# Prior Lake *City in Scott County, Minnesota, and the subject of three at-issue pairs in the record* Prior Lake is a city in Scott County, [[Minnesota]], about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of [[Minneapolis]], bordering [[Savage]] and [[Shakopee]]. It was incorporated as a village in 1891. At the 2020 census it had 27,617 residents.[^1] The city appears in three at-issue pairs in this record's Scott County package. One pair reports that a congressional report on Minnesota fraud does not name the city.[^2] A second places a lakefront house built by the lead [[Feeding Our Future]] defendant in Prior Lake.[^3] A third sets out voluntary, non-tax payments from the county's largest employer to Prior Lake and neighbouring governments.[^4] The underlying sources each pair lists are not in this pack. The article reports what the pairs state and does not adjudicate them.[^2][^3][^4] ## Who The city is governed by a mayor and a four-member council, all elected at large to nonpartisan offices. As of the cited revision, the mayor is Kirt Briggs and the city manager is Jason Wedel.[^5] At the state level the city is in Legislative District 54B, represented in the House by [[Ben Bakeberg]]. It is in Senate District 54, represented by [[Eric Pratt]]. In Congress it lies in Minnesota's 2nd district, represented by [[Angie Craig]].[^5] The pack does not record the party of any of these officeholders.[^5] ## When - 1891: Prior Lake is incorporated as a village.[^1] - 1972: The city annexes land that includes parts of the Shakopee [[Mdewakanton]] Sioux Community's tribal lands.[^5] - 1984: The United States District Court affirms that the municipal boundary includes those tribal lands.[^5] - 2009: Zebra mussel shells are found on the shore of Lower Prior Lake. The state Department of Natural Resources confirms the species in Upper Prior Lake as well.[^6] - April 27, 2024: The *Prior Lake American*, the city's main newspaper, publishes its final issue.[^7] ## Where The city surrounds Lower and Upper Prior Lake, south of the [[Minnesota River]]. It lies at the south-southwest edge of the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area.[^1] [[United States Census Bureau]] figures put the city's area at 18.33 square miles (47.47 km²). Of that, 15.44 square miles is land and 2.89 square miles is water.[^6] The lake's two basins lie at the city's center: Lower Prior Lake covers 810 acres and Upper Prior Lake covers 354 acres. Together they form the largest lake in the southern metro area. Upper Prior Lake drains north into the lower basin through a navigable channel beneath Eagle Creek Avenue (Scott County Highway 21).[^6] The lake was renamed for Charles Prior of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad. The [[Dakota]] called it Bdé Mayá Thó ("Lake of the Blue Banks").[^6] The eastern portion of 290-acre Spring Lake, along Scott County Road 12, also falls inside city limits.[^6] Parts of the tribal lands of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a federally recognized tribe, lie within the city boundary.[^5] The Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and its Mystic Showroom are located in Prior Lake.[^7] ## How much The tribal lands are held in federal trust, so the city has no authority to tax them. The 1984 federal ruling nonetheless held that tribal residents are city residents and may vote in municipal elections. It also ordered the city to give them equal emergency police, fire and rescue services.[^5] Wikipedia reports that in recent years the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has voluntarily given the city funds for public safety services. It gives no amount.[^5] At-issue pair AI-Scott-087 states that the county's largest employer, which the pair does not name, makes payments to local government that are voluntary rather than taxes. According to the pair, the payments are: - $400,000 a year to Prior Lake for more than twenty years - $280,000 a year to Scott County since 1997 - $90,000 a year to the City of Shakopee since 2013[^4] The pair lists shakopeedakota.org and the [[Star Tribune]] as its sources, and neither is in this pack. The pack does not establish whether the employer in the pair and the contributor named by Wikipedia are the same body.[^4] ## How many The 2020 census counted 27,617 residents and 10,350 households, with a median age of 40.0. It recorded 10,845 housing units, 4.6% of them vacant. It classed 98.9% of residents as living in urban areas.[^8] The 2010 census had counted 22,796 people in 8,447 households, of which 6,211 were families.[^8] ## In the at-issue record ### Congressional report (AI-Scott-021) The pair states that a 205-page congressional report on Minnesota fraud contains no reference to any of nine terms on a full-text search: Scott County, Shakopee, Savage, Prior Lake, [[Jordan]], Belle Plaine, New Prague, [[Empire Cuisine]] and Shamsia Hopes.[^2] It also states that the report does not name a storefront that, according to the pair, trial testimony put at $25 million.[^2] The pair's listed sources are from oversight.house.gov and sahanjournal.com. Neither the report's title nor its text is in this pack.[^2] ### Federal sentence (AI-Scott-022) The pair states that the lead Feeding Our Future defendant lived in Savage and built a lakefront mansion in Prior Lake with the proceeds.[^3] According to the pair, he was sentenced to thirty-eight years: twenty-eight for the fraud and ten more for "trying to buy the jury".[^3] The pair lists justice.gov and sahanjournal.com as its sources. The pack does not carry the judgment, a DOJ release, the defendant's name, the docket number, or the sentencing date.[^3] ### Voluntary payments (AI-Scott-087) The payment figures this pair states are set out under *How much* above.[^4] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Prior Lake, Minnesota* (revision 1378148425, retrieved 27 October 2026), lead section — location, 1891 incorporation, 2020 population, metropolitan setting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_Lake,_Minnesota [^2]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — anchor document set beside at-issue pair AI-Scott-021. It does not itself establish the search result, which the pair attributes to sources (oversight.house.gov; sahanjournal.com) not in this pack. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^3]: The White House, *Trump Administration's Full-Scale War on Fraud* (May 2026) — anchor document set beside at-issue pair AI-Scott-022. The pair attributes the sentence to sources (justice.gov; sahanjournal.com) not in this pack. https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/05/trump-administrations-full-scale-war-on-fraud/ [^4]: The White House, *Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System* (May 2026) — anchor document set beside at-issue pair AI-Scott-087. The pair attributes the payment figures to sources (shakopeedakota.org; startribune.com) not in this pack. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/ [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Prior Lake, Minnesota* (revision 1378148425), Government section — city officials, legislative and congressional districts, 1972 annexation, 1984 federal district court ruling, SMSC voluntary contributions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_Lake,_Minnesota [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Prior Lake, Minnesota* (revision 1378148425), Geography section — Census Bureau area figures, lake acreages, channel, naming, Dakota name, Spring Lake, 2009 zebra mussels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_Lake,_Minnesota [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Prior Lake, Minnesota* (revision 1378148425), Arts and culture section — closing of the *Prior Lake American* on April 27, 2024; Mystic Lake Casino Hotel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_Lake,_Minnesota [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Prior Lake, Minnesota* (revision 1378148425), Demographics section — 2020 and 2010 census counts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_Lake,_Minnesota