--------- Time is now 50:03. Good evening and I'm calling this workshop of the city of uh Victoria City Council to order. Our workshops are informal and with that we'll dive right into our first agenda item. Council member Roberts is a little late this evening, but he'll be joining
us soon. Regardless, we have a quorum. We have one item on our workshop agenda this evening, which is a budget discussion. This evening, we will hear from our department directors who will share budget pressures and highlight cost savings and operational efficiencies. Kicking us off this evening is assistant city manager Trisha
Pollock. Miss Pollock, welcome. >> Thank you, acting mayor, members of the council. I'm just waiting for our slideshow to get booted onto the screen for you all
and then we'll get going. Dan just walked in too. So, she's saying one minute. It's probably my fault I have magnetic fingers. You >> aren't you all happy. I'm presenting the IT department in a bit. [laughter]
>> It's on there. It's up there. >> That's not the one we're using. >> Yeah, I dragged it there. >> We're not using the flash one. >> Oh, it never mind. Let me There you are, friends.
>> Okay, now are we going to be able to see our notes on here, though? >> I'll be right back. >> Oh my goodness. Thank you. Over there, Elissa.
Okay, I think we are all set. >> It's Pollock, welcome. >> Good evening again. [laughter] So, before I hand things over to [clears throat] Abby for the uh most of the finance slides tonight, I want to start with uh one overview that really
applies to all of our departments in one way or another. This sets the foundation for the work we do collectively and highlights the shared priorities that connect each of our operational areas. So a stable financial foundation ensures
the city can continue delivering highquality services, maintain infrastructure and respond effectively to emerging needs. This requires disciplined fiscal management, clear public communication, and long range planning. Financial sustainability means
aligning revenues and expenditures, forecasting predictable levies, and coordinating capital investments with their long-term operating impacts. Fiscal responsibility means using cons conservative revenue assumptions,
maintaining healthy reserves, and managing debt to protect the city's AAA rate bond rating. Public transparency means sharing clear financial information, keeping the budget process open, and ensuring accountability
through regular reporting. So today's staff will give examples of pressures and cost savings and efficiencies that they have developed and implemented in their respective departments over this past year. So with that I am going to
pass this off to Abby. All right. Thank you. My name is Abby Kber. I'm the finance manager for the city of Victoria. Can you see the finance slide? Perfect. All right. So, let's start off with some cost savings and efficiencies for the
finance department um and some budget pressures we're seeing and then we'll talk about some spotlights. So, the first one um late last year we went through an RFP process for our bank. Um we chose to stay with Old National and
through that process we updated the interest rate on our money market account. We went from 0.04% 04% to 3.56%. So, in terms of dollars, if we use the average balance, that goes from $800 a
year to $71,000 a year. Um, we're excited to make our money work harder for the city. Second, in terms of accounts payable, so that's how we pay our bills. were transitioning from paper check to AC's. Um that's a way safer way to transfer
funds and they lessen the risk for fraud. Um in 2025 we went from 35% um checks made via AC and we increase increased that to 54%.
So there's still room to grow there. And then third, we're working to make the budgeting process more streamlined. So um we implemented a new HR module in our accounting software which includes budget um position budgeting
and so instead of maintaining a massive spreadsheet we can automate it a little bit and make it more accurate and less time inensive. Um we can also plug in multiple scenarios and increase our analysis. So now for some budget pressures. Um
we're fortunate on the finance side. We don't have to buy equipment and we run pretty lean. But there are two budget pressures that we're anticipating. So the first is an increase in the assessment contract for special assessments next year. We're anticipating a 9.6%
increase um which in dollar terms would be about $9,000. Compare that to 5 years ago. It's a 35% increase. And so the cost is driven by a number the number of properties and is charged per parcel. So that's just a
part of being a growing community. And second, so we're always seeking federal and state grants where we can, which is great, but along with grants can come some expenses. Uh if the city receives more than $1 million in federal grants in any single
year, that triggers a single audit. Um, and in 2026, we will receive above the threshold due to highway 5 and 11 project. And so, we will probably need to complete a single audit that will cost between 7 and 10K depending on the
complexity of the audit. And then last but not least, uh, a few spotlights for our department. So, things these are things that we're a bit proud of. Um, the first ties into what Trish mentioned about public transparency. So, the finance department works really hard to provide timely and
transparent financial reporting to the public. We put out a quarterly report each quarter, a really hefty budget book, and then the annual comprehensive financial report, the ACER, and most recently the popular annual financial
report. So, the PAFER for those at home, they're all on our website, so go check them out. Um the GFOA recognizes cities that complete all three, the budget book, the AER, and the paffer. Um and they recognize that with a special triple
crown award, and I'm happy to say Victoria received our first one this year. Um only 14 cities in Minnesota received this distinction. And Victoria is the smallest one by population. Um so we're among the ranks of Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Plymouth, St. Cloud, and
Edina. And the second ties into the fiscal responsibility that Trish mentioned. So we're proud of our AAA bond rating, which is the highest rating available. Um, and a AAA rating is important
because it lowers our interest rate for debt when we're issuing or costs when we're issuing debt. And you can receive a AAA by having healthy reserve, robust financial policies, and historically positive financial results. Um, that's the end of the finance
portion. I think next up we have community safety. >> Abby, just a quick question before you go. >> Yes, of course. Um, I I I think that the answer is somewhat self-evident to myself, but for transparency so that
everybody can understand that the $71,000 of annual estimated income that we're going to now receive on our average balances that we're keeping for assessments, these are these are on the funds that we levy for and then we just disperse throughout the year and sort of
have this stairstep approach to cash moving into our account. Um I I'm gonna presume and you're I hope you can confirm that it's fair that the city of Victoria has no additional risks that
they're taking with those balances. It just really amounted to having Old National Bank pay the city of Victoria a more fair rate of return on using our funds during those period of time. >> Yes, that's correct. So it was on our money market account which is a super
liquid account and correct that was just through our RFP process. We had discussions with Old National and with all the other banks that we talked to and that was one of the results that came out of the RFP process was the account stayed the same. The risk stayed
the same. Everything just moved from 0.04 to 3.56. >> Okay benefit and great job with your awards. Uh, you know, I I think we don't get enough opportunity to spotlight your guys' accomplishments in that, but our
AAA rating also saves the city of Victoria thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars. >> Does. >> So, thanks for your hard work. >> Yes. Thank you so much, >> Mayor Prom and council members. Just a couple more comments if if I may. >> You may.
>> Thank you, Mardy. >> Thank you. Thank you. So just a couple things and to just put it in perspective for I think you all can appreciate and we've talked about this internally but for those who might be watching us at home this evening just to put in perspective how amazing the Triple Crown
Award is um is it if you think about there's 441 cities total that receive this recognition. It's a um in the state of Minnesota, I think there's just over 700 cities. And so the GFOA looks uh
their members are North America, so the US and Canada. Um and if you think about this state of Minnesota having 700 cities, there's 441 in all of the US and all of Canada um
that receive that. So that the this triple crown award. So, I just wanted to put um some additional context into that. And then the other thing going back to um just what we were talking about, excuse me, with the interest
rates, um one of the things, one of the policies that you all have uh as it relates to uh professional services is that every five three to five years we go out and we um do through a request
for proposal services. um really see if we're getting the be most competitive rates. We have these um companies, the professional services and contractors respond to those services. Um and then we also go through an annual process just like a performance evaluation for
an individual employee. We do that um as part of your policies to help ensure that the residents and the businesses of Victoria are getting the best value for their investment here in our community. Um, and it's things like this to go from
that 04 to a 3.56% rate. Um, really if we would have just been in that and not going through this process, we would probably still be at 04%. So, we use those opportunities to try to work in our community's best interest. Um, and
we work really hard to um to carry out that fiscal responsibility that we feel that we have on behalf of uh on uh all our community members. So, um, I just it a lot of what you see in finance is behind the scenes. It's not really public facing and so I just wanted to
take that opportunity to provide some additional context. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Let's not forget about moving to AC. [laughter] >> I don't know if I've ever received a paper check, but anyway, sorry. >> Excellent. Well, thank you guys for your
comments. Thank you. Fire Chief Shoger up next. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> Lots of stuff going on over there for you. >> There is quite a quite a few things. Uh well, thank you again, uh acting mayor and council. I'm very happy to be here
this evening and thanks for giving us all a chance to speak to the cool things that our departments are doing. So, we're looking forward to this. Um quick overview uh of the fire department. Most of you know um we are a combination department made up of 29 paid on call
firefighters and three full-time employees. Those employees are our community risk reduction specialists, our deputy chief and myself and as I mentioned our 29 paid on call firefighters. The public uh the public safety department is also made up of the building department and our community
safety officer. Our community safety officer is Rachel Dorf. I'm hopeful that you've all met her. The building department currently has one building official, Scott Mccardi, um or one building inspector, Mick, and then also our permit tech, uh Gina Bren Breznahan.
Pressures are pretty um static among all of us, I believe, probably, but inflation being one of the big ones for us. Uh currently, as you've probably heard in nationwide, we're experiencing over 5% inflation currently. Oddly, in the fire service, it seems to trend a little higher than that. And they say
five and a half to six percent is pretty typical for purchases for fire departments. And if you uh break that down into fire apparatus, it's actually closer to 10% year-over-year inflation. So, um we're working through that and trying to manage it, but it is currently where we are.
Um one of our bud budget pressures for this year also include our new fire station debt. Um the debt service for that new station will be $1.4 million for the next 25 years. Um it's big and it's a a big pressure that we will have through the every
department but specifically finance and we'll be dealing with helping to manage that with us. Um one of the other things that we've got is the pressure for our department is our increased calls for service as our community continues to grow. We have um grown year-over-year nearly every since I've been on for 18
years now. And um last year we had 468 calls for service and we are on pace to exceed that again this year. So um we'll continue to grow and as we do that we know that that takes staff time to do so including paid on call firefighters and
our full-time staff. Couple of cost savings and efficiencies that we pulled together for this presentation. um 50% actually a little more than that this year um of our calls for service have been handled by our station and our duty crew shifts. Um reducing our need for our paid on call
staff to be coming in. Um what we always think about is when we have all calls, we call them all calls. That's when the pager goes off and we don't have a staff staffed station or people working a duty crew shift or station crew. Um all of our firefighters come to the fire station. And what we know it's a numbers game. We know we have a certain amount
of firefighters we need to complete the tasks that we do as firefighters. Um, but it's not typically 12 or 17 or 20 depending on what that call is. And we have no idea who's coming when we've got an all call. If it's 3:00 in the morning and we've got a carbon monoxide alarm, certainly doesn't require 17 people to
show up, but if we don't have it staffed, we've got 17 possibly people showing up to that call. And that's one of those things that we know is a place where we can grow efficiency and find maybe eventually find cost savings. As our call volume continues to develop and grow, we know that we will continue
working on developing and um increasing our duty crew shifts, which will then put a fewer number of people on shift at our station. Um let me get to that next line. I know. Yeah. Um grants. We've been applying for
grants as we do every year. This year, we just very recently, a couple weeks ago, received a grant from Centerpoint Energy for $2,500. That money is going to go toward purchasing actually already have gone toward purchasing some rope rescue kit um equipment for low angle
rescues. We plan on using that and anywhere that might have a steep angle or a slightly elevated angle we need to pull somebody out of a spot that's dangerous. Um we were thinking specifically about the single track out at Carver Park. We have several calls that we go to and it's usually pretty challenging to get down to where we have
our patients there. Um the idea was to use that equipment for that. So, um, we are very happy to accept that and very honored to have been able to purchase that equipment. Our billing department has been working to build out and optimize our online permitting process. The online permitting process has been
um, challenging for our residents and our contractors over the years. We get a lot of feedback from them about the redundancies that have been there and having to do work multiple times. Well, they've worked through some systems to be able to build a new question tree, helping to streamline that effect and um
hopefully improve our customer service to our residents. So, we're very excited about that and I think it's a big a big win for us. Some department spotlights. I'll start with uh the building department um just because I want to finish with the one that I'm most excited about possibly, but we'll speak about the building
department too. Um, the building department continues to work hard to find efficient ways to get their work done. Um, in 2025, they completed five 5,163 building inspections, 113 new home permits, and processed a total of 1,117
permits. So far in 2026, they are at 1,797 building inspections completed with 65 new home permits and 529 total permits processed. So, pretty similar numbers to what they had last year, I do believe, but um we're working hard to get it
done. Um duty crew firefighters. So, this year we hired on a couple of new firefighters in a new position for us. They're still paid on call firefighters by right and that that's going to be the benefits that they earn. They're still working
towards a parah and have the same um benefits through the city as they would as a regular paid on call firefighter. But what we did was recognize that as we're growing our duty crew model, we've got hours that need to be filled. And through that, what we know is if we can get people who are responsible for filling duty crew hours, we're able to
make sure that we're um getting our calendar filled with um staff stations. So, um what we were able to do is bring on two of our firefighters that were positioned as being paid on call firefighters in 2025. actually hired him in January of 2026 and converted one of
our current firefighters in firefighters into that same uh duty crew role. So their job now instead of responding to all calls is just having a larger requirement for duty crew hours and shifts to fill. So it has actually worked out really really well for us to have these people in these positions and
that we've canceled far fewer of our duty crew shifts and been able to fill much higher percentage of those roles. Um, also interestingly and very cool for us is that two of the people that we hired into those roles um already worked for the city in different ways. One of them
being uh Rachel Dorf who was our community safety officer. She has filled the role in our fire department as a firefighter now. And then one of our public works professionals, Eric Men, was also one of the people who had previous firefighter experience um in Watertown and now has become a
firefighter here in Victoria. So, we're super excited to have both of those people doing that with us. And then the other cool thing that we're really excited about, as I'm sure you've well aware, is the fire station. Um, we are super happy, excited, and thrilled, a little stressed right now because
there's just a lot of things happening out there right now trying to get this project completed, but we are on track to have our uh ribbon ribbon cutting ceremony on August 10th and having you all out for that. And it's going to be a big deal for us to to enjoy that. We
plan on occupying the building and starting to work out of the building by the end of August is our plan and hope. And um that's what I've got for our spotlights and our highlights. >> Great. Council, I'll open it up to any
questions. You guys have any questions or comments for Chief Shoger? >> Yeah. Um obviously excited about the new fire station. Awesome. Um I received some questions on I think the ribbon cutting is the 10th and actually will open around September for if people want
to go see it. >> The public Yep. The public open house is scheduled for September 21st. We're going to have that at our normal schedule for our open house. We thought that would be a really great opportunity for us to get our feet in the building, get settled a little bit and make sure that we've got um an opportunity to kind
of find our own space before we open it to the public and get a whole bunch of people coming through. But we're really excited about that, too. On Septe September 21st will be the night that we have our public openhouse and we'll be welcoming everybody in to come see it. and uh celebrate with us. I should also add that u maybe the very first thing I
could have said about the fire station is again thank you all for your support in this process and helping us get to this place and um opening this new station is a huge part of what this community is going to have in ha uh experience and knowing that this building is going to
serve our community for hopefully 50 70 years. I think that we've really positioned ourselves to grow and grow with the community in this building and know that um we had a lot of foresight in anticipating what the needs were going to be and I think we're going to be very successful in that. So again, thank you all very for very much for
your support here. >> Well, thanks Chief. I mean, you made it easy for us to make those decisions. Um your professionalism, your ability to communicate just the needs that uh this community has one had for the building
and two really the inadequacies of what we've had to deal with for that's been long overdue. That's compromised firefighter safety. Um, everybody wants to go home is our mindset and our mission and we're going to be better positioned to do exactly that in the
future. And it's not lost on me and it's not lost on our other council members that uh this required a lot of above and beyond from you and your team and everybody in the city. It was a group effort and it's it's going to be a wonderful gem and like you said it's
going to serve Victoria for years to come and as we're growing it positions us well for that growth as well. So as you pointed out those calls are increasing and you'll have the capability and to manage that with all the professionalism and safety. So thanks to you appreciate that.
>> Thank you. I will say it's uh an interesting day. Today is our oney year anniversary of losing our firefighter that we lost last year to cancer. Today is that day. So, uh, Laura's with us for 16 years and a lot of this building is because of her. So, so thank you all
that. We'll move it down. Move to Brady. >> Mayor Prom Council, just a couple more comments if I may. >> You may, Miss Hardy, please. >> Okay. So, just putting it in uh a little bit more context. Of course, we've had growth as you've seen um with the the
trend here. And part of that growth, I wanted to make sure that if anybody's tuning in and might not know how we came to this decision and and why we might have a fire station when our fire station looks so beautiful and new. Um, currently it's because that a lot of
people are surprised to find that our fire station is actually more than 40 years old. So if you think about how how much things have changed and have changed as it relates to fire service in the last 40 years, we operate very differently. Um, and so when we used the
lens of health and and safety, that was a primary driver uh along with the deficiencies in that building, but really we looked at health and safety, prioritizing that as part of this, as well as being able to serve the community for the next 50 years. And backing up into making datadriven
decisions, which um uh council, I know that is something that um you look to do. Uh we spent about 18 months prior to even um starting to think about the design of this building looking for the right
location. The long-term plan before we move forward with this plan was to have two fire stations serve our community in the long term by making a decision using data uh to find the correct location for the fire station that could serve the
community long term and meet the response times. We did a lot of modeling, a lot of data crunching. We partnered with the University of Minnesota um to have analysts help us find that correct location. And I just also want to say um a big thank you to
um our friends and neighbors over at Holy Family um who actually sold us the piece of land that was that the fire station is being built on so it could serve the community in that capacity for the years. We we anticipated that we save tens tens of millions of dollars um
in the future for investing now investing for that growth um in a building that can grow and um have flexibility to grow with us in the future. Um and we will not have to build
a second large fire station. Um so kudos to you all for using that the data to help drive your decisions. Could I ask a couple of quick questions? How many fire stations does Chanhassen have? Just off the top of your head, one because I know there's a satellite one
that's off of like Minasha Parkway and then there's one downtown that's not a >> So the downtown one is their only fire station that's currently active. They had a satellite station that they took out of service several years ago and that's now a base where uh Ridge is currently operating out of. >> All right. Um, I'm not sure who I should
ask this to, but I know last year we moved to the duty crew, station crew model. How much better response times did we have based on doing that? Do we have any hard data on that? >> Do you want to use the microphone, Dave? >> Sorry, I probably should have asked that
earlier, but your points made me think about it. So, >> no. And I I don't have that data exactly. I can't give you exact numbers and that would be 100% correct, but I will tell you anecdotally, um, typically about 5 minutes quicker response time per call. So, it it depends on where the
call is going and how far it's out. But, if you think about the mode and the model and how it works, if we've got people in the station, they're able to get turned out and on an apparatus and on their way to a call for service without having to get up, get out of bed, get dressed, get in their car,
drive to the station, and then do those things. So you're taking that part of that process out of the system. So what you're doing is you're putting people in the station ready to respond now. Um so that is on average I would say it's about five minutes, maybe a little less than. Um but pretty close to that.
>> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> that's great. >> Anything else? Council. >> All right, moving on. Public works director Brady Lee, you're up next. Welcome, Mr. Lee. Thank you. Thank you for having me, Mayor Tent, members of the council.
>> Our pleasure. >> All right. Public works. Oh, don't know what I did there. Uh, department overview. Public works staff. We have about 12 full-time. Well, we do have 12 full-time right now, and we do have five seasonals. It is the
most amount of seasonals that this public works department has ever had, and it's been working out really, really well. We have five full-timers in water, sewer, and storm water. We have um we have a new addition to the streets department, Ryan Cleber, who you met at the last council meeting. He introduced
himself. He's our second addition to the streets. Then we have five full-timers in parks and the five seasonals. Like I said, some quick statistics is we have about 57 12 miles of streets that we're maintaining, 69 miles of sewer and water pipe. Uh 53 miles of trails and
sidewalks, and then 27 active and passive parks. Um looking at adding two to that active and passive park with Marsh Hollow and Hunters Brook coming up here soon hopefully. But as far as the streets and
water and sewer adding a couple miles a year, it seems like with the growth that we've been having, budget pressures similar to the previous ones and similar to last year as well. But the number one for public works is definitely the growth and the increase in maintenance that goes along with that
growth. Um, as well as some aging infrastructure, but um, additional investment for equipment and materials and staff. Um, mainly with that one, I'm going to talk about downtown west. Um, there's a lot of in infrastructure being installed in
downtown west, and it's not just like the sewer and the water, but it's it's the drain tile, it's the landscaping plan. We're adding five underground storm water systems out there. Um, plowing, it's going to have to be done by the same time that the current downtown is done. So, it's going to be
adding staff, adding equipment, and all of that. so it can all get done and be held up to the standard that we have currently. Um, a weird budget pressure this year has been the price of cutting edges for the big trucks as well as our plow trucks. Uh, one of our big trucks
used to be about $3,000 to outfit with cutting edges for the front blade, the wing, and the belly blade. There's about a 400% increase on that throughout the last year. um we were be able to we were able to purchase some discounted materials to get us through the next two
years um to hopefully save us money. Otherwise, yeah, this the steel cost has just gone through the roof for some reason. Yeah. Like now it's about >> saw blade. >> Yep. The blades the wearable part on the blade. So those now each truck's about
10 to 11,000 if we wanted to outfit it with new cutting edges on it. >> Three grand to 12. Wow. Yeah, more budget pressures, new infrastructure is going to be water storage that's going to be coming down the pipeline here soon. Um, we're going
to need more storage as a community continues to grow. Um, with that addition of equipment for more areas that we're going to be maintaining. A cold storage building would be extremely helpful. It needs to be in the future budget for the public works site
downtown west like I talked about. And then also all the roundabouts are all going to be all the new roundabouts that are being installed along five and these county roads are going to be maintained by the city of Victoria and rolling acres. So those are also going to be increased staff, increased equipment,
increased hours that need to be um we need to be thinking of. And then trails, trees, and out lots continue to be a huge budget pressure for us, especially the trees and outlots recently. Um, dealing with a lot of emerald ashbor,
dealing with a lot of dead trees and outlots that we're trying to mitigate as much as possible. A lot of these trees are hazardous trees that could fall into the roadway or onto private property and such. We're trying to get rid of as safely and efficiently as possible. All
these trees in the outlots are too big for public works to handle. So the great majority of it is we are hiring all of this work out because we just don't have the equipment or the staff to do it. And then trails. Um we've kind of put off a lot of trail projects in the past few years and we're trying to get caught up
on that. So there is going to be a lot of trail work that needs to happen in the future um to get our trails back up to the standard that we had previously. some cost savings and efficiencies. So this last year we were able to purchase um some fertilizing equipment and bring
that service inhouse. So we did have the initial cost of the equipment to do all the fertilization at all the parks and in our road ditches and stuff like that. Um, we did have that initial cost of equipment and then we kind of budgeted what we thought the material cost would be for the entire year and we're about
halfway through and our projections are we're going to be right around saving $10,000 and what our projections were and we do have a lot better product than what we were getting previously. We've been doing a lot more areas. We've been doing it a lot more effectively and efficiently. Um, water testing, we do a
lot of water testing. Um there's weekly bacteria tests that we do. Um we're able to switch companies to a company out of Hopkins instead of one going down to New Alm and we're going to be saving about 75 bucks a week just by switching companies or 75 bucks a month um
switching companies to that company that's going to be out of Hopkins to do our bacteria testing. And then we've also saved a lot of money black topping this year with the ability to purchase the mill and as well as the roller that we purchased recently. In the last two
years, we've been a and also with the additional staff, we've been able to bring a lot of the blacktop projects that we would typically farm out to a small contractor in house. We've been able to do a lot of street repair work um on Park Drive, street repair work um
and a lot of the trails that we can bring in house and we can do that instead of hiring it out and department spotlights. Just wanted to highlight um licenses number one. A lot of the guys go out for their sewer and water licenses. And then there's
trail or not trail, there's tree inspector licenses, there is playground inspector licenses, there's storm water licenses, there's a whole lot of licens that they that they can go out and get that we give them the opportunity to have. And a lot some of these employees came from other cities that did not allow them to go for these licenses because they weren't in that department.
So one of the big benefits about Victoria is we like people to cross train. We want them to get the experience that they want to get. So, a lot of people have been able to go out and get licenses that they wanted to get that they didn't previously have. So, let's go down the list of what um public
works has gotten in the last year. So, we have Nick Jacobson. He got his seawater and his SC sewer, and he also got a tree inspector renewal. So, he was never allowed to get those licenses in the past, but he had the time in to get them, so he was able to actually get a class up license. But um Alex went and
got his SB sewer license and he got his construction installer um renewal. That's a storm water license. Um Jason Cam camera, he got his category A&E herbicide license. So that is the one that allows us to put down all the fertilizer for the fertilization program
here at the city. Uh Cory Stender got his sewer collections, his SC sewer collections license and his construction installer renewal. Uh Mason Weber went out and got his batuminous street inspector. So now he can go and do a lot of a lot more black topping, hardscape inspections, stuff like that. He can
work with the mill and overlay company. He can work with the uh um what did we just do on Coachia? Why am I blanking? >> Fog. >> Fog. Yeah, chip seal. Fog seal. He can work with those companies a lot and do that inspection. Um Eric went out and got his SB sewer license and he also got
his smart salting license for winter. And then Russ Kerber got his smart salting this last year. So it was all done in the last year and we still have licenses to go as far as playground inspector and tree inspectors coming up. And then a couple CDL licenses will be
coming up here in August as well. The five seasonals, I don't ever remember a time in my time here having five seasonals and it's been extremely beneficial. Our parks I don't think have ever looked better than they do now. Um a great group of kids. um they work hard
and they've done a great job. I can't speak highly enough about the five seasonals we have this year. And then just a little storm water update since I know we were able to add that position in the budget a year or two ago to have another storm water employee and just a little update of what they've done for a
year to date. They've done about 115 catch basins that they've inspected and they've cleaned out 29 of those. Uh they dredged out one of the final drainage channels that's up in Bayiff that leads to Lake Minnetonka. They've cleaned and repaired multiple rounds of street drain trial from roots
or calcium. Um drain tile that runs underneath the street in the boulevard gets clogged a lot with calcium or tree roots from boulevard trees. So they've been able to do a lot of maintenance on that. They installed some new roof drains and connections at the rec center with some drain tile to prevent future
flooding. Each of them holds three storm water certifica certifications that they get renewed on a two or three year basis. Um the big one is that they've been able to work with WSB who's been doing a [clears throat] lot of our um they lead the projects for the um storm
pond dredging if you will. So they've been able to go out and do some inspections of their own and work with WSB and their program called Swamp to prioritize which storm ponds we're going to be dredging out every year. So that's been a huge help and they can kind of steer WSB
where the maintenance really needs to be happening and where it's more crucial. And then just the the weekly and daily erosion control inspections that they have been doing based on the amount of rain that we get. They have to be out in all of the developments doing erosion control inspections making sure that every that the developers are following
their SWIP. So and that is what public works has. >> Great. Council, do you have any questions for Mr. Lee? Actually, I do. Mr. Lee, thank you for your presentation. On the topic of licenses for your staff, um, can you just give us
a ballpark of what those cost per person to get and per license? Is there a wide range, narrow range? Um, so for the sewer and water license, it's four, it's about 350 bucks and that gets you the license fee and the class to
take it. So per license. So your SD, so your sewer would be about 350 and your water would be about 350. And then that if you go up to your SC or your C or your B, it's kind it's pretty much the same price. Tree inspector, I do not
know off the top of my head. I want to say it's $500 or less. It's not overly expensive. Same with playground inspector. Um I know the tree inspector is a pretty intense course and it's a hard test. Same with the playground one, but I want to say it's around that $500
range if I was to ballpark it. So, >> okay. Well, kudos to you for making those investments in our people. They um you know I think as a manager you can appreciate just how difficult attrition
is. It's expensive. It puts a lot of strain on the other members of the department. It takes a long time for new people to come up to speed. So anything that we can sort of you know increase those ties that bind our staff to our great city, those are smart managerial
moves and um you get a lot of bang for your buck. So, thanks for thinking of that and being an effective leader in that standpoint. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, it gives you the it gives the people who live here the chance to have other people do the work if somebody's
out or somebody's had anything else that's gone on. We've got six people who can do this instead of four. So, I think it's a great way to continually breed talent within the group. So, echoing your thoughts. Thank you.
great uh creativity with seasonal fulltime that sounds like that's working well and a lot of growth in the future. Do you see seasonal being a big part of that growth or do you see more full-time or combination or >> I see a combination but I think uh probably the biggest one to take
advantage of if we can would be seasonals especially with the amount of um after looking at the landscaping plan for downtown west and we're still trying to figure out what's going to be private versus public maintain and stuff like that but um to be able to hold a high standard and um especially in that area
and the existing area I think seasonals will be very key to that success. Yes. Okay. Thank you. >> One more question for you and I can't remember what it was about, but you and I were talking about street brine. Not only does it make it safer for everybody, but we were purchasing it and
then we were talking about making our own brine. Where are we with that at this point in time? >> I believe I have it in the 2028 budget. Yeah, CIP. It's about the equipment that we priced out this last year was about
$45,000. >> So, we kind of need the space to do it and we'll probably end up needing some more salt storage because it's going to take that much more salt to make the brine. >> Um, but uh it's Yeah, we're right at about that 2028. It's in the CIP
>> to be to purchase the system to make our own brine. >> Thank you. >> Near Prom Council. Sorry, >> Miss Hardy. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Um so just a couple more comments for you all uh related to to that. So um
you might recall the discussions that we had around high highway 5. Um one of the things that we have done here is make sure that um that our public works team is not an afterthought with some of the
landscaping pieces. this is, you know, we design pretty things and the community wants beautiful things on this key corridor coming into our economic center. Um, but one of the strategic smart things I feel that we did was put
our um public works team, our leaders Brady and Ryan, at the forefront of those conversations to help drive some of those recommendations and decisions um as it relates to this landscaping. So you could have something was beautiful but also that would be low cost to
maintain. We weren't putting um creating safety issues for them or something that was going to be a hassle for us to maintain and require us to hire a whole bunch of more staff just to maintain a key corridor. So um so that's something
that you don't see in every city and I think that's something I'd like to call out here. A couple other things too that we didn't spend time talking about, but again driving using data to drive decisions um that I think when I geek out on some of these these these data
points um I think is worth a mention the smart salulting. So um Brady correct me if I'm wrong here. I am going to try to not make it technical, but we have technology in our vehicles, in our snow
plows that allow us to see um how much salt is being dropped. And so we have a target that we say, okay, there's standards. We kind of want to be in this range or window. And we have technology that we can look at in all of our
vehicles to see exactly how much we're what those patterns are. Um, and that helps us make sure that we're um monitoring our costs um along the way and can change and pivot to um based on
what we're monitoring on that data. And that's new technology that you introduced. I don't know if there's anything more you want to add to that. >> Uh yeah, we have it in all five of our big trucks now. Um we added it within the last year. this last um winter season was our first full season with
it. But it creates GPS data points the second that truck gets turned on and leaves and it tells me if the plow is up, the plow is down, how fast it's going, how much salt it's laying, um which side of the lane they're plowing, um a whole bunch of data points, how
many times they turn off and on their sander or if they hit the blast button or not. So then we have a total um tonnage at the end that tells you how many times I mean how many tons of salt they used on their route. And then it kind of the
fun thing is for us at least it kind of creates like an internal battle to see who can use the least amount of salt and still have the same effect, you know, because then they kind of poke fun at one of each other. When somebody's using a,000 pounds more salt for the same amount of lane miles, they give each
other a hard time. So >> they're holding each other accountable. So, not only is there an environmental benefit, but that technology allows us to have more accurate uh more stable budget projections um as we as we look at that line item. And as you know,
Minnesota weathers can be unpredictable in the winter. And so, some winters we don't have a lot of snow and some winters we do. And so, we um tend tend to budget on a three-year average for for that. So, we're not budgeting for those highs and those lows. um but this
will allow us to be more accurate and stable there. And the other thing that I just want to mention has to do with um pavement indexing rating and that is allowing us to um again make data driven decisions. So you essentially um assign
a number to the condition of the road. We go out, we map the entire community, we look at all the road conditions and you give it a baseline score. you essentially have a number that says, "Okay, um, when it hits this number, this is the range or the number that we
start to look at. It's time to replace that road." Instead of just throwing it into your CIP like a lot of communities do, and then when it hits that year, you do that work. This allows us to make sure that we're investing the limited amount of dollars that we have um in a
manner that's going to um give us the biggest bang for the buck. So, I don't know if there's anything, Brady, you want to add to that. >> I think you nailed it. >> Thank you. >> I guess one question I had just from the standpoint of public works, like gas is
a dollar more gallon than it was last year. I'm not going to say tariffs are responsible for steel being four times more expensive, but are we factoring that into their budget for this year and next year so that we are appropriately
aligning the budgets for them >> microphone. >> Sorry, I didn't know. Trisha, please. Thank you. Not sure who to ask. >> Council member Peterson. Um, yes, we are factoring that in. So while we look at
three-year averages, we also look at, you know, increase in number of vehicles and then also um the higher gas fuel costs. So um we are taking that all into consideration for 2027.
>> Great. Thank you. Next up, uh Miss Garin, our city engineer. >> Good evening, acting mayor, members of the city council. Let's see what I am going to talk about. I know it'll come as a shock that somewhere I will talk
about transportation projects. Everybody's favorite topic. Um so department overview overview as you are well aware um our department deals primarily with infrastructure mobility and stewardship. A lot of what
we do is behind the scenes. So, we're responsible for planning, maintaining, and improving the city's transportation, utility, and storm water infrastructure. Um, we focus on m ensuring that residents and businesses have safe,
reliable systems while planning for future growth and infrastructure needs. Um, much of the work we do is behind the scenes, but we're working to support the community's plans and the council's strategic priorities going forward. So
budget pressures uh very consistent with everybody else's and follow closely behind Brady's. So um certainly aging assets uh growth pressures and funding constraints. So um while Brady is really
dealing with the results of the things that our department and Jen's department sends his way. um we have to do the engineering department has to do a lot of the planning on the forefront for him
um so that he can um continue to be prepared for that. So certainly we have the increasing costs to maintain that you all were just talking about with the increasing gas prices, the increasing costs of construction that are typical
in any community and then the increasing costs of infrastructure, added infrastructure as the community continues to grow both in the south growth area and then the downtown area that we talked about. Um but then also
um as has been touched on really particularly with what Dana was mentioning and with what Brady was mentioning, it really is important that we continue to carefully prioritize how we spend money going forward and how
we determine um what is the right order to do things and how to prioritize things um into the future. So a lot of what we've been focused on really I would call it in the last two years we
really have been trying to um look at some things in a different way and do a reset in another way. So first the pond prioritization has been a big focus. So Brady touched on this a bit. His staff has been um critical in this work and we
did cover this in a workshop in a little bit more detail last fall, but um the city's uh storm water consultant WSB did do a pretty deep dive in the city's what are we up to now, Brady? 80ome storm water ponds. 90 100.
>> I'm in denial that there's over a hundred. I want to >> 127. >> So many of those are >> okay. I want to just pretend there's only 80. 120 sound like a lot more. But
uh we went through an entire process to identify a number of them that required field investigation. And that prioritization was developed through the city's swamp program, storm water asset management program, which is a online
tool that helps on a mapping basis identify which storm water ponds are likely to have deteriorated beyond the point that they're as effective as they used to be. We layered on that technical data with actual field data from the
storm water um public works staff to determine which ones were the worst. We did a bunch of field investigation the consultant did to come up with a prioritization for which ponds required what work and that is now in the city's
budget so that we can budget for that work more effectively going forward. And we're in the process of working through that implementation. Uh so we worked through the 2026 project and we are now starting to build out the project for the 20
schedule for the 27 project. Um if you recall, we haven't had uh super frozen winters the last couple of years. So we want to make sure that we get that schedule and get that work bid soon enough that hopefully we actually have winter and
it's frozen enough to do that work. So trying to build out those schedules so we can get the work completed on time. So we're pretty excited about that. For those of us um who've been around a long time, we have been talking about the need to prioritize that pond maintenance
for probably 15 years. So the fact that we now have a schedule and a program and a process going forward is exciting to some of us. Um pavement planning is the next one. Uh Dana just touched on it in her remarks. That's quite all right. Um
we did just complete I think within the last two weeks the company that did the road rating has driven every single street in the community. Um the rating that was completed included an AI element. So they collected data,
a whole lot of data on every single mile in the street. I saw the first blush of the spreadsheet that has a whole lot of information about the pavement condition. um that's getting pulled in with GIS data and we're going to be
using that information combined with all of the history we have on the city's pavement system to create and update a new 10-year pavement management plan to look at our mill and overlay program, our street maintenance program that
would include crack sealing, fog ceiling, chip sealing to the extent that we're going to chip seal. Um, and then any more significant improvements. We don't have many roads that require a more significant improvement, but uh we'll be bringing that new 10-year
prioritization list back to the council sometime this fall. Um, so we're excited having that program built out for a whole 10-year look ahead will allow the budgeting process to be more complete.
We'll also be taking a look at whether or not we want to take a look at some bonding opportunities to see if it makes more fiscal sense to potentially do some bonding for some of the milan overlay work. We've talked with um the
finance department about possibly doing street reconstruction bonds to see if it makes more sense to combine some of those projects to um realize some cost savings for two reasons. One, economies of scale. to the costs just go up every
year you delay them as the price of things increase. So, you know, depending on the picture of how things come together, it may make more sense to combine some neighborhoods and do them earlier versus waiting. So, that's some analysis we'll do with the finance
department and with Dana after we have that data assembled. And then lastly, I did want to highlight the MS4 audit. um that was a exercise and we've shared this with the council again but previously in a workshop but it was worth highlighting that um the
city's MS4 permit is subject by the subject to an audit by the MPCA but the city elected to do its own self audit on its own. We did pay our storm water consultant WSB to facilitate that audit,
but it allowed us to take a look at the program ourselves and begin to implement changes to our program to reduce the risk of having an audit finding by the MPCA and the public works and communications staff have been implementing the improvements to the
city's program as a result of that audit. So, um, some of the things that Brady touched on in his presentation are changes that have been implemented as a result of that audit. And I'm sure Kendra perhaps might highlight some of the changes that have been made in the
communications program. But if you've had an opportunity to um, experience the water drop presentation uh, at Little Vic, that's one of those cool things that the city does as part of our education program for that. Um
lastly, department spotlights. It for some of us it's extremely exciting to see the progress on the arburidum area transportation plan improvements. Uh having highway 5 and 11 completed and
open was exciting. seeing the results of the landscaping for the two roundabouts that um have been implemented, which was the result of a collaboration between the design team and input from the public works department as Dana noted
was fun to see actually on the ground. Um and then of course none of that would none of that work would have been possible without regional partnerships with both Mindot and Carver County. None of that work happens without those groups and that's going to continue to
be critical as we look towards future investments in transportation in particular. As you all know, we're not done. After we get through the highway 5 projects, we're starting to look at um the south growth area with highway 10 and highway
11. Those projects are in the design phase. So, we'll talk about those, continue to talk about those at future workshops, as well as Highway 7 and the rest of Rolling Acres Road and the intersection of Rolling Acres Road and
Highway 7. So, more to come. Thanks, Council. Any questions for Miss Garin, the city city engineering department? >> Great progress. Um the I heard from multiple people love the creativity on the roundabout
in the design of it and the rock and the it's got like three different things in it, right? Um, so it's uh and I don't think it was cra those, correct me if I'm wrong, but
that's not the highest level of roundabout, right? I mean, that's kind of our middle of the road or is that >> the council selected the middle? >> Yeah, >> the middle option. >> So, but it turned out great. So, >> great.
>> Sorry. Anything to add, >> Mayor Prom Council, am I good? Um, I just we mentioned it before, but for the sake of of this presentation, again, we all know this is
a significant investment. Um, and Cara did mention our our partners. Um but I I think also would like to highlight our our partners at our congressional our federal partners and our uh state um
delegates as well because um we were able to secure uh and mind partner but we were able to secure uh the hundred I'm using rough numbers roughly $150 million project the city of Victoria's
cost share um when we firsted started this we were looking at 11 million. I think we were able to through all the ex funding sources the external funding sources through those partnerships um and the support on state and congressional leaders we were able to
reduce that uh and the county to about three two to three million uh for our city cost share. To put that in perspective, if we would have had to do the $150 million investment on our own, it would have taken the entirety of the
city's budget for 20 years to do one that one small project. Um, and it's a big project, but in terms of number of road miles, um, that one project would take the
entirety of our budget for 20 years. So just trying to add some context and perspective on that. So, um I I really the hard work and it's a lot of work these applications, the regional solicitation, the lobbying. Um there's a
lot of work that goes into this and so I just want to thank um Carver County, they've done a lot of heavy lifting and Cara and her team um Trish and Abby for being part of that process and it's really um has benefited our community and our taxpayers.
Thank you. Great. Up next, community and economic development director, Jen Brewington. Miss Brewington, welcome. >> Hello, acting mayor and council. I'm going to be talking about our community development department. All right, some department overview. So,
we are department of three. So, shout out to Brian and Travis from my team. Um, the community and economic development department helps shape Victoria's future by planning thoughtful and sustainable growth. We guide development to ensure new projects align with the city's vision, comprehensive plan, and community goals. And we also
work to attract new businesses while supporting and retaining existing businesses through business outreach, redevelopment efforts, and partnerships. We also lead redevelopment initiatives that revitalize key areas. We encourage private investment, and we strengthen Victoria's downtown and commercial
districts. some budget pressures from our department. So, increased development activity. So, as Victoria continues to grow, more development applications, redevelopment projects, and planning initiatives require additional staff time and technical review. A lot of folks don't realize a lot of these
projects that you see come on um to your meetings um take years, sometimes multiple years. Um so, it's a lot of technical review for a lot of these projects. Um the next one is increased demand for services. So our residents, our business owners and developers deserve to have timely responses and we
want to make sure we're accomplishing that. Um so we do have more engagement opportunities and expanded planning and economic development reviews with that. Um and again those project reviews is really really timeconuming as we continue to grow and some of these are very technical with some of the
shoreland issues that we have and just some of the utility connections. And the last one is just the growth outpacing staff capacity. So, the um the pace has really increased with our development as I had just mentioned. Um and that just really allows us not to have new strategic initiatives or projects while
we balance the day-to-day operations, some cost savings and efficiencies. So, every Thursday we have a group of staff that meets. It's called the development review team. Um I'm very proud of that group. It's something that we uh really take pride in. It's departments um throughout the city and we review
technical issues with every project. Um, it's something that not a lot of cities do. We do this weekly and the reason we do that is to make sure that we're not losing any steam on projects and we've got all eyes on all the technical things that we may need to review. Um, so I just wanted to mention that. Um, something that we do here in Victoria,
um, we've streamlined our development and review process by using standards, procedures, templates, agendas, and checklists. Um, this improves our consistency, uh, reduces review times and creates more efficient experience for applicants and staff. We also do cross department
collaboration. So we work really closely with engineering, public works, uh parks, communications, finance, admin to coordinate projects, solve issues early and then reduce duplication of efforts across departments. And the last one here on my screen is
the consultant management. So instead of hiring a full-time staff, we strategically manage consultant contracts and assign work based on project needs. um ensuring that the city receives quality expertise while making the use of our available resources that we have.
And some depart department spotlights. So, we've got some new development have as you've seen uh throughout the community last few years. Um we continue to support highquality residential, commercial, and redevelopment projects that expands the housing choices in the community, strengthens our tax base, and
enhances Victoria's economic vitality. We also have done some ordinance updates. Uh this department has moderiz modernized and updated city ordinances to improve clarity, respond to community needs, and create more predictable and efficient development processes. Um some things that we've reviewed were noise,
fences, outdoor dining, and we've got a few more um on the docket coming up yet this year. And then lastly, we've got our 2050 comp plan kickoff. Um this is a really really big project for the city. Um as most of you are aware, we have to do this um in requirement by the Met
Council. Um, this year marks the launch of it and it's going to be a communitydriven process with a lot of engagement. It's going to help us guide our growth, our infrastructure, parks, housing, transportations, and development for the next 20 years. Engagement is starting this summer um
with local advisory committees and just the public um to explain what the comp plan is and just to make sure that the uh community is aware that this project is um online and coming to the community. Um, and with that, that's all I have, but I do want to give you just
some quick updates on some development. Um, so the downtown west condo sale center opened yesterday. They have 54 reservations to walk through that, which is really exciting. Uh, those price points on those condos are going to be about 800,000 to 1.2. Um, and they are
anticipated to share the names of the restaurants in retail um, in about 2 to three weeks. So stay tuned on that. They are working on LOIs right now. Um they also have three to four retail building permits being reviewed by our uh building department um for the
construction of those retail structures. And then um just some occupancy notes. So the Olivine apartment building is at 28% occupancy which is wonderful since they opened in March and they continuously to have four to five applications daily that are coming through their doors. And then the row
they are at 80% um I'm sorry 85% occupancy right now and they're continuing to get applications as well. And that is all I have for you right now. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Miss Brewington. Council, do you have any questions for Miss Brewington? I don't think I have any questions, but just a couple of
comments that um kudos to you and your team. You you have like no shortage of things going on and and by any objective standards, it it just is daunting. But um want to I think it's important to
know that Downtown West is going to shape the view of this community immeasurably and I want to just say thank you for getting that RFP process started. Um it's a significant asset that the city had sitting almost lying
fellowow for a long time and we've taken that investment to transform what will be Victoria. And you it's kind of hard to see it now, but uh in 10 years from now, it's going to be astonishing. And I think that our vision for council has
been that that's our number one priority is to make that that investment as successful as we can. And so thank you for uh setting aside some of the distractions that routinely take place where maybe some of the loudest voices aren't the most important voices that
the the quiet steady surefooted and you know keeping vision on what the growth of Victoria looks like and I think you've done an outstanding job of taking our view and converting that into action. So good job Jen. Thank you.
Sorry, anything to add? >> I do not have anything to add, mayor. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Next up, Alyssa Nelson probably talking about the rec center and no, >> I have a few things before the rec
center. >> You have a few things before. All right. Sorry. >> That's okay. It's just a precursor to what >> it's not on my script, so I was just taking a guess. >> That's okay. We are going to get there. Um, but first I'm actually going to kickstart us by talking about elections. Um, and since this department is um
really just self-sufficient by name, um, what I'm going to talk about for my department overview is actually the staff that are that are um really make our elections successful in Victoria. And to kickstart us as number one, rightfully so, it's our city clerk position. Obviously, you're familiar
with Claudia Ediswald. She's here taking minutes and she's here with us at every council of this role um as our official minute taker for our meetings. She does administer the municipal elections for the city of Victoria. So what does that mean? She is working with our election
judges um selecting our election judges, ensuring party balance. She's making sure our polling places are set up for election day, that everything runs smooth on election day. um and also making sure that our machines are operating properly. Now, officially
Carver County administers the elections within the entirety of the county. Um so, federal, state, and county elections. Um they give us more or less a baton to say now this is your baby on election day to which Claudia then
manages. Um but outside of that uh any sort of absentee or um mail and balloting is still remains at the county and so they take on that responsibility so we don't have to manage that aspect of it. >> Um since we all know Claudia is a wonder
woman but she doesn't quite have superpowers um and she still has her day-to-day um responsibilities as a city clerk. We do hire an elections assistant which is my number two here. We've been very fortunate to have the last six years the same elections assistant come
back as a temporary position to really help um Claudia manage the election leading up to and prepping for and also helping with some augmenting of her city clerk responsibilities. Person's been Gene is Gan Romer. She's been with us since 2022. Uh she came back in 2024 and
she's back with us this year and she's helping um every couple of days u manage the elections process. And then third uh is our election judges on here. The city of Victoria hires 40 to 60 election judges, which is really the day-to-day
operators of our election. They are very dedicated um to the elections process, to democracy, and we're very fortunate to have these folks join us um every election. And actually, I'm just going to bump right over to budget pressures because without these folks, we would not be able to do our job. Uh staffing
hav staffing happens to be the the hardest challenge for us um when it comes to election day recruitment. Um especially for such a um recognized role um is becoming more and more challenging each year especially with maintaining
party balance. Um so we continuously have to ensure that we keep our staffing levels appropriate. Uh why this is a budget pressure is this year we added an additional precinct. So previously we had five precincts, four polling places I should say. we added a new polling place. Um, so now we have five polling
places instead of four. And I know that's a little confusing. Um, but more or less we have a fully staffed polling places. Um, and we need to make sure that we have enough election judges to make sure that we're operating correctly. We do have that for 2026, but it continues to be a challenge each
year. And then the second for voting or for budget pressures is our voting equipment. I typically don't include this on here for our budget presentations as our voting equipment is actually owned and operated by Carver County. Um they more or less just lend us the equipment and then charge us um
some fees for maintenance of the software and maintenance of the machines. Um however, we have been put on notice that they are looking to update our elections equipment not in 2027. So this isn't happening for our upcoming budget but in 2028. So, we are
expecting to see um some sort of increase to our budget, not this year, but in next year's conversation, cost savings and efficiencies. Um I'd like to shout out Claudia uh for receiving a state grant to increase accessibility in our polling places, uh
which included uh installing an accessible uh door button at the Lions Pavilion, which was our only precinct uh that did not have so. Um, so now it's a fully accessible uh precinct and polling place. And then also adding curbside voting signage. A lot of folks don't
know that's an option. So we have additional signage that allows folks or recognizes that that is an option for folks and then gives them instructions on how to move forward with that process. And then an efficiency over the past year includes a new election judge training being offered here at the city
of Victoria. Um Carver County is required by law to train our election judges and they do so um quite well. However, uh they only have so much space and so much time to do that judge training and this year uh the space ran
out with all the increase in election judges throughout the county. Um so the only alternative option was to host it online. Recognizing a lot of our judges don't necessarily want an online judge online training option or they're not able to. Uh we did ask the county and
the county gave us permission to host kind of a watch party um here in house to give our judges the ability to get adequate training um before the election process. And then department spotlights. Uh people might not realize it in this room, but primary election day is only
15 days away. I promise you Claudia and I both recognize that. Um but we are prepared. we are ready um at each of our locations and we just held our public accuracy test the day that we test all of our machines and ensure that
they are working properly last Thursday and that went off without a hitch. Um so we are ready to go and our equipment is stored securely away waiting for that election day. Um, and then the second thing I wanted to highlight is um, our
team's quick ability to pivot. This last year at the last remaining minutes of 2025, we were, at least that's what it felt like. Um, we were put on notice by one of our old polling locations that they um, they were unable to accommodate us for this year's election. So Claudia
was able to quickly pivot from that and locate a new precinct or a new polling place um within that district and was able to work with them, ensure that that spot met our elections needs and was able to book that for the 2026 election.
And then we did go from um a combined precinct four and five to a standalone four and five. Um and that was quickly identified at the last remaining stretch of 2025 with the increasing number of population that we've received [clears throat] in the south growth area. So um we're really excited for
this upcoming election season and we know it's going to be successful and accurate as always. With that, council acting mayor, I will stand for any questions. >> Thank you very much, Miss Nelson. Council, any questions or comments?
I I don't have any questions, but I'll say that uh thank you for that presentation and it just underscores that the efforts that are maintained right at these grassroots level of uh having free and fair elections that
we're all sitting here on the dis because of the ability to translate the will of the citizens into their elected leaders and I'm I'm grateful for this opportunity. And it's because you're able to rise
above the noise and the misinformation and focus on what really matters and that is being able to bring the will of the people to have their leaders drive the decision and direction of of the city that we live in. So, thank you for that.
>> Thank you for those comments. And it really is a team effort. >> I hope you weren't sick of me because I'm sticking here. >> It next. >> I know. very fitting for Nelson information technologies. Miss Nelson, welcome.
>> Thank you, acting Mayor. Um, and please, uh, as you know, I'm not the IT IT guru here. Um, Eric, uh, Shy, our IT director, really gets that title, and you've already witnessed that it is not always my strong suit earlier this evening. Um, so please bear with me. He
did help me craft this presentation, and I really hope I don't butcher it for him. uh because we do really have a strong IT department here. Um but to kick us off on department overview, what we put first and foremost is cyber security because that is truly the core of what we do in this department. Um
similar to when you want to make sure that your car doors are locked so you hit it twice to hear the uh the honking of the horn or you're checking your house keys to make sure that you have them exactly where you left them. Um we're always ensuring that our systems are locked tight and they're um we're
putting in the the infrastructure that we need to to make sure that it's secure and safe. Um because really what we think about this is that it's not only important, it's actually vital to what we do in every city service that um each of my colleagues presented on earlier. Um and that includes making sure that
our passwords are of specific length, making sure that our firewalls are up to date or our servers are up to date. Um, and making sure that our facilities are locked and some malicious user isn't able just to sneak behind us and get into our IT storage system. Um, luckily
we have a strong network, it pun intended, um, but a strong network team behind us. Um, not only is it just Eric and I, um, but we also rely on the League of Minnesota Cities, they have a robust cyber security team. um the Minnesota IT Minute um team as well that
helps us understand and navigate a complex cyber security risks. Um we also have a thirdparty management solution atomic data and as well as a cyber security software that I'm not going to name here um but those are really a 247 watchdog that are paying attention to
our system and our ecosystem 247. So as Eric is today on vacation that we still know that our infrastructure is locked tight and being watched by somebody that we not malicious but somebody that is supposed to be watching it. The second one here is uh data and
infrastructure management. Uh in today's world, technology is required and because of that we have an increasing um amount of it whether it's laptops for staff, the phones that sit on your desk or the the software um that our team uses on a day-to-day. Um we have to make
sure that that is inventoried that we know um what the replacement schedule is for the actual hardware or for the software, who has access to it, um who has the login for it, what are those passwords, are there secure, is there multifactor authentication? um because as soon as one of those goes down, our
entire system is at risk. So, we're continuously making sure that the management of that um is watch. That is a core part of what ERIC does and it does take a lot of time to inventory and keep that up to date. Um and then the other piece to that, the bigger piece to
that is the data piece. Um we're always looking at our data to make sure that not only is it stored, uh it has backups, but it's also private. Um we have a lot of public data. That is a core of what Claudia does. going back to the clerk's office. Um, but some of it is confidential, some of it is private,
and we want to ensure it remains that way. And then last is support and tech assistance. Um, tech help support seems small, but it is a big piece to keeping us efficient at what we do. Um, and Eric prides itself himself in ensuring staff
does not have any technology roadblocks that come up. uh whether it's a printer issue, a keyboard battery dying, or even just a lost document that you've been working on for hours, making sure that that's recoverable. And then budget pressures. Um the first
is escalating device and hardware cost. Uh we continuously see the increase in costs related to hardware, especially the replacements such as laptops, servers, uh firewalls, etc. Um, so we're continuously trying to balance the our replacement schedule with also the
approved budget. Um, some things that we look for efficiency wise is if a laptop is still operating correctly, it's still getting the required servers, it's or software updates, and it's not at end of life. Um, and it's still meeting the needs of that staff, we might wait an extra year rather than replacing it. So,
it's truly just looking at our replacement schedule and then the equipment and ensuring that it actually needs to be replaced rather than just falling. um a default to our replacement schedule. Our second budget pressure is cyber security and insurance compliance. Um this is more of a time suck than
anything and it also is very important. Um but for our insurance, not only is that costly um but they're also asking us to have a number of uh inventories and lists to make sure that our cyber security protocols are up to their par
which is not bad by any means. It's another checks and balances, but it does take significant time out of our our typical uh day. And then lastly, it's suns setting of a federal and state grant. Um a number of years ago, 2025,
uh the city received a state grant, which was a pass through from the federal grant system for our um MDR, which is our cyber security software. Um again, that 247 watchdog system. um its first year that it will be sunset or that funding will be sunset is at the
end of 2027. So now we are working with that provider as well as getting quotes from others to see what the exact cost is going to be as we lead into not this year but next year's budget season 2028. And then cost savings, we have two for you. The first is a hypervisor
migration. Hypervisor is not a common term people are familiar with um including myself. So, I had Eric dumb it down for me, but more or less what we're looking at is the software that manages the physical hardware of a server. Um, historically, we worked with the same vendor um for this, and typically the
cost for that annual license was about $1,200. Um, so not a significant cost for an annual license. However, earlier this year in January, they did let us know that the cost was going to increase a,000%. It's obviously something we didn't have budgeted for, obviously
something that we need. Um, but we didn't quite understand again why the cost was increasing. Um, and then also, uh, if we were to move forward with them, what were we going to be getting different um, with the increase of cost. Instead, we worked with our partners,
um, Atomic Data, and we pivoted. we found a solution that fit our ecosystem better um at a cost that was more close to our original proposed budget of $1,200. And then the second is our AV equipment
upgrade that occurred earlier this year as well. So all the monitors, the microphones, the cameras um that we're using this evening um had an upgrade this last year. For those who do not know, um we had this a the original AV equipment installed in 2015 with the
installation of the building. Um for what we know from our records, a lot of that was purchased used. So it definitely was in time needed uh for replacement. Uh we did not use taxpayer dollars for that. However, we used our cable franchise grant funding um from
our cable franchise uh agreements. And then lastly, uh some department spotlights. First is building resiliency. Um what people might not recognize with the building of the new fire station and especially if you walk through it is there's a tiny closet in
there um that is actually dedicated for our IT network. That's one of many IT networks that we have in the city. Um and what's important for that is we're actually building a diverse uh geographical network for our IT system. So in case of such as a disaster,
whether it's at city hall, fire station, rec center, etc. um if something were to happen to one of our buildings, we can pick up and continue to operate as normal um in our other spaces. So we're trying to continuously build that resiliency within our network. That's
just one many example um that we have related to that. Um another one is related to our backups. Not only do we have backups of our entire infrastructure um through our thirdparty managed solution, but we also have at least two copies here um including a um
including an offsite offline option as well. So it is not able to reach any sort of network unless we spin it up to. So it just provides that zero day turnaround when it comes to bad actors potentially getting access to our system.
And then the second is modernizing critical infrastructure. We've been working with our public works team uh to improve our SCADA system for the last year, last two years. Um not only is this modernizing it, but really tightening it up, ensuring that we're
leveraging our new fiber network to bring our system more to a localized network. um and ensuring that even just time or we have real- time reports um with our system where before we had a couple minutes behind that makes it really challenging when we're talking about water pressure um just to be
really able to see how our system works in a real-time ecosystem. So with that I will pause here acting mayor councel and stand for questions. >> Any questions or comments from the council?
>> I wouldn't say so much questions uh but I well maybe I'll phrase it in form of it's it's fair to say that cyber security is really public safety. Wouldn't you agree? >> Absolutely. Um these for instance you
mentioned the scattera devices and we have our public works director with us that being able to keep that secure and from threat is really protecting one of the biggest services that we provide to
the city of Victoria and that's uh clean safe drinking water and um I think as we approach the budget on that we certainly need to be budget conscious but we also need to be very wise that those are things that we really need protected and
protected well and it's not the kind of thing that we can um try to cut corners on because we we really with the exception of what you know Chief Shoger is responsible for um this is probably the next the next biggest thing to
protect the citizens of Victoria from damage and uh so staying focused on making sure that we have the right resources dedicated uh feels like is one of our top priorities and council should
be uh re should be rec recognize the fact that um this is one of the places that we really need to make sure that we get it right. >> Absolutely. And I will say um we're really thankful to the entire city team. Eric and I talk about this all the time.
Our team is very hyper vigilant and that is not just an Eric and IT thing. It's not just a management team, but it's a culture level thing within the entire city staff. We're continuously um talking about improvements. We're continuously talking about changing passwords, although sometimes we get the
eye rolls, but everyone truly does get it and understands why we're doing this and why this is important work. >> Great. Thank you. And to close it, I was triggered for a password reset just this evening. [laughter] [cough] [clears throat]
>> Great. Thank you, Miss Nelson. >> [laughter] >> We on to parks and recreation now. Thank you. >> Put on your glasses for this one now. Right. >> This is the one I thought was going first. >> Sorry. [laughter] Just wanted to, you know, change things
up a bit. >> All right. Stuck with me for one last one. I promise you I'm done after this. Um, [laughter] >> let's pivot to parks and recreation. Um we have three core areas that um make up our work and our team here. Um there are
the main one is parks and open space and I'm going to throw in trails as part of that too. Um we are the city of lakes and parks and we really do live up to that moniker. Over 20 or 26 parks, 18 um uh playgrounds as part of that and over
50 miles of trail and sidewalk. So we definitely understand the connection to nature that our residents reach out and look for and the reason that they move here. Um parks are just one element of it. Open space is another piece. We talk about public works. There's a level of maintenance for all three of these open
spaces, those wetlands, um our wooded areas, but also just can be open grassy areas that does need some care. Sometimes um we leave it natural, but other times it is a grassy area that we want to make sure is still usable for residents, whether it's just a space to
have a picnic, um put a bench down or um to throw a ball, play a game of catch and whatnot. So, we have a very robust parks and recreation system on here. And then located um in Dtown Park, of course, is our recreation center, which includes two gymnasiums, two ice rinks,
a fitness center, and a multi-purpose room. So, budget pressures. Um, this is nothing new uh to this workshop. Um, but it really is related to just the cost of doing business. Um, in the parks and recreation world, what that means is
that we have aging infrastructure and just infrastructure in general when it comes to this realm of parks um is expensive. Um, we have, like I mentioned, 18 playgrounds and almost every single one is up for some sort of replacement schedule. Um, so instead of
just replacing all of them at once, we're trying to find out um the best path forward related to that. We're doing a deep dive. We actually had our summer intern um review each of these for us and give us some honest feedback um of how these playgrounds are actually
shaping up, what they look like, um what needs the community has. And we're continuing to assess that as we look at the capital improvements plan for this year. Um, we also are having budget pressures when it comes to new park development. Again, the cost of doing business is the cost of doing business.
And as we look at um developing new parks in the South Growth area and um other areas that are continuing to grow, um we want to make sure that we're putting in what the community needs for those spaces, but recognizing there is a cost associated for them.
Cost savings and efficiencies. Um this year we did move to migrating to or we did migrate to a cashless system in the recreation world specifically at the recreation center. Um what this means is that if you want to pay in cash for a
program um you are no longer able to um especially at the recreation center. This helps with our efficiency as well as our auditing practice. This is a big risk for us to have cash at the recreation center. Um, and this also helps our staff in reducing their time needed to count cash, reconcile their
cash. Um, it's a quick simple process at this point. We also migrated to this uh system in June. Uh, summer seems to be the busiest except for that the recreation center. Um, this gives us the time to learn, to digest, to find out
where our errors are in this system, work with our more frequent patrons, and then when we get busier closer to the fall and winter time frame, um, we have a system already in place that we're used to. The second is utilizing partnerships to
increase programming. Um, we continue to leverage our partnerships in in this way. We work with Carver County Parks to offer some additional programming that happened to be at Lake Wasserman Preserve. Um we also work with Holy Family on some of their partnerships or
some of their programs as well. And then new this year, we worked with the Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association uh to offer a pickleball tournament that will be in our own pickle ball courts here in town. And that's [snorts] a state qualifier. So, we're expected to see some uh lively
games on the court. And then third related to partnership, it was a really cool one for us um was the Ice Rink partnership with Omni Brewing. Um this winter we didn't have a secure or just a nice enough or ready to go ice rink over
at Lions, so we pivoted to a temporary space at Omni Brewing. Um our public works team set that space up for us. Um and then Omni Brewing really served as that warming house. And then they're looking at continuing that program for next year. um as well as they're looking
at offering some sort of like curling training um potentially just ice skating programs to go along with that to really leverage and utilize this partnership. And then last for department spotlights, I have a photo I don't see you Christian
on there. Um we do have in house fitness programming that's the photo on there is our 5:30 >> 6 a.m. I'm not going to be there that early. >> [laughter] >> Well, it's our morning class. Um, so this year we did bring our fitness programs inhouse. We've had fitness
programs, our Fitbit program, uh, since the building started operating over 20 years ago. Um, but we looked at ways to be more efficient. We talked to our two group fitness instructors, um, and we worked on hosting or bringing them in-house to to paid staffed positions.
And this has really shown um in our culture over there to be an increase um or just an increase to our culture. But we've also seen a change in our um programming levels to be a positive one as well. Um we're actually running out of space for fitness class programs,
which is a good problem to have, but something else to navigate and try and figure out how do we adapt to that. The second is the Brookmore engagement event. Uh this year we brought our parks and recreation uh committee to the vacant Brookmore site um as a future
park area for us to look at and hopefully develop in someday. Um so we invited the neighborhood brought Little Vic the trailer out there um and ask residents what they would like to see in that space. And what was really cool is not only to see the recreation committee interacting with residents in that
organic way, but we also saw neighbors meeting neighbors for sometime the first time. Uh kids playing together. um out in the vacant park and just having fun as a summer neighborhood event. And then the last I wanted to highlight our city volunteers. We have some really great
volunteers that operate in the city's park system and help um maintain some of our city parks, pick up trash, um work on some of the weeding, and just really have a special place. Um they they take our system and they they really make it into a special place. And one of them uh
is the Upton family. that they manage Kirk Locken Park and we're just really thrilled to have this group of volunteers here and we're we're thankful to have them here as well. >> And with that, I am officially done. >> Not quite yet.
>> Whatever questions you got. >> Open up to questions and comments from the council. Anything? >> Just one uh one comment and you brought it up here in this awesome engagement with the residents, listening to the residents, taking it all in. little Vic
being at events that over the last couple years that's been a huge positive change I think around Victoria. So awesome job. >> Well, I cannot take any credit that to that, but I will um put the communications team's uh presentation
because she will be next um as on the spotlight here. Um really we've done great work in collaboration with the communications team this year. Um, I'm really proud that our teams have worked together and were able to bring Little Vic out and just show that um, there's a
lot of energy in the city >> and I was looking at you and Kendra. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Well, uh, Alyssa, I'd say thank you, but uh, I think you failed to miss a really a really good shout out,
uh, for you and your team that, as I mentioned earlier, Downtown West is, I think, one of council's really areas of focus on making that a success because of the investment that we have in it. And I think that it's
good to understand we were quite prescriptive in some of the, you know, park and wreck features that that space should have. for instance, the central green that's in flight and then just some of the uh the vision that we have
about community spaces, the types that um are going to really fit with the direction that Victoria is going to move forward in terms of, you know, how the community is going to develop into its its next 10 years. There's the perfect space for that. I know that you and your
team have dedicated a lot of time and gotten some community engagement on it and and just our push to really change the the vision of the park and rec community of committees to be ambassadors to the community to bring
those visions to us. Um we we certainly saw how that has really created those challenges and opportunities but has also um really improved the quality that we're going to get terms of our parks and reccks going forward.
>> So thank you. >> Thank you. Only thing I would add is that I know it's sort of works along with the streets on coming up with some level of economy of scale of rec replacing some of those trails along
with the streets. And I don't know if there's anything formalized like a 10-year plan, but I know that you guys talk about with the park and recck committee talk about which ones need to be fixed. If there's a way to butt up with them and try to work with
them, I think there might be a chance to replace some trails that need help more than others and do it at a cheaper cost. Um, since we're talking about budgets and things of that nature, I know we've spent half day workshops talking about all the various aspects of the rec
center, so I won't go into all of those things, but I think you've done a great job, especially with the common areas and everything else. But um from a budgetary standpoint, seeing if you can work together with the streets and coming up with areas of trails that may
need the the maintenance the at the same level. >> Fair enough. And I >> not really sure I spit that out right, but you get it. >> Understood. Um and I also want to note uh the trail grab gap. That's not quite where you were going, but we do have a really comprehensive uh trail gap list
that the parks and recreation committee created and also review annually. And uh we just posted the updates to that list um last week. So if anyone's interested in looking at those um a lot of them happen to be on county corridors and uh
Cara and I met with county earlier this spring. They are going through their own trail master plan uh and looking at it regionally, but we provided them that list to kind of give them an idea of what we're looking at, especially as they're thinking about major transportation projects that are coming through outside of Highway 5, which is
scary. Sorry. Awesome. Thank you. Anything else? Would you like to add anything, Miss Hardy? >> I do not have anything to add, Mayor Prom. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Nelson. >> Up next, community engagement
with Kendra. >> Miss Gro, welcome. >> Well, that's a tough act to follow just in scale of departments. I only have one. Um, but good evening, acting mayor and council. Thank you for having us here today to chat about our departments.
Um, so the communications and public engagement department is made up of myself, our communications specialist, Paige Whan, and our new engagement coordinator, Emily Brush. Beyond our little department though, I always say everyone at the city is part of communications because we really
couldn't do um anything we do without them. Um, but please don't put their salaries in my budget, Trish. Um, so you'll see a lot of them in this presentation today. Um, the communications and public engagement department exists to make the city of Victoria approachable, easy to
understand, and easy to engage with. So, our work is centered around three goals: inform, support, and connect. And we inform residents by providing timely, transparent, and easy to understand communication about city services, projects, and decisions. But more importantly, we help explain the why
behind city projects, making complex topics more accessible so residents understand how decisions impact their daily lives. And you can see that in things like our um council briefs to our social media posts to the guides that we post. Um and we support every city
department by developing communication and engagement strategies, creating educational materials, coordinating public meetings, managing the city's website and social media, producing videos and graphics, and helping projects succeed from planning through completion. Um making sure that we have
that engagement involved. And then we connect our community by planning, coordinating, marketing, and supporting many of the city's free events and engagement opportunities. Whether someone attends a Live by the Lake concert, a donuts in Victoria chat, community survey, an open house, or simply stops at the mid MI mobile city
hall, affectionately known as Little Vic. These interactions help build relationships between our community and the city of Victoria. So, as Victoria continues to grow, so do expectations for communications and public engagement. Residents want more
than announcements. They want to understand why projects are happening, how they benefit the community, and where they can provide feedback, and what impacts to expect along the way. At the same time, nearly every city initiative now includes a communications and engagement component. transportation
projects, utility improvements, park planning, recreation programming, community surveys, and long range planning, all relying on clear communication and meaningful public participation. So, the department also continues to support an increasing number of community events and engagement opportunities as well, each
requiring planning, marketing, educational materials, logistics, and on-site coordination, which we're very appreciative to now have Emily on board for those as well. Like every department, we continue to manage rising costs for printing, postage, software, advertising, and creative tools while
balancing digital communication with traditional outreach. Um, our team is small, but our impact reaches across across the entire city. By centralizing communications, public engagement, branding, marketing, and creative services, we reduce duplication across departments and minimize the need
for outside consultants. departments have one trusted resource that understands our brand, our residents, our audience, our communication goals, allowing them to focus on delivering services while we help connect residents to their work. We also take a strategic approach to communication. Every project
begins by asking who needs the information and the best way to reach them. Sometimes at social media, sometimes it's a mailer, a project web page, um yard signs, face-toface conversations at a community event. Um, using the right communication tool for the right audience helps maximize
taxpayer dollars while ensuring residents receive information in ways that are accessible and effective. And much of our work is completed inhouse, including graphic design, photography, website management, publications, educational campaigns, event marketing, and the list goes on and on. Um, but
producing these services internally allows us to respond quickly, um, maintain that consistent look and feel of all of our materials and then also reduce outside consulting costs. And then this year, we also, um, worked to stretch city resources through partnerships through an expanded
program. And our Victoria Wave sponsorship program included seven platinum wave sponsors, seven gold sponsors, and 14 silver sponsors. um whose generous support helped fund many of our live by the lake concerts and offset the cost of marketing and other
initiatives for community events like truck rodeo, our pop-up splash pads and park after dark. And we're actually able to support even more events this year than the ones we originally had in the program. And then these partnerships allow us to expand that programming while reducing the financial impact on
taxpayers. And then beyond sponsorships, we collaborate with local businesses, nonprofit organizations, and community groups to enhance events like Victoria and Bloom and Light of Victoria. And these partnerships bring additional expertise, volunteers, activities, and
resources that make our events even more memorable while maximizing um our investments that we're already putting into them. So, it gives our partners an opportunity. It also gives our partners an opportunity to advertise within the community at a rel a relatively low cost.
Okay. So, department spotlights. The best way to understand our department's value is to look at how we put communication engagement into action across the community. So, to us, every major city project is also a communication and education opportunity. Um whether it's road improvements, trail
safety, the comp plan, the community survey, or marketing our wreck programs, our team works alongside departments. Um, and our goal is to reduce confusion, encourage participation, and build trust by making complex projects easier to understand. And then turning events into
learning opportunities. One of the things that makes Victoria unique is that we don't just host events. We use them to educate and connect with our community. Um, for example, the Victoria Truck Rodeo introduces families to the people and equipment that keep Victoria running while incorporating educational
activities about public works, water conservation, and public safety. Our pop-up splash pads focus on fire safety. Our water conservation, like Cara mentioned, really um focuses on that water drop campaign, which helps residents understand simple ways to they
can help protect our lakes and conserve our natural resources. And then um our beloved mobile city hall brings city staff directly into neighborhoods in downtown, making it easier for residents to ask questions, learn about projects, and connect with the city in a welcoming environment. And these experiences make
learning about local government engaging, approachable, and me memorable, but also uniquely Victoria. And then the third one, meeting residents where they are. No two residents consume information in the same way, which is why we work to meet
people where they are. And so we use a variety of tools. Um, we're able to reach more residents, gather meaningful feedback, and make city government more accessible. But this approach has also earned statewide recognition. This year, the department received multiple Northern Lights Awards from the
Minnesota Association of Government Communicators for Excellence in Public Engagement Communications, including first place recognition for the Victoria Fire Department social media, their Facebook page, um, which we worked on with Zach Peglo and the rest of the team. And it was it's been a fun
collaboration between the two departments. um the parks and recreation program guide which is a new collaboration of revamping that guide with the parks and recck team. Um and then just um in the public engagement category, we received first place for
our mobile city hall and the work that we've been doing with Little Vic. So as Victoria continues to grow, our department remains committed to finding innovative and efficient ways to support every city department while making our work approachable, transparent, and easy to understand. and I stand for any
questions if you have any. >> Thank you, Miss Gall. Council, any questions or comments? >> I don't have any questions, but I'll throw some comments at you. Um, as as you've concluded all of our
staff's presentations, one thing is clear. If we had unlimited amounts of money, there's no question we have the creativity and the talent to pull off anything here. I've spent the last week, got it down, trafficking through the
northwest suburbs of areas that 60 years ago were what Victoria was 10 years ago, a small rural agricultural community that blossomed and grow and everything that happened there is being done here
except supercharge. So, I think that there was a comment that somebody said, you know, Claudia doesn't have superpowers. I I think that that's untrue. you guys um are able to do amazing things that have brought an amazing amount of services, vision,
creativity to the city of Victoria. However, we don't have that unlimited budget. Um, we do have somewhat finite resources and our ability to transform those very carefully balanced resources
into the highest level of service is the hallmark of what Victoria is. When I tell people from other places that I live out in Victoria, I always get the same response. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's a great area. Love to be out there. And I
I think that other council members would share that uh response that they get. So, thank you. Thank you, man city manager for leading [clears throat] this team and helping us council drive the decisions that make this community what
it is. Thank thanks to every single one of you are sitting in this room tonight. >> Well stated. The only thing I'll add to that is you guys all the departments team together so well. you guys feed off each other and like everybody brings up
another department or three of them and you guys work so well together and that's evident completely. So, um specifically to on your team approachable is watching people come talk to you guys. Nobody's afraid to
come talk to you guys and that's what we want. We want people to engage. I don't care if they're three or 95, [laughter] right? So it happens and it's great to see. So awesome. >> Let these guys speak for us. Very good. You do an excellent job. Thank you,
Kendra. >> Thank you, Mayor Pr. >> Miss Hardy, do you have any comments or question? >> I do just have a couple just a couple parting comments before we adjourn. Um I just want to formally recognize our team. They are amazing. I I'm so proud
of the work that they they do. Um, and behind each of these directors is a team of pretty amazing people. They step up to the plate every day. The work that they do um is hard. Um, and I'm I'm proud to uh be a part of this team and I
just want to say um thank you for putting your trust in us to deliver your policies, your vision. Um I hope we are making you proud. I think we are very proud of the work that we do. We're passionate about the work that we do. So, thank you for putting your trust in us. Um, and I just want to say thank you
guys for being here. Um, and to our entire staff. We are a small but mighty crew and we're getting a lot a lot done. So, thank you all. >> Well said. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Seeing no other discussion. Um, there
are no other items on our workshop agenda this evening. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. I have a motion by Councilman Ivansky, seconded by Council Member Refe. All in favor?
>> I I >> I. >> All opposed? No one. Thank you. Motion carries. We are adjourned and our regular council meeting will begin in five minutes. Part: 2
Good evening. It is now 7:02 and I call this regular council meeting of the Victoria City Council to order. It is our tradition to be begin with the pledge of allegiance. If you are able, we invite you to stand and join us. I >> pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Excellent. Our first item on our agenda tonight is announcements. And this is a
lot to read. I haven't read this much out loud since Good Night Moon, but um we were a little late getting going here because we uh had our second budgetary meeting. Um it was very productive. I enjoy I invite you all to get a chance
to watch it on the YouTube. Um we highlight a lot of the pressure, savings, and efficiencies that we've gone through. Um, all meetings of the city council, including workshops, are open to the public and held in the council chambers at city hall, unless otherwise noted. We encourage anyone wanting to attend our council meetings
or workshops in person to contact our city clerk in advance. Join us for a city council workshop on August 10th at 5:30 p.m. for feedback on the downtown parking and community engagement. In other announcements, you can join us for a popup splash pad event on July 28th
from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the recreation center. Cool off and enjoy the fun, everyone. Um, our night to unite will take place on Tuesday, August 4th from 5 to 8:00 p.m. Neighborhood organizers can register with the city to request visits from firefighters, sheriff deputies,
city council members, and staff. Visits are guaranteed for the first 20 registered parties. You can find out more information on our city website at victoriamn.gov. With that, are there any other announcements from council or staff?
No. All right. Our next order of business is to adopt the final agenda. Council, is there a motion to adopt the final agenda? >> Motion to adopt the final agenda. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion by Councilman Reef. I have a second by Councilman Roberts. All
in favor? I >> motion carries. Open forum. Moving on to our next item. It's our open forum. It's an opportunity for members of the public to address the council on items that are not on tonight's agenda and are not part of the active application that will come
before the council at a future date. We haven't had anyone register in advance, but is there anyone in the audience who would like to address address the council at this time? Going once. Going twice. No deal. All right, seeing no one, we
will now move on to the next item on our agenda, the consent agenda. The items on the consent agenda are routine, administrative, and do not require deliberation and are considered housekeeping items and are required by law. Consent agenda items are approved with one vote unless someone requests an
item to be considered separately. Miss Hardy, does staff wish to pull any of the consent items for separate discussion and vote? >> None from staff. Mayor Prom, >> thank you. Council, are there any additional items that you would like to see pulled from separate for separate discussion or vote?
Nope. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to pull an item for separate discussion and vote? Nope. Clerk, please let the Oh, that's not what we need to go with there. Um, so council, uh, may I have a motion to
approve the consent agenda? I'll make a motion to approve the July 20 7th, 2026 consent agenda. >> Could I get a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion made by Councilman Ivansky, seconded by Councilman Reich.
All in favor? >> I >> I. >> No one opposed. Motion carries. All right, moving on to our regular agenda item. Our first item on the regular agenda this evening is item 6.1, which is our quarterly update on progress related to our 2025 to 2027
strategic plan. Presenting this evening is assistant city manager Alyssa Nelson. Miss Nelson, welcome. >> Hello, council. Um, thank you for having me this evening. Um, each quarter we present on our updates for our strategic
plan. For those in the audience and those watching at home, uh we have a adopted strategic plan that started in 2025 and it sunsets in 2027. As part of that strategic plan, there are eight priorities on the screen. And I won't list each of them, but under those um
there's 198 uh strategic actions or initiatives um that staff, council, our committees and uh that we are are meant to uh complete by the end of the 2027 year. Now, with our quarterly updates, we also like to uh highlight three
strategic actions that were either completed or significantly completed throughout the last quarter and highlight them for you. If anyone is interested in reviewing the full 198 strategic report um that is listed in the council agenda as well as it will be
posted on our city's website after this evening. So our first highlight um this evening as part of the workshop you heard a lot about um highway 5 construction. We wanted to highlight it here as well. Um, but this is the completion of the county
road uh county road 11 north improvements and with that the highway 5 county road 11 uh roundabout project that was completed this last quarter and we are thrilled uh but it was really the kickstart of the larger highway 5 initiative and the project that is
coming up and it also is a core connection um for our downtown west development as well as part of that highway 5 corridor connection. The second is under the service excellence umbrella and there's three
here on the screen. Um but all three of them intertwine and connect. Um the first one is the posted uh budget book that is had to be completed within 30 days of approval. The second is the posted comprehensive finance report and then the third is the posted popular
finance report. Um and what might not be known um outside of local government or outside local government finance department is that completing each of these um within uh the year is actually less than 1% of all cities within the
United States. So we're really thrilled to be part of that 1% that completed the um this really shows the transparency in our city regarding our budget and our financial or our financial process. And this takes a lot of time. Um, but we applaud our finance team for getting these completed and done. Um, not only
are we able to do this, but we are also able to get reward awards on how well these are done. Um, so we're really again uh thankful for our finance team to be able to put these front and forward for all of our residents to view. And if anyone is interested in
viewing these, they are on our city's website. Um, and they can also find an interactive budget book on our website as well. Mayor Prom Council. >> Yes, Miss Hardy. >> Make a comment. Thank you. Um, again,
just for anybody watching this evening at home, we use a lot of um lot of uh acronyms and there's there's a lot of words around some of the finance stuff, which again we talked about earlier in our workshop just being kind of behind
the scenes things. But um what I really wanted to share with you all is as it relates to the the budget book um there are government standards for um government finance and accounting that we must have as part of that budget
book. It makes it very daunting and not very easy to understand. Um first we go through a six-month process. We're in that budget season right now to establish the budget. lots of discussion, decision- making along the way. We don't actually start building the actual budget document, that budget
book, which is uh four or five, 600 pages long or longer um in any given year until you adopt that budget in December. And so there's a very small team. Um Abby and Trish do a lot of heavy lifting on that. Alyssa also has
done a lot of heavy lifting on that to make that 30 days um that goal. So, there's a lot of work that gets done to make that happen. And then the um popular annual financial report. I just want to pause here for a second and let
you know what that is. It sounds like it's cool and we want to look at it. But it and it what it does is if you think of like an executive summary to a white paper, it's the executive summary to our budget book. It at a very high level explains takes out all the technical
details that are required through GFOA. those government finance accounting standards and boils it down into um everyday language that translates what is our budget doing to make your lives better to deliver those programs and services that you're relying on um and
how does that impact you you as a resident or a business in our community and so um I just wanted to do and then the comprehensive annual financial report relates to our audit um and kind of where where we're we're falling in
terms of what all those requirements are um and what does our financial position look like. So, we just had the auditor in here not too long ago in early June um to talk through that and that's the document that that refers to. So, just a little bit of additional context around some of those very important uh
financial d uh financial um documents that really um kind of serve as the backbone of of everything that we do because without the funding, we wouldn't be able to deliver those programs and services. >> Thank you, city manager. >> Thank you. Sorry.
>> Oh, you're okay. It's your meeting. And then the third is under the engagement and communication uh strategic priority. And the strategic action we wanted to highlight was our Victoria Academy, our version of a citizens academy program that we host each year. Um annually we
have the goal that annually we have at least eight participants in that program. This year we had 15 graduates. So, not only are we thrilled by that number and the amount of residents that continuously um come back for this program or new residents we get to
engage in this program, but also what happens in return with this program. A lot of our uh participants or graduates come back in the form of committee members, commissioners, sometimes council members. Um but then they also engage with each other and I want to spotlight this group. um they were a
really fun group and they they um meet each other now outside of the program sometimes regularly. We have dinner groups that have come out of this. Um so it's just sparking that we're creating community outside of just engaging with our residents and getting them to understand what local government is. Um
so it's a very exciting program for us to continuously offer each year. And then just a quick highle update on those 198 initiatives or strategic actions. We have 57 that are listed as completed, 91 that are on track, uh 40
that have not started, and 10 that we considered lagging, missed or um delayed. Again, the entire uh review of each one of these 198 can be found in the council packet and again on the website after
this meeting this evening. And with that, council, I will stand for any questions. >> Great. Thank you, councel. comments, questions. >> I I would just say one comment. You only have 10
projects that are lagging. So that that's approximately 5% I [clears throat] think with what you've seen with everything with completed in progress. Just goes to reinforce the comments that I made earlier during our workshop that um there's just your your
focus and dedication to being able to deliver to uh our residents is evident in our plan and just thank you for all that hard work and effort. >> Thank you, council members. I will pass it along to the the dedicated team that we have.
>> Well done. Thank you very much. Um anything else? Seeing no further discussion on this item, it does not require any official action. We will move on to item 6.2, 2, which is a public hearing regarding a request for a plan unit development
amendment for the West Creek Village Residential Development. Presenting this evening, city planner Brian McCann. Mr. McCann, welcome. >> Thank you, Mayor Prom and Council members. Uh, if you give me just a moment here, I will pop up my
presentation for you. Uh, lucky for you guys, this is probably the shortest presentation I will ever have for you. Um, [laughter] I know mine can get long sometimes, but this is only uh the main bulk of the item in front of you this evening. We are here for consideration
of a public hearing to amend the ordinance for the resoning for West Creek Village. Back when this was approved in November of 2025, staff missed two regulations that should have been included with their planned unit development based on prior uh review and
discussion with the city council during their preliminary plat. So the two standards are that should be incorporated with the PUD include the single family sideyard setback reduction from 10 feet to 8 feet and then the increase of the town home maximum
impervious from 75% to 82.5%. So with that we do need a public hearing for this item. Other than that I do have two sample motions for you on the screen. >> Wonderful. Thank you Mr. McCann. Um, at
this point in time, is there anyone who wish to speak on this item, going once, going twice, three times, out will now close the public hearing and open the floor for council discussion. Council, any
discussion hearing? None. Um I guess my only question for you, Brian, would be if we decided not to grant these um motions, what happens? >> Mayor proming council members, that's a
great question. Um we've already granted final plat approval uh for these specific lots and those are 56 foot wide lots. their concepts have those 8 foot sideyards included in those concepts. So
40 foot wide home product, they'd either have to reduce the size of the home um which this is a national home builder. They may not be able to do that with their home models um or they might have to go back to the drawing board and ask for a plat amendment and the plat would
be back in the city council's hands at that point. >> Okay. All right. So, it's just an oversight on our end from when we approve the final plat. So, it's really more administrative than anything functional
at this point in time. >> All right. Wonderful. Um, if there's no other discussion, I'll entertain a motion. We're looking for two motions at this point in time. >> I'll make a motion to adopt the ordinance amending the West Creek Village planned unit development.
>> Got a motion made by Commissioner uh Councilman Roberts. Is there a second? >> Second. Gonna uh >> Roberts. All in favor? >> I oppose? Nope. Motion carries.
All right. The next item on our agenda is 6.3, which is a highway 5 and 11 project update. Presenting this evening is city engineer Cara Garin. Miss Garin, welcome. >> Good evening, acting mayor, members of the city
council. Um, we have talked a little bit about the highway 5 and 11 project, but um we have what we haven't talked about tonight is the budget. So, the project is substantially complete. Um, but if
you recall, so at the time of project award, which was all the way back in June of 2025, the city council approved a resolution awarding the project to Minger Construction um in accordance with the joint powers
agreement. But when we award construction projects, we set a project budget. When we do that, the project budget includes the construction contract and all um the engineering project costs, the geotechnical
engineering project costs. It includes a construction contingency. And the approving resolution gives the city manager the authority to approve any of those expenses that come in within that budget. So that you don't
have to have every single bill over $20,000 come in front of the council as an actual agenda item for approval. So at the time of contract award, we set that budget at 12.4 million. Um, as we approach substantial
completion, we have processed and either approved or anticipated to have approved about 22 change orders on the project. What we're looking at right now with um projected costs or known costs, we're anticipating that the total project
costs are probably going to come in at about 13.3 million. Um, for the sake of the audience who probably doesn't remember my presentation from June of 2025, the city is the lead agency on this project, um, the city opted to lead this
project because of the connectivity to the highway or the downtown west project, but the bulk of the funding is actually coming from outside sources. So, federal funding, state funding, county funding, the city share of the
project costs are actually pretty small, but as the lead agency, all of these different funding sources are coming through the city. So, we have to pay the bills associated with the project. Um, so the bulk of the added costs associated with the project that we're
looking at to date, and we've talked about some of these as we've come through some of the updates that we've given over the last year. Um there was significant um soil corrections that were needed on County Road 11, particularly north of the roundabout. Um
where we had that additional searchcharge work that had to be completed on either side of County Road 11. If you remember over the winter, there were jersey barriers on either side of the road. Um there was a bunch of soil that needed to be mucked out on either side of the roadway in order to
support the widen shoulders. Um this summer the project encountered some pretty poor soil conditions actually within Highway Five. Um once they removed the pavement that was there, there was um poor soils that needed to
be corrected underneath the roadway. So all of those extra costs need to be paid and those will come through on a future pay request that we haven't paid yet. So, we're looking for a budget increase to give the city manager authority to
pay those bills. Some additional project costs that have come in um that really come through to the city are associated with changes that we made on the fly as um the 13 12 acre development was coming
through the process. So, um, we made some revisions to the sanitary sewer system and water system to accommodate the new development so that the developer didn't have to go back and excavate out sanitary sewer pipes that were already in the ground. If you
remember when we completed the design of that project, the development wasn't a thing yet. So, we were able to make modifications in the field so that the developer wouldn't have to go excavate new roadways that were just paved in order to make changes to the pipe. So,
we're estimating the city's additional share to be about 150,000, but we're still reconciling all of the project costs. So, the bulk of the additional funding is going to come from um county sales tax funds and county um uh state
aid funds. We are actually though also talking with MDOT about some additional potential year-end funding that they have available that um they may be able to provide to the project over and above the funding that we have in place to offset some of
the county sales tax funds for the additional um costs that I noted on Highway 5. So uh met with the county on Friday to review their additional share. Uh Lyndon didn't express any concerns about what they're going to be needing
to come up with and we're getting some documentation over to MDOT. It's about 420,000 we think we'll be asking MDOT for and hopefully they'll be able to come up with some of that to offset the county share. So, uh with that, I'm happy to go
into more detail or answer any questions. Otherwise, uh the motion we're looking for is just to increase the overall budget to help uh us to be able to process those final bills as they come in. >> Um you just said 120,000 for the county.
Did you mean the city or did I mishar that? >> Sorry. For the city's estimated increase costs, we're estimating right now to be about 150,000. The reason we're describing them as estimated is we have a whole cost share profile that things
like engineering costs all get prrated based on percentages of construction costs. So we are maximizing everything we possibly can to all of the grant funding. We want to make sure that we spend
every last dollar of the grant funding before we allocate any costs to the city or the county. So, we'll apply all the grant funding first, all the MIDNOT funding first, all the eligible county sales tax fund, all the county state aid
funds, all the Mindot or all the city state aid funds, and then the city funds. So, with 22 change orders, everything we've got put together here, we're looking at worst case scenario of $150,000 that would expand to the city's cost
share. >> Correct. >> All right. Sorry, council. Um, opening it for discussion or comments. Do you guys have any questions, comments? >> Just a quick question. So the we own the project on this one and as a result we
need to authorize the increase for the overall project even though we may not be funding that overage. >> Correct. >> That is correct. >> And that that is estimated at $900,000 at this point. >> That is correct. And my rudimentary math
on it, although aided by a calculator, says it's about 7% of the overall budget is now due to these change orders. >> That is correct. >> And then more rudimentary calculations using a calculator. The city is going to
share in about 16 almost 17% of that $900,000 with the $150,000. >> I will trust your calculator. So um it's a big project. It's not surprising. We have seen that
those who've had a long arc of history with the city and projects in this area. It's not surprising that you've found soils that are weak. I mean recall when they did Highway 5 before the amount of styrofoam that was had to be tucked
underneath over by the fire station to get that roadway stabilized. I'm I'm presuming that we had similar kind of construct problems in there. >> Yes. I um so MDOT actually was on site and instrumental in
deciding what the correction was since it was a trunk highway. We deferred to Mindot Office of Materials to determine what the right repair was since it was their road. So, um, off the top of my head, I don't even
know what they ended up doing exactly to correct the soils there. When they when the project team first contacted me, it was like a $900,000 correction and they were able to get it down to $400,000 in rough numbers to repair the roadway or
correct the soils, I should say. >> All right. Well, thank you for that, Miss Garren. it this does not seem like we have something that was just an outrageous problem or a boondoggle. So the these things are going to come up in
these larger projects and it's just the the the nature of the beast in this case. >> I will note that the finance director, assistant city manager and I are hoping or hoping isn't the right word, looking forward to the city not leading one of
these anytime soon. We like our local street projects. So, a lot better stay off the county state aid highways. >> Gotcha. >> But but as you pointed out though, we took this on because of the integration with the rerouting of Stiger Lake Lane
to >> um create a a workable downtown west. And then if I also understood you that we would have had to tear up things that were already done. >> Correct. and and even though this is an overage, the 7% overage ties that in
without having to drive those further costs. So, correct. And the co it it's important to note that the cost savings that the city realized by being able to include Stiger Lake Lane in the overall project funding saved the city I don't
have those numbers ahead off the top of my head but we save significant money in the overall project cost for the 13 and a half acres by being able to use federal funding for Stiger Lake Lane in the first place. The 150,000 is nothing
compared to what it we had budgeted for if we would have had to build Stiger Lake Lane on our own as a standalone project outside of this project. >> Right. And then we also had trail connectivity that we didn't have before. >> Correct. And then if I memory serves me
correctly, there was an aged uh sewer system that served the housing that was over there that we were able to upgrade that at a at an untold amount of savings if we had to take that project on in
itself. So I I think it's fair to say that while we had a diff it sounds like a very difficult time navigating this, it was in retrospect the right decision for us to take that that kind of uh project on. >> That is all accurate and factually
correct. >> Thank you, [snorts] Miss Garrett. >> Thank you. >> I I don't have any other questions. >> Council member Roberts. Council member Okay. All right. Um, seeing no more discussion, we're looking for one motion on this item. Council, do we have any
motions? >> I'll make a motion to follow staff's recommendation to increase the overall project budget from 12.4 million to 13.3 million. >> Great. Could I get a second? >> Second. >> Have a motion made by Councilman Yansky,
seconded by Councilman Roberts. All in favor? >> I oppose. No one. Motion carries. Moving on to the next thing. Council, there are no more items on our agenda. We are now moving on to reports and
emerging issues. Attorney Vos, any reports or emerging issues? >> I do not, mayor. Nothing uh going on in the legal world. >> Miss Hardy, any reports? >> Thank you. Very quickly, just um just a note that there are two council two open
council seats for this year's election and the filing period does close tomorrow, July 28th at 5:00 p.m. >> Great. Thank you. Um I have one question just because we have you here. How's the AATP going
right now? How far behind are we or are we not behind? Are we ahead of schedule to Miss Garren, our city engineer? >> Certainly, I'm here happy to answer. Um, I would note if you are following al
following along on the updates that uh highway 41 North and Bavaria South are both behind schedule. 41 North is further behind schedule, I would say, than Bavaria South, but they're both behind schedule. If you recall the
schedule that we had previously talked about, the goal was that those two roads would be opening around the time that these roads that we just talked about were getting completed. So around the 4th of July, those were going to open
and Rolling Acres was going to close. Um they are not open and Rolling Acres is not closed. The primary driver of that is private utilities. So, um, gas, electric, telecom, all of those
facilities needed to relocate and I sit in a weekly construction meeting and I can tell you that that is a challenge to get all of those private companies out of the way. So, they are not under contract by the county or the state.
They are in there by permit and it is a challenge to get it's like a orchestra to try to facilitate their movement and your attorney would be happy to speak at length about the challenges in working
with those folks to get relocated. So, um finally progress is being made. I don't have an update as I sit here today about when they think 41's going to open. Um the project team does not want
to close Rolling Acres Road until 41 opens because of the pressure that that would put on um other streets particularly I believe in Chanhassen if that were to happen. >> That was going to be my next question. So just generally speaking campfire
talking what are we four weeks behind? Six weeks behind. >> Fourish. [cough] >> Behind. All right. Thank you. >> Wonderful. Um, anything else? >> Nothing. All right. Council, there are no more items to come before the body this afternoon. May I ask for a motion
to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> I have a motion made by Councilman Reef, seconded by Councilman Ivanski. All in favor? I. Motion carries. We stand adjourned.