the city's participation in the municipal liquor business during a work session...

Farmington's representatives at the Minnesota capitol were on opposite sides of the highest-profile issue of the recently completed legislative session. Rep. Pat Garofalo voted for the bill that provided state funding for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium. Sen. Dave Thompson voted...

Making big decisions takes lots of time, lots of information and, in many cases, lots of discussion. That's why the Farmington City Council is changing the way it will handle those big-decision discussions. The plan is simple: take some of the bigger discussion items off of the regular...

Complaints about the condition of several homes in downtown Farmington have city have city officials wondering how to rectify the problem. There are about a dozen homes in the downtown area that are suffering from varying degrees of age and neglect. Renovations have been done --...

Population growth and changes in Dakota County will mean more county commissioner elections this fall. At its April 24 meeting, the Dakota County Board of Commissioners approved the redistricting plan for commissioner districts. The adoption means that six of the seven districts...

Farmington mayor Todd Larson is about to learn something new. He's going to learn all about what happens day-to-day in Farmington's business community. On Thursday, Larson joined Farmington city planner Lee Smick and council member Jason Bartholomay on the first of many visits to...

A grassroots effort to defeat an amendment outlawing same-sex marriage in Minnesota kicked off Sunday afternoon in Dakota County. Nearly 200 people from around the county came together to launch the Dakota County Votes No effort, the first of several such efforts that will be organized...