Dakota County
Tribune
Farmington | Rosemount and the surrounding areas
www.dakotacountytribune.com
NEWS Dakota County sets salaries The salaries of County Board members, three of its top three managers and several other employees were set on Dec. 12 Page 2A
OPINION Diversity in leadership Diversity in state and local leadership in education is improving, but more needs to be done to reflect demographic changes. Page 4A
THISWEEKEND
Dec. 21, 2017 • Volume 132 • Number 42
Council hears broadband proposal Dakota Broadband Board Joint Powers Agreement aims to improve internet connectivity by Jody Peters SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
It’s official: Technology improvements are coming to Farmington. During Dec. 18’s City Council meeting, a countywide broadband project that has been in the works for the past three years finally got the go-ahead. After 20 revisions, the Dakota Broadband Board joint powers agreement was presented Monday
night by City Administrator David McKnight. The council made a motion to adopt the agreement, and it was unanimously approved. The agreement is a project led by the Dakota County Community Development Agency and involves 11 major cities within the county, including Farmington. The county and city governments have been working on a way to com-
bine their fiber network resources to offer improved institutional network services (I-Net) and to have the capacity to provide services to commercial parcels (C-Net) that may not get desired data capacity from existing service providers. Farmington Community Development Director Adam Kienberger said the agreement serves to formalize Farmington’s participation in that broadband group.
“It’s a consortium of communities within Dakota County looking at ways to leverage all our municipal fiber assets that we currently have in place,” Kienberger said. Essentially, there are two components to the project: the I-Net and then the C-Net. The first step involves creating an I-Net, strengthening Farmington government’s own network with the other governments in the area.
Aluminum recycling facility will expand capabilities to serve Midwest SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
The Wells Fargo Family Farm at the Minnesota Zoo will receive an upgrade after its namesake sponsor offered a new gift. Page 15A
SPORTS
See BROADBAND, 5A
Spectro Alloys Corp. expanding by Andy Rogers
Farm to undergo update
Kienberger explained that Farmington’s police department network is connected to City Hall, which in turn is connected to the maintenance facility, and so on. “You take that and lay that over all of the other communities that do the exact same thing, along with Dakota County. They have fiber that runs throughout the entire county that con-
Luke Palen, president of Spectro Alloys Corp, said some aluminum scraps are sent halfway across the country to be recycled. He would like to the scrap to stay and be processed in eastern Rosemount. The aluminum recycling facility is investing $5.5 million in new jobs and equipment, hoping to capture more of the market. The facility melts and alloys scrap aluminum into 27 pound bars up to 1,000-pound blocks so it can be sold to customers such as The Toro Company and to other die casters and foundries. The recycled material Photo submitted A Spectro Alloys Corp employee sorts through recycled aluminum. The recycling facility could be turned into mower engines, ATV parts, car in eastern Rosemount is expanding.
components and more. It’s all made with postconsumer scrap and industrial waste, not pop cans. “Really, that’s what most people think of first, but we do very little of melting pop cans and beer cans,” said Luke Palen, president of Spectro Alloys Corp. Pop cans basically make new pop cans, Palen said. Spectro Alloys gets the aluminum from scrap vehicles, demolition scrap, windows, doors, siding, boats and airplanes. “Anything you can think of other than a beer can or pop can,” Palen said. “Theres a pretty robust die-casting industry in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Anyone pushing a Toro lawnmower around, that’s all metal made here.” See SPECTRO, 6A
Superheroes for special ed students District 192’s Special Education Advisory Council presented its first-ever Hero Awards by Jody Peters
Irish hanging tough in SSC The Rosemount boys hockey team is making a run at the top teams in the South Suburban Conference. Page 9A
PUBLIC NOTICE The Dakota County Tribune is an official newspaper of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District. Page 10A
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SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
The superheroes in District 192 don’t wear spandex and capes. They’re a group of students and staff who go above and beyond to help include special education students. The district’s Special Education Advisory Council (SEAC) decided to recognize that inclusiveness with their first-ever Hero Awards, presented the week of Dec. 4. They asked parents of children with special needs to nominate people in the district who make a difference. After sifting through many nominations, the
award winners chosen were: teacher Brent Grengs and student Elizabeth Foss from Boeckman Middle School; teachers Erica Winters and Kellie Lewis from Meadowview Elementary; special education teachers AJ Dubek and Kimberly Baker, and students MeeSong Cline, Ben Coyer and Delray Steele from Riverview Elementary; and Keven Stoffel, custodial staff at Akin Road Elementary. When they learned that other districts, like Hastings and Lakeville, have a similar recognition proPhoto submitted gram, SEAC decided to Teacher Kim Baker of Riverview Elementary was honored for her work with special education students. The SEAC Hero Awards were presented to students and staff in See AWARDS, 6A Farmington Area School District 192 the week of Dec. 4.
Are opioids the tobacco of the 1990s? Dakota County joins the chorus filing lawsuits against big pharma by Tad Johnson SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said it will take about a month for the county to file a lawsuit against some of the nation’s largest makers of drugs that the he claimed during the County Board’s Dec. 12 meeting have fu-
eled an opioid epidemic that has saddled the county with increased costs. For the past few months, state, county and city prosecutors across the country have taken similar actions as these cases are expected to merge into bigger battles that could be reminiscent of the state of Minnesota’s successful
$6.13 billion settlement against major cigarette manufacturers in 1998. State attorneys general in 41 states banded together to file suit against major pharmaceutical companies in September. Leading the charge to file suits were states like Ohio and Mississippi, where opioid overdoses and deaths have
been much higher than in other states. Backstrom said all of the five large metropolitan area counties have already or will be filing similar lawsuits, and he expects them to be merged as they reach federal court. He said there will be coordination among the counties and the outside
counsel retained by these units of government. Backstrom said the intent of the legal action is similar to the tobacco lawsuit but different in the fact that county governments are the units most affected from a financial standpoint by the rise in See OPIOIDS, 7A