I would like to say that I think we have a pretty good relationship between Dakota County and the City of Hastings.”

Commissioner Mike Slavik

The Dakota County Board is working to strengthen partnerships in 2024.
Commissioner Mike Slavik of Hastings told the Hastings City Council at its meeting Monday, Dec. 18 that he believes that the county and Hastings already work well together.
“We just finished up our strategic plan in Dakota County with the board and staff, and one of our five main goals of our strategic plan was to build stronger relationships with our partners. I would like to say that I think we have a pretty good relationship between Dakota County and the City of Hastings,” he said.
As examples, he noted the city council voting to lease its agricultural land in the industrial park for low nitrate farming that is a partnership with the Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District and the city giving approval for the solar array that will power the Dakota County Government Center in Hastings.
“The solar garden will produce 112 percent of the electricity that is needed for that building. That will actually be a net zero building next year. That was something that we’ve worked on with city staff, and we’re able to find some good partnerships,” said Slavik.
One of the most notable county projects from the public standpoint this past year was introducing bison at the Spring Lake Park Reserve in Hastings.
“The first thing you have to always talk about when thinking Dakota County and the Hastings area is the bison because that has certainly been something that has really kind of put the Hastings area on the map as the county worked through the process to add, at the time, eight bison for public viewing in 2023,” said Slavik. “Of course, we did not know that we were going to have four calves come out of those, and then actually we’ve been able to add a couple more bison since. Right now, they’re getting reacquainted with each other, away from the public, but we’ll see the bison come back into more public viewing areas in 2024.”
He said that $4 million in improvements are planned in 2024 in Spring Lake Park Reserve.
“That is going to be on the environmental side, restoring the natural resources,” said Slavik.
Slavik also touched on Mississippi River and Vermillion River Greenway projects and work that is being done in Hastings and elsewhere on the extensive trail system.
He said it also was very beneficial having someone from the county assessor’s office outline the property valuation process before the city council in the spring and let people know what to do if they question that valuation.
“That has gone over so well that we hope we’re invited back for 2024 to do that again,” said Slavik. “My other large community, the City of Farmington, is planning on doing that too because they got wind of how well it went here. I think our staff has found that this was very valuable. They said they actually received a lot less calls in Hastings than they typically have based on these updates.”