South metro briefs: Burnsville facility open for storm debris disposal

Burnsville's compost site will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day through July 1 to give residents a place to dispose of debris from recent storms.

Residents can bring tree branches to the site, directly behind Dodge of Burnsville on Pleasant Avenue, free of charge. If people bring debris in plastic bags, the bags need to be opened and emptied at the site.

A list of contractors who can help residents with disposal is online at www.burnsville.org/forestry. For more information on tree disposal call the Burnsville Maintenance Facility at 952-895-4550.

Argosy to host terrorism expert The public has a chance to learn a little bit about the Federal Bureau of Investigation when Special Agent Karie Gibson speaks at the Eagan campus of Argosy University on Thursday.

An informal discussion with Gibson will begin at 5 p.m. at the campus located at 1515 Central Parkway in Eagan.

Gibson has been a special agent with the FBI for six years and is assigned to the International Terrorism, Horn of Africa squad. She also coordinates the National Center for Analysis of violent Crime Program for the FBI's Minnesota division, working with local police on behavior analysis related to violent crimes.

City seeks new liquor store site By a bare majority, the Farmington City Council directed staff to negotiate a lease for a new location on Hwy. 3 for its downtown liquor store.

The council discussed whether higher visibility at the Tamarack Ridge Center on Hwy. 3 would improve profits for the low-profit downtown store, for which the lease expires July 31. Council members Terry Donnelly and Mayor Todd Larson preferred staying at the current location in the City Center shopping area. The new site would have about 5,060 square feet less than the 6,280 square feet at the current store.

City Administrator David McKnight said the current liquor building owner offered a lower first year rate of $13.50 a square foot compared to $9.50 at the new site. But start-up costs would total about $200,000 to move big coolers and liquor and to extend fiber optic cables to the store to connect its computers to the city's data system, he said.

JIM ADAMS, KATIE HUMPHREY