[0:08] all right well good afternoon good

[0:10] afternoon everybody and we're so glad

[0:12] that you could all make it this is a a

[0:14] very Monumental day here in the city of

[0:15] Lakeville and we're glad to have so many

[0:17] of our partners here I'm Justin Miller

[0:19] I'm the city administrator here in

[0:20] Lakeville I'm just going to make a few

[0:21] introductions before I hand it over to

[0:23] to Mayor helier I want to thank um

[0:26] specifically a couple people who are

[0:27] here the um the city council our city

[0:30] council is here council members Joshua

[0:32] Lee Dan Walter Michelle vul and John

[0:35] burmel are here thank you very

[0:37] much as you can see we also have quite a

[0:40] few of our Public Safety contingents

[0:42] here and led by Chief Brad Paulson of

[0:44] the police department and chief Mike

[0:46] Meyer and the fire department thank you

[0:48] all for being

[0:49] here and then I want to thank our um our

[0:52] design and construction teams from leoa

[0:54] daily and RJM construction thank you all

[0:58] [Applause]

[1:00] um this is going to be a wonderful

[1:01] facility and we're just very supportive

[1:03] or thankful for the support that we

[1:05] received from our our state legislators

[1:07] representative John kosnik and Jeff

[1:09] Woody who couldn't be here today they're

[1:10] on the floor but Senator Zack Duckworth

[1:12] is here and he's going to say some words

[1:13] in a minute so uh now I'm going to turn

[1:15] it over to to Mayor Luke

[1:18] haer all right thanks Justin well I'll

[1:21] be really brief I just uh to reiterate a

[1:24] lot of what Justin said but I first want

[1:26] to extend uh my gratitude to

[1:28] representative witty and representative

[1:30] kosnik who are not here uh and Senator

[1:32] Duckworth who really helped make a lot

[1:34] of it happen on the state side to secure

[1:36] nearly $8 million two years ago to uh

[1:39] really Kickstart this program this is

[1:41] something that the fire department and

[1:43] police department has thought about for

[1:44] a long time to think about what a new uh

[1:46] training facility would look like and so

[1:48] the council has been thinking about how

[1:49] do we make that happen um from a

[1:51] financial side of things but um their

[1:53] help and then including with

[1:55] congresswoman Craig securing money for

[1:57] the engineering um really made this

[1:59] happen I think from my perspective on

[2:01] behalf of the council when this building

[2:04] opens um after construction I think it

[2:07] really reinforces our commitment as a

[2:09] council and to the city about how Public

[2:12] Safety is our number one priority I

[2:13] think a lot of people say that um and

[2:16] not just from a Lakeville standpoint but

[2:18] this is a regional facility as everybody

[2:20] knows and um the future for Public

[2:23] Safety is going to require cities and

[2:26] counties working together when we think

[2:28] about making sure we have Staffing that

[2:30] are correct and we've got all the

[2:31] training levels that are needed um Brad

[2:34] corrected this but I did hear a stat

[2:36] last week that in the next few years um

[2:39] 20% of all police will reach retirement

[2:42] age which is a serious serious concern

[2:44] for us so when we think about how do we

[2:46] meet that need for not only Lakefield

[2:47] but for the surrounding Community this

[2:49] facility is extremely important at the

[2:51] same time there's several Department

[2:53] fire departments in the area that are

[2:55] moving from a paid on call to hybrid or

[2:57] full-time and that our Partnerships with

[2:59] the prior lakes and others are going to

[3:01] really be important to have that uh

[3:02] working together as we move into that so

[3:04] this facility will help make that happen

[3:06] I want to thank the rest of the city

[3:07] council for that as I mentioned our

[3:09] legislators and our Congressional

[3:11] Delegation so uh thanks again I'm

[3:13] looking forward to uh being here to

[3:15] actually do the demolition you guys

[3:16] don't know that but I'll be here with

[3:17] the the wrecking ball um this week right

[3:21] is that the deal and then we'll get this

[3:23] thing and then the more fun will be next

[3:24] year when we get to cut the ribbon but

[3:26] with that I want to turn it over to

[3:27] Senator Zack Duckworth to offer

[3:30] a few

[3:34] words yeah oh did

[3:38] you just had to point out how short I am

[3:40] Luke uh I want to come back for the

[3:42] wrecking ball fun but really I'll be

[3:44] short and sweet because I do have to get

[3:46] to Fire Station 1 by 6 o'clock for

[3:48] training tonight and I don't want to get

[3:49] in trouble um you know it's been a long

[3:53] time coming to get this facility here in

[3:55] Lakeville I appreciate the hard work by

[3:57] everybody the God's honest truth Chief

[3:59] is I just got tired of training in this

[4:01] cold nasty building and we're finally

[4:03] going to do something better uh with it

[4:05] for both fire and for police uh

[4:08] something interesting about Lakeville is

[4:10] being a first responder and being of

[4:12] service to the community especially when

[4:14] it comes to Public Safety is just a part

[4:16] of our DNA here in Lakeville more so

[4:19] than any other community I can think of

[4:21] in the state of Minnesota uh when I go

[4:23] to National Guard training on the

[4:25] weekends I run into Lakeville

[4:27] police uh when we get mobilized for

[4:30] State active duty and we're doing stuff

[4:31] in the Twin Cities there's a couple of

[4:33] buddies from uh the guard they're there

[4:35] St Paul police officers or Lakeville

[4:38] police or a sheriff deputies at when I

[4:40] go door knocking it's another state

[4:42] trooper here in Minnesota or keeping

[4:44] guard up at the capital uh I was just at

[4:47] my kids open house at their school and

[4:50] was running into firefighter after

[4:52] firefighter police officer after police

[4:54] officer the uh item that went for the

[4:57] highest amount for charity giveaway at

[4:59] East Elementary was a tour of the

[5:01] Lakeville Police

[5:03] Department that's the kind of community

[5:04] that we have it's just embedded in what

[5:06] we do and uh putting together the funds

[5:10] for a phenomenal training facility in

[5:13] combination with the city in combination

[5:15] with representative Craig and her help

[5:16] at the federal level is the absolute

[5:18] least we can do so from the bottom of my

[5:20] heart thank all of you and your families

[5:22] and your loved ones for the service you

[5:24] provide us here in Lakeville and the

[5:26] surrounding communities we want you safe

[5:29] we want you well trained we want you

[5:30] going home to your families at night so

[5:32] thank you so

[5:33] [Applause]

[5:41] much thanks Zach um you did a great job

[5:45] and

[5:47] uh now I would like to turn over to

[5:49] congresswoman Craig for a few

[5:54] remarks okay I've just decided I always

[5:56] want to follow Duckworth just so we all

[5:59] know here thank you Zach I really

[6:00] appreciate that I'm Angie Craig and I

[6:03] couldn't be more honored here to be with

[6:04] all of you this afternoon what a

[6:06] beautiful day and happy St Patrick's Day

[6:09] everybody I bought this suit just for

[6:12] one day a year so it's so good to see

[6:14] all of you here today um I just want to

[6:17] say thank you to Mayor helier what a

[6:18] great partnership we've been able to

[6:20] develop here for the city of Lakeville

[6:22] at the federal level Senator duckor

[6:24] thank you for all that you do uh both

[6:26] personally um your service to our

[6:28] community and our nation as well as of

[6:30] course your service to the city of

[6:32] Lakeville thank you to the city council

[6:34] um if we think that members of Congress

[6:36] get yelled at uh I know it's it's it's

[6:38] even tougher at the grocery store uh

[6:41] when you're a member of the city council

[6:43] or you're a local mayor so thank you and

[6:46] then of course Chief pawson I want to

[6:48] thank you and your entire uh department

[6:51] for all that you do for our community to

[6:53] keep all of us safe uh and Mike Meyer

[6:56] thank you thank you for your advocacy

[6:57] for the fire department for emergency

[7:00] uh services and of course it's been an

[7:02] honor to be able to fight for federal

[7:03] funding both for the first center which

[7:06] I'm honored that we were able to get

[7:08] some um and also for uh 15 safer grants

[7:12] to move to a full-time fire department

[7:15] and I just learned that we actually

[7:17] hired 16 so congratulations to you and

[7:20] thank you for keeping our community safe

[7:23] um we've had some stuff going on in

[7:26] Washington in the last week um what I

[7:28] want to say uh is that I am disappointed

[7:31] and I uh as many of you know uh I am one

[7:34] of the most bipartisan members of

[7:36] Congress uh in the US Congress I work

[7:38] with my Republican colleagues all the

[7:40] time in Partnership but I was really

[7:42] disappointed to see that uh $7 million

[7:44] in federal funding was left out of the

[7:47] funding bill that um passed the Senate

[7:50] on Friday and so that $7 million that uh

[7:54] we'd hope to be able to bring home your

[7:56] taxpayer dollars home to help build this

[7:58] facility we'll have to go back to the

[8:00] mat and work to get that funding all

[8:03] over again in the next funding cycle so

[8:05] I just want to say thank you so much I

[8:08] voted against the bill because uh uh one

[8:11] of the reasons because we were not going

[8:12] to be able to get the funding for those

[8:14] Community projects that all of you work

[8:17] so hard uh to

[8:19] accomplish so I just want to again say

[8:21] thank you for inviting me uh it is great

[8:24] to be at a groundbreaking in Minnesota

[8:27] in March wearing shorts sleeves and no

[8:31] coats it's pretty amazing uh and mayor

[8:34] again thank you so much for the amazing

[8:36] partnership that we built here with the

[8:38] community of Lakeville thank you so much

[8:40] thank

[8:40] [Applause]

[8:48] you so now we get do to the fun part so

[8:50] if we could have all the city council um

[8:53] Senator Duckworth representative Craig

[8:56] um let's see who else let's fill up all

[8:59] the show shovels all right so both both

[9:00] Chiefs a couple representatives of the

[9:02] police and fire department um I believe

[9:05] we have some hard hats and and jackets

[9:07] over here to make it look even more

[9:08] efficient so thank

[9:15] you bad luck okay ready here we go three

[9:18] two

[9:21] one that's heavy

[9:25] that's

[9:27] awesome you guys coming

[10:20] you

[10:23] [Music]