Good morning. The time is now 10:00 and I will call this meeting of the senior advisory committee to order. Thank you all for being here. We have a new member joining us today, Kyle Newbower. Welcome. Thank you. Would you mind introducing yourself to
the committee? Sure. My name is Kyle Nyar. I live in the community with my wife and two daughters, 16 and 13. Um, I'm in financial services as a professional uh career and I'm looking for opportunities to give back and
support our 55 plus community um here in Victoria and all over Carver County. Thank you for having me. Welcome. Thank you for being here. We are excited to have you join us. Uh now let's move on to roll call. Sharon,
I'm here. Present. Susan absent. David Hello. Richard here. Alina I'm here. Jennifer Spalding here. Kyle present.
Patrick is absent and Cara welcome. Wonderful. The first item on our agenda is petitions, proclamations, suggestions or complaints. With that, staff, can you provide the committee with a summary of upcoming city events and news?
Of course I can. Uh, good morning everybody. As you know, this is kind of our our first and just as an FYI, I'm going to go through a little bit of explanation because this is Kyle's first meeting on each of these areas. So, seems a little redundant. My apologies. Um, but we always provide uh a couple of
updates related to city events that are coming up just to get you guys aware of the fun activities that are happening in town, but also um leverage you guys as our main communicators. If you know of people that might be interested in these, your neighbors, your friends, your family, um we we invite you all to share. And then with that, I provided a
ton of flyers sitting here. Um most of the events that I'm going to cover today or programs are going to be also in these flyers. So, feel free to take some um if you want more, if you're going to bring them to like a senior living facility or whatnot, um I can always print more. So, anyway, so the first topic we have for you today is our
donuts in Victoria, the last two of the 2025 year. Uh October 15th will be our chat with our mayor. Mayor McMillan will be presenting or just sitting down and answering questions from the community, uh sharing some updates, what's going on in the community. So, that will be a
great one to attend. And then our November 19th presentation is Alzheimer's Awareness. And this specific topic came from this committee. So we're excited to have the Alzheimer's Association of Minnesota coming to present about the 101s of uh Alzheimer
awareness and just what to look for. Other highlight I wanted to share with you is our sweater weather bingo. And our parks and recreation director is here to talk about um one of the talk about um one of the items here for this evening. but she has what single-handedly created the bingo
program um for Victoria and I think this is our third. Yes, this will be our third program. So, we invite everyone to come out. It's a grand time. Um there's fun, there's prizes, we go through a variety of games um few hours to um spend a great time
having connection community at the rec center. And then I also have Oh, um I just have a quick question. Um it says it's $5 per person. Is that for residents and non-residents or just for residents? For everyone. For everyone. Thank you. Question.
And then we have some expos that are coming up. Our neighbors in Chanhassen are hosting a wellness expo as well as a 55 plus expo that all happens to be going on in the same week. I do have flyers related to each of those. If you are interested for the 55 plus expo, each day they have a different program
or activity going on. For example, on Mondays they have movement Mondays. So, um, they'll have a trainer that's talking about balance tips, um, showing people exercises. There's some food demos as part of that. Um, the next day they have a talk with their own mayor. I think they're calling it town talk and tortillas or people can make chicken
tortillas as part of that program. Um, and then like on Thursday they're uh calling it Thursday trek. So, a state park officer is coming out and talking about um, state parks, photography, um, and just overall DNR programs. So, if
you're interested in any of those, please feel free to grab the flyers. Be feel be feel be feel be feel be feel be feel be feel be feel be feel be feel be free free to pass them on to your friends. And then the last one I have on here is related to Scott County. Technically not within Carver County, but close to us. Um they are also having a 55 plus expo and that's down in
Jordan, Minnesota. I don't have flyers for that one, but if you're looking for further information Oh, I do. Thanks, Cara. Yes, we do. We have one for that one as well. So, if you're interested in that one, um that's going to be later in the month, October 17th. And with that, I will pass it over to
Cara if you have any additional things to add for Carver County. Sure. Uh, good morning, Cara Cassidy, Carver County Public Health. Um, first I just want to say thank you to everyone who attended our annual expo at the Arboritum. It's always so great to see our commissioners from around the county
and to learn together and hear what everybody's doing. So, I really appreciate everyone who came. Um, next, a little bit more on the Chan Wellness Expo on Wednesday. Um, if you've never been, they have vendors uh come and a
whole kind of vendor expo organizations, nonprofits, uh, estate planners, insurance, uh, realators come. Um, and it's just a great time for people over 55 to learn about some of the services in the county
as well as you can usually test an ebike and get a flu shot if you need to. Um, so another plug for that. And the expo in Scott County is actually $17 um if you attend, but it includes I believe breakfast and lunch. And then um one
last thing, situational awareness. There were, I believe, three cases of measles in schools in Minneapolis. And so we are keeping uh track of those. Nothing in Carver County yet, but in Carver County, we only need one case uh to declare a an
emergency. and then public health activates because it is such a highly contagious disease. You put 20 people in a room with one infected person, 18 get the measles. Um so I believe all those
cases are unvaccinated children who someone had exposure to a relative who had traveled. Um but nothing to worry about here yet and that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. And before we move on, committee members, anything new to
report? All right, we'll move on to our next item, which is approval of the committee meeting minutes. Is there a motion to adopt the meeting minutes of of the May 5th, 2025 committee meeting? I move we approve the minutes. I second.
Okay. All in favor? I. And the motion carries. Uh we have one item considered for old business, which is to review furniture solutions for the Victoria Rec Center lower lobby space. Alyssa will kick us
off. Well, again, like I said, Jenna Smith, our parks and recreation director, is here to really talk about this topic, but I did just want to key it up by saying, you know, this conversation started with this committee um two years ago and last year where we were tasked with identifying potential
short-term spaces for potentially CER gathering se senior gatherings. Um and the lower lobby at the rec center was highlighted as one of those spaces. So, you know, it's taken us a bit of time to understand the budget and and get us to where we are today, but I'm excited to
finally get furniture for this space, and I'm excited for Jenna to kind of showcase what we're what we're planning for you. So, awesome. All right. So, there are quite a few different um design elements that are uh being proposed to be incorporated in. Uh
you will notice by just looking at um some of the things that a lot of the uh furniture fixings are pretty similar to some of the other things that you'll see throughout um the city. Uh we are trying to work on making sure that we are identifying these spaces as Victoria spaces. So um branded design elements
are something that's going to be a theme throughout and so our city colors are reflected in the design. Um and then the pieces were intentionally um selected for some of the uh utilization that uh was requested for these spaces. A lot of
that came um from this user group and the people that you um represent as well as other regular users of the Victoria Recreation Center. Um, so I will go through kind of what each of these pieces are and some potential hopes for how they can utilize, but then I would also love to hear from this group um, as
to how we can continue to utilize these spaces and if you have any suggestions before we move forward. Um, this will um, it has not yet gone to council for final approval. So, this is an opportunity to still share um, thoughts and ideas. Um, but as we go through, I'll kind of explain why some of these
uh, pieces were selected. So, um, the first one, you'll see that credenza there. It does have storage in there. The hope with this is for it to be a storage space for some programming supplies, could be board games, cards, things like that. Stuff that could be accessible to the public. Um so that
they can come and activate some of the spaces um down on the lower lobby. Um it could be something that maybe we have like coffee and connection hour and we store some coffee supplies here. Um and then the top surface is a tabletop um wide, so it can also be used for setting
up for different events or programs. Um we also have the uh cafe tables listed right under there. There will be two of those in the space. Um these were selected for um having some connection. It could be coffee, it could be reading newspaper, it could be playing cards
one-on-one. Um a variety of different ways that they could be used. Um and then these also uh were selected in terms of design for um improved accessibility. Uh below that um is um hightop tables with uh bar height chairs. Uh there would be two of those
in the design. Uh we have a lot of uh our you know users and visitors who use the spaces for uh working on homework. We have some remote work people that will come and utilize the space. Um, and we also picked these intentionally to play into some of the um, outlets that
are already existing in the structure. So, you know, technology is everything these days. So, having the ability to quickly plug in um, in these spaces um was an added benefit. Uh, the next column you'll see um more lounge style chairs um with uh, side
tables. Uh, there will be two sets of these um, in the proposed layout. Um, these are more for those casual conversations. They're a little bit more on the cozy side. So, imagine sitting and having a cup of coffee or chatting with a friend or um any of those types
of things. We have a lot of pickle ball users that utilize the space um in the cooler months when we're doing indoor pickle ball. And one request that they had was to have some casual um seating so that they could engage with um each other before and after playing. Below
that, we've also got some booths um and some tables. Um these were incorporated to again create additional programming space um space for people to be able to um do whatever it is that they need to do at the rec center. Um as if any of you have been to the rec
center before, um the lower lobby is a pretty decent sized space, but it is um is still kind of small in terms of uh incorporating a lot of different types of things. And so, um, these booth styles were selected to try to, um, utilize, um, the space as as efficiently
as possible while still providing, um, additional seating. Um, and then below that, um, is a bench with cubbies. Um, not pictured is a cushion. These will come with cushions to make them more comfortable. Um, but these would be located outside of the gymnasium. So, our gymnasium users, whether it be
pickle ball players or basketball players or um whatever else might be happening in the gym, um an common request is a space to be able to change shoes and um store their shoes during play and things like that. So, that's being incorporated into that. Um any
thoughts or questions on this? I can also the next slide does show the overall layout um or it did. Um, so, um, there we go. So, the overall layout is
listed below. And so, um, it was intentionally designed to not, uh, take away from the, um, walkability of the space because it is a hightraic area, espec especially in the cooler months. Um, but trying to play into a lot of the
spaces that we have. So, starting on the um left side of the screen, you'll see those cafe tables would be positioned right under um the window. So, it' be nice and bright space. Um the bar height tables along the wall there are where all those outlets are. So, it's a great space for people working remote.
Currently, where that credenza is um is where our Victoria Express library is, but as I'm sure many of you are aware, that will be um ending its service at the end of this year. And so we have a temporary location for the credenza if this gets approved, but ultimately it will go in that space. And then the bar
height or the booth tables will be um behind um where the staff offices uh or staff desks are. Um and then flipping to the other side um you see the two different um lounge seating areas and then the benches.
So with all of that um what are your thoughts uh perspectives feedbacks or um in dreaming of the future like are there any particular types of programmings or activities um that you would like to see happening in this space?
Do we know why that uh little library is going away? Yes, that one. So, the library, the Carver County Library system, specifically the Victoria branch, is kickstarting what's called extended library access. So,
downstairs you can visit the Victoria Library outside of traditional library hours. Um, you do have to go through an approval process and get a key card. Um, not anybody can utilize that, but because the Carver County system is utilizing this new extended option, they
did say they are going to take away the kiosk. Um, at the recreation center, I do believe that they're still going to offer book the book return will stay. It's not pictured here obviously because this is a furniture proposal, but on the opposite side of those back doors near the benches is where uh the book drops.
So, that will remain. So, that'll still stay a part of that. Um, so that'll be a feature that will stay. Um, but yeah, it was the change in service from the library that removed that option. Great, Jenna. This looks like really nice layout with lots of options there. How
about decor decorations? Yep. So, um there is signage in the facility that we have um updated. I'm not sure when the last time you visited, but we did do a um major sign project. So, the interior does have a lot of directional signs and things like that. Um decoration wise, um
we do have some um foliage that's in the facility, but that's something that we can continue to um work towards. Internet access for people that want to park there. Yep. There's public access there. How about food service?
Not yet. Dream big though. At least coffee. We're thinking about some kind of opportunity for like coffee and so forth already. Yeah. So, um while it could be considered to have coffee as a regular service, um the thought right now is if
we have program sessions where we know people will be coming because we want to be mindful of our resources. Um but if that's something where we have a dedicated group of users, that's something that we'd be willing to explore. What do you intend the uh credenza? What is that? More storage or Okay.
Yes. So storage for um program supplies, games, cards, things like that. This will be open same hours as the rec center. So anybody could go there. Yes. This would be fully accessible um as long as the building's open and you wouldn't need to be a member of
the rec center to utilize the space. This is a common area for um the community. I've never been there when there's a hockey game going on that open so people could go down there. Yes. Um so it the building is very busy when there's hockey going on. Um so you
you might be sharing the space but um yes this area remains open again the entire time the facility is open. There's two sheets of ice over there. Main sheet. Do we know if we're keeping two sheets as of right now? Yes.
Okay. So that main floor sheet of ice is that furniture included in this? No, we are only reviewing this lower lobby furniture that is Oh, but that is the main floor. You know, if I can jump in on that one,
you need to know where this is. Yeah. Yeah. So, this is the lower lobby. So, when you're walking into the recreation, the front door when you go down those stairs. Yep. That would be That's where it is. But to your question, Sharon, about the um hockey
furniture, that section is owned by the school district. They're the ones that manage that. And I do believe that they new furniture for that space. They did recently replace the furniture there. So there's new um tables and chairs along that edge. I see. Um but that is not included into this
proposal. This is the Yeah. So this where that cursor is right now is the steps down. And then those doors that are pictured um are the ones that are leading out to the pickle ball courts. So this would be the gym on this right hand side down this hallway would
be the multi-purpose. Great clarifying question. So when does it happen if the council approves it? Yep. So we'll be um we'll be pushing it to council and if council approves it um the target is to have it installed by the end of the year.
Oh, that's great. Very nice. Any other questions or feedback? Looks great. All right. In terms of programming, are there any particular programming items that you'd like to see um implemented in these spaces?
I'm a big fan of back. Yeah. Or chest. I was even thinking like a puzzle exchange. the credenza, you know, be nice to have people meet. I keep thinking it would be nice to have
something regular like weekly, whatever, you know, the Wednesday time just to try it to see people show up for conversation, maybe cribage, cribage and games and so forth. Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
Yeah. Could you have a coffee cart then? Something to offer? Yep. If we had something regular like that, then we'd be able to do that. Well, being we don't have a senior center, you know, that you would probably have people come in.
I'm thinking it would if we if it was going to happen the same time every week or every every day would be great, but at least once a week to see who shows up and what they do. And a good resource would be the Wakonia Senior Center, which has is fairly new
and they have um I'd say abbreviated hours that are scheduled. So if you're looking for an example or would like to talk to someone, I'm happy to connect you. I would say the lodge in Chaska, too. I think active senior center,
but well, I think Wakonia is the only one that has like just one dedicated room within their city hall complex that they turned into their senior center. Um Oh, I see. Okay. Like using just one room and how they do it. What kind of turnout is um coming to the
55 plus workout classes? Like the 10, isn't it 10 a.m.? I think it is. Um none of them are designated as only for 55 plus. Um our classes, it depends on the season. Uh winter months, um it's increased. So you could have anywhere
from like 10 to potentially 20 people in the winter, especially January when everyone has their New Year's resolutions. Um and then I I'd say typically aside from that, it's roughly around 10 or so um would come to those classes um regularly. Um sometimes it's higher,
sometimes it's lower. Okay. That might be a good time frame to think about. Yeah. You know, after that pairing up with that would be a good idea. Yeah. The yoga classes on Tuesday, Thursday.
Sure. Any of the low impact? All right. Anything else to add, committee? Well, thank you so much. This looks wonderful. Give your feedback. Uh with that we're going to move on to other business. Does anyone have any other
let's see oh I'm sorry new business. Um we are going to discuss again. I'm really excited about this topic. Yeah. Uh opportunities to reach residents without digital access. And this is a topic we've brought up a couple times. Alyssa will again be presenting on this
item. Yours. All right committee members. Yes. I think we're all really excited about this. We have mentioned it a few different times and I know that was a big topic at the all Carver County um committee meeting as well. So I think it's really fitting that we're talking about it now because we just got done with that September meeting and and
hopefully we'll come up with some solutions and hopefully you can share um other cities what what we're trying to do and then bring it back to to see what other cities are trying to do to talk about this topic. Um so today's discussion is to find those
opportunities things that we aren't currently doing. um find those gap points. Really the goal is to connect folks, individuals who who don't necessarily have access or or can't get access to um city communication
channels, city news, city projects, um any of those type of traditional city communication um channels. um understanding that a lot of older adults that don't have that access really do lose those connection points and then they become at risk of loneliness,
isolation, um that are feeling out of the loop. Um so we're really trying to identify ways how do we meet those people where they're at? Um what opportunities are there for us to engage those folks? Um so we are looking at it in a couple or I'm going to be talking about a couple different things today
and asking for your feedback on a couple different areas. I will say this is a pretty hefty topic and um we only have a half an hour left of discussion. So this is can definitely be tabled for further conversation and I suspect it will be. This is a pretty big um chunk that we're trying to to bite out of here. Um so the
first thing we're going to talk through is just what communication tactics do we currently do? What what are currently going on in the city's communication channels? Um we can discuss opportunities, ways for expansion, things we're not necessarily thinking of. Um, we also want to gather from you,
um, input on priority topics. We can definitely go out and find other opportunities for those communication channels, but what topics should we really make sure are at the forefront of those uh, bringing those to other communication channels, like we've talked about utilizing the water utility
bills um, to put out like a promo or or any sort of just a small communication method. What should what topic should we actually be putting on those? Um, we don't want to put all the communication on there. Um so really identifying you know what rises to the top and then um ways to integrate seniors into digital
communications. Um obviously that top that digital communication methods are are not going away. So we want to make sure that one people are still staying active in digital. Um if they if they so choose to technology also grows at a rapid fast pace and I feel like it's
changing. Um social media is changing those methods are changing every day. So, we want to make sure that one, people are still up to date if they so wish to be. How do we make sure that happens? Um, and then two, is there ways that we can be more representative older adults in our communication as well. So,
like I said, this is kind of a a lot to digest in a 30 minutes. So, if we need to to pause the conversation at any point and uh continue this on to our next couple of meetings, we absolutely so do so. I'm also say feel free to jump in with any questions or just thoughts. This can be informal. does not have to
wait till the end of the presentation um to discuss any of these things. So if you have any ideas um just feel free to blurt them out and we can talk about them. So the first thing is I or just discussing you know what we currently do. Um the city has a wonderful
communications team. It's made up of two rockstar individuals. Um Kendra Gro who's our communications director and then our communications specialist Paige Whan. And then we also have a current agency which would be our uh engage or our events coordinator as well. So the person that's really managing kind of
our city events. Um many of you probably have seen their department's work. They do social media um for the city overall. They do the fire department social media accounts, the recreation social media accounts. Um they also host the city's
websites. They do the e newswsletters which are published twice a month. Um they manage the city's survey informal and our formal ones. Um they help communicate any major city projects like the transportation initiatives that are going on. All the work that you see
behind that is really within or between those two that is doing that. Um, if there's like big hot topics like this summer, I'm sure you saw all the the news about the ebikes and uh trail regulations and you probably saw the signs that popped up um and different uh
emails blasts that went out. That was also their team. Um, so we do heavily rely on them um from every other department in the city to help uh showcase what projects are going on and help get messages out there. So, the only reason I'm saying this is that, you know, we do a lot with a team of two um
and and hopefully eventually three, but we all know that we can do more um and we want to identify and and talking with these two, you know, trying to identify ways that we can broaden our our reach because we do know that older adult populations as um a space that we want to really make sure that we're
connecting with. Um, so ways that we currently inform people in more of those non-traditional method, those non-digital ways I wanted to highlight here. Um, just to kind of set the stage of things that we're already currently doing. Um, the first is Donuts in Victoria, which I know all of you are
very familiar with. That is our monthly program. Um, we host it at the Victoria Recreation Center and we bring in a presenter usually about um, something that's going on in the city like uh, transportation. We have our our city engineer come in um in the month of
April right before construction season starts. We've brought in our EAB, Emerald Ashport contractor to talk about tree management um right in the spring season. We have well I mentioned the mayor is coming in. Um we hope to have people talking about elections next year. We have the Alzheimer's awareness.
So, it's really our showcase um to have people meet in person and just learn about a topic or learn about variety of topics that we find are important to the community or that we know are important to the community at the current stage in time. So, one of the things that we will be asking of the committee um is to see
if there's any topics that we think would rise above um and that we should bring to donuts in Victoria. I know last year we uh we suggested Alzheimer's awareness and that's what came in today, but if there's anything else that we think of um we would love to hear from this community um things that we should bring into this and maybe estate
planning is one of those Jen. Um I think that would be a great eventual topic. And the only reason I'm picking on Jen now, I mentioned this before the recording is Jen uh did just do an article with Carver County Local News. That's a digital newspaper that's been brought up in Eastern Carver County, but it is another way to communicate with
folks about um different variety of communications. So, we also do our citizens academy. Um, that is an annual program that's hosted in the spring, March, April, uh, where we bring residents and they get to come out to every single one of our city facilities,
do a tour, um, but also learn about what that department does and why it's important. It's kind of a crash course on city government or government 101. Um, so this is a blast program. I have a ton of fun. I think all of our department directors do doing this program. If you haven't done it, I'd seriously suggest doing it. Um, it is
free. Um I think a majority of us in this room have taken it at least once. Um but it's another way to showcase uh residents to residents what the city is doing and it's also a space for residents to connect with uh staff individually and just ask questions that
they might just be questioning about. Um we also have our parks and recreation brochure. That's our uh printed mail out. Typically we leave this to just doing um our programs. However, if we feel the need, we will put in additional information related to a hot topic. Um,
such as this summer, the ebikes were a big topic. So, we did include information related to that. Um, the committee, I know you also are very aware we have highlighted our 55 plus programming through the table of contents through here. So, this is just another way that we've leveraged um our
printed media and if there's other ways that we can leverage this, we'd be more than um willing to find new ways to do that. um city and city partnered events. We host a variety of different events that are going on in the city and we also
partner with a variety of events such as um classic car nights where we bring our trailer out. Um that's kind of our mobile city hall per se. We have it staffed so people can come up ask city questions. Sometimes we get new committee members through that method as well. Yeah.
Um and we bring all of our printed resources. So, you know, our senior resource guide, any flyers that are coming up, um if again those hot topic issues, we have one on water that we bring out water jugs and people can guess um where the water came from, whether it was a lake or a stream or
creek or if it came out of your tap water. Um so, just the that way of um that informal engagement with folks at events going to where they are at. Um then we also have I brought up city facilities. Um, we do have spaces at both facilities, uh, the city hall and
the recreation center. Spaces for people to pick up flyers downstairs. We have it on the main table. Um, if anyone's looking for resources, senior resource guide we put down there as well. And at the recreation center, we have spaces for that. And I anticipate with the new furniture and what will come through that is that more and more people will
come to the recreation center is kind of that pickup spot for, you know, any city news and whatnot. So, as that furniture gets installed and we see um how people interact with it, we'll obviously want to probably pivot and do more um things related to communication because we know
people are navigating towards that space. And then physical signs, um what we've done in the past is actually put physical signs when projects are going on. You may have seen this um by the future fire station where we actually have and I have a picture of it. I'll
skip ahead. um an actual sign to where those projects are. We find these really helpful because when you see big construction or um things that are going on, people might think about it on their way to their location, on their way home, or on the way to work, but they don't actually know what's going on and
they never think about, well, I'll go and check on my phone when I get to the office or whatnot. So, having the actual sign there saying what the project is, we found is helpful and informative. So, then people are are just in the loop and aware. Um, we also do smaller signs like yard signs along trails. Like I said,
the ebikes was a big topic this year. Um, we've also done like a speed reduction program where people can actually pick up signs and that's still an option for people to do and it just says what the speed is through um, city roadways. And then um, when we had the watering restrictions during the
watering drought, um, we had signs that people um, could pick up or that we have along roadways that just said, you know, what are our watering restrictions? So people are just more informed. So these are just ways um that we currently engage in non communi non-digital
communication. Um but in kind of that like I know that seemed like a lot but we do really want to understand what avenues we are missing. Um I'm going to open the door up for discussion here but before I do I just want to highlight some things that I know this committee has talked about um kind of leading into
this conversation. Uh, one is talking with faith-based institutions to get into some of their media, whether it's um their bulletins or some of their digital communications, recognizing that um that is a good resource for community for folks. Uh we also could utilize city
utility bills uh for small memos. Um that is something that would be at no cost to us because we already do the printouts for utility bills. um there is only a small section that we can amend language. So we just have to keep that in mind. And then um the other thought
that has been talked about is giving out flyers to um senior living facilities like Ableite communities or um the Stagger Lake condos, the flats, even though they're not a senior base, but there is an apartment um that we can just get in touch with those representatives and make sure that any
of the information we want distributed, whether it's flyers of the senior resource guide that's being distributed to the residents or at least available to residents. Um, so with that, you know, just some thoughts from the committee if there's one, if you have a reaction to this slide. Two, um, if you
have anything that you think we're missing. Um, and then three, one of the things that we talked about internally is, you know, if we do want to do faith-based institutions or those senior um, living facilities, one thing that we would love your help with is contacts.
um if you are part of those groups, if you know the the person that we should be contacting uh to distribute uh any information to those groups, we'd love to have it because sometimes uh it's hard for us to receive answers back or people change uh staff changes and then
we lose whoever that um previous contact that we had was. So with that, I did a lot of talking and I will pass it back to the chair and the committee um to discuss. Thank you. Um I have a lot to say. Does anybody else
just a quick comment or suggestion perhaps would be um leveraging the high school here, right? Holy family. Um knowing that there is a lot of opportunities for those kids to um give back and things that would look good on
their resumes. Um it perhaps could be a program that we could leverage that could transition from year to year to year depending on, you know, the students there. Um, I think the question would be, um, what would we want to leverage them for and how do we prioritize that? So, if there's maybe one or two events throughout the year
that we would print off flyers that they could hand out or promote in some way or have them be creative on ways to engage, um I think that could be just an opportunity where there, you know, could be lowcost, you know, point of entry by handing out, you know, or having them
help print certain things that they could hand out or find other ways to uh get around in the community and promote given that there's um a large number of students there who are looking for opportunities to give back. that goods goes towards I think some of their academic uh pieces and graduation as well as what looks good on college
applications. It's a good idea. It's a great idea. Those kids could also do some outreach just doing it within their own neighborhoods um for homebound or just older neighbors that might not have access to all of our digital
opportunities. They would probably be a great source for digital for seniors, you know, to help them guide them. Sure. That would be that's what I do when I get the phone. along that lines here. I was thinking the same thing that for the people that don't know how to
use the internet or have access some of the the classes on the Wednesday donuts deal would be we good or tapping these young people to help come to senior locations or whatever to teach them how to use things. My guess is that all
these facilities have computer access. People don't know how to use it. Maybe uh one thing that I think is potentially what are we missing? You know, many schools, Holy Family doesn't do it, but most schools have a sign somewhere about
events that are coming up that week. You know, football game, 7 o'clock, whatever, in front of the school. If there's a the logical place would be at the intersection here of Highway 5 to have a a sign that scrolls, here's the events in Victoria this week. You know,
absolutely. A lot of people would see it anyway. That is our comm's team dream is to have one of those sign and I think with the transportation projects the highway five one specifically that is something that they're looking at including budget because you're absolutely right because
right now we have banners um which are great and they are well designed but it's so much nicer if we can get you know the scrolled sure of what's happening people get used to looking for it then see what's happening this week do we know where these people are
anybody that doesn't have a computer. Is there any way to find out? And because that group's got to be shrinking, right? Every every day it gets smaller, right? You know, it would be really challenging for us to specifically
pinpoint address and location for each of those. you know, we do try and target, you know, areas that we assume um and that's really all everything is is assumption, but like senior facility homes um such as Able Light, such as um
Stagger Lake, Green Crest before Green Crest, um went away, but those like areas is places that we target. When it comes to individual people in homes, that would be really challenging for us to identify. Um the other piece is when it comes to mailing individual things, that's something we don't necessarily
want to get into because we don't want to target communication um as a government agency. So if you would want to do like utility billing, we know that gets sent to everybody. We wouldn't want to target that to specific areas or specific groups, it would be if we did like a little memo in the utility
bill about senior programming, um we would want it to be sent to all. one because we don't want to target but two um we think about caregivers in our community and people that might impact um and and the trickle down effect they might see it and then they might share it with a family relative friend that
might need that resource too. My thought too was um Abel Lightite Village has not just because I live there, but it's a 55 plus and it has a a large community room and it would be nice if some students
um could come over because we do have seniors there that just they have a real hard time with digital. They just weren't there and some of them don't have grandkids. Yeah. can guide them through it
and show them. So, it would be nice because we have a coffee bar and everything there that you know there there are some really successful examples of high school clubs that have been started um that go to facilities like this and help with phones. Um, and
a lot of it sometimes it is deleting 10,000 emails or how do I um upload a picture or so this is a little bit more um 55 plus people who have a phone and it's they're really successful and
really in demand. I don't know of any groups um in Minnesota who are doing that, but I've read about them around the country where, you know, a high school student starts a club to go and and help. Yeah, good idea. Don't we have a local um take a
grandparent fishing club? You know, kids who are actively looking to spend time with elder elders. Other communities do take a grandparent fishing. Yeah. And there's I think a take a grandparent shopping club or something and just younger people who donate their
time. That might be a way of identifying those kids who enjoy spending time. In a lot of high schools, kids can start whatever club that they want as long as they have a a teacher sponsor or a staff sponsor. So, we just need to find the
students, right? And sometimes it's honor society or um true, you know, wherever. Great suggestion. Going back to finding the specific people, who are those people? I would
think whoever still receiving paper statements from the city are potentially our pool, right? Good point. But if the same message is on the paper statement as is on our digital statement, then we're not directly
targeting them. And I would think that that short and sweet message should say learn more about, you know, engagement opportunities in Victoria at the website or call for
our advisory guide or something. And then who takes those calls? Who's that person? That was going to be one of my my questions for the committee as well because we do know, you know, we do have a lot of flyers um or things like utility bills that we can leverage, but a lot of times we direct people back to
the website and if the challenge is is that they don't necessarily navigate the website, directing them to the website isn't necessarily the best avenue for that anyway. Um so absolutely one people can always come to city hall and I think that's something that we need to um
inform people is that you don't have to just go to the website for X Y and Z or the senior resource guide one. We'll have them printed out for you and you can also um come upstairs and we'll talk you through some of those as well. I think the phone number that we would ask people to call is our main line. Um and
then the person that picks up our phone call, they're pretty good about directing. Uh so if someone has a question about you know the public works project on such and such a street they can direct them to our public works team or if they have a question about elections they can direct them to our
city clerk or you know etc etc and they'll know who that correct person is and that person to talk to. We also talked about, you know, with the senior resource guide, you know, we know that people also have issues with transportation. So, we might have printed copies at the recreation center
or at city hall. Maybe we offer and we start looking at the cost to mail that if people request it. So, we can have, you know, listed out if you want a copy of this, please call and we can mail it to you. Um, so that's something we're looking at as well. um knowing that
guide is a wellused resource for our community which is contrary to what's happening with all documents right so you used to be able to get a lot of documents from the federal government like I need 10 copies and now they're like download the PDF and print 100page document yourself
so it's innovative and also retro I want to give a shout out for the trail signs I thought that was a really great idea with the ebikes you know, until the kids started running over them and Yeah. into the ground. They look like And you know how you swift tacked them,
you know? Well, I got one. I forgot to bring it. They ripped that down, too. Yeah. But it's a good idea. It's a great idea. So, I brought papers from here and started walking the neighborhood and put them in mailboxes
of where I knew the children were living. I did like, well, it's illegal to put something somebody's mailbox. No, it is. You can put it underneath, but not in the mailbox. No, you can. Anyway, uh how do they decide where to put the
signs? What what trails are they using? Is it our old trail map? And there ones that are more common than others. Very great question that I do not have the answer to. Um I am sure that they probably pick trails that they know are are heavy traffic trails. Um that would
be my assumption on that. Um, and if you can find ones that are alongside roadways, maybe you can get drivers as well. Like if you think the road, um, right next to the recreation center, um, kind of where the fire station is, it's a nice trail. It's heavily trafficked, but people also drive by it, so you kind
of get double duty on on communication there. But, and we do, we've done a lot of different signs alongside trails um, over the past years. This is the first one where kids have made a game out of it by targeting them with their bicycles. We'll obviously have to rethink some of
those as the years continue. Stinkers. I thought about putting some little strips along with nails and stuff. A good idea. I saw I guess I'm just going back to the opportunities to connect here and I'm
thinking about two things and I appreciate that I'm new everybody. Um but I'm curious how do we identify the topics that are most important to individuals and then secondly prioritizing those because I think that may help us identify what are the leverage points to communicate um rather
than peanut butter spread across right is it hey we've got one really big thing that we want to communicate and so let's put our eggs into that basket and then everything else can trail off of that um and then is it a need want and more curious in terms of the priorities like food and security transportation
uh elections would be I would consider in the um more need bucket versus want to learn more about the internet and wanting my phone to work better or then other curious topics like what's happening with my water bill when I go to Florida for the winter. So that's how
my brain works a little bit. Um if that resonates with others talk about that today or continue on next time. just in terms of funneling through all the ideas, how do we then leverage what are resources we have and then how do we identify the gaps?
I think that was beautifully said um and um that it goes right into our next conversation of what are those priority areas. However, we do only have 10 minutes left and I believe that this specific conversation is going to take longer than 10 minutes. So, um, my suggestion to the committee is maybe we
pause at this point and we bring this back for our November conversation for discussion. And I I like the buckets you suggested, if the committee agrees that maybe that's where um staff builds their presentations from, we can absolutely do that. The um what information do we need, what information do we want, and
what information we're curious on, and then we can kind of prioritize from there. And one of the things we talked about in in great detail last year was surveying doing a survey. Um but then we have the issue of how do we get that survey to
people who don't have digital access. Right? So that's something we can talk about next time as well because that will help us identify what their priorities are. Right. Okay. Um so we're stopping there. Correct Alyssa? Yes. Okay. committee
decision, but my suggestion. Yes, I think everyone okay with that? Okay. Um, does anyone have any other business? Um, or staff, do you have any other business? Only thing I have is I just have up on the the slide when our next two meetings
are. So, November 3rd, um, we do have a presentation from the fire department and we were going to review the 2026 senior resource guide. We might have some time to do that. Um, but now having this conversation, we'll we'll continue today's conversation for November. And
if I need to kick that uh resource guide, we absolutely can. Um, and then in December, we will receive the presentation from the senior senior community services. If you were at the all Carver County um committee meeting, you may have um met one of the representatives from there, Leanne. um
she will be coming to the um meeting in December and just talking about what programs and services they offer there and potentially what can be done in Victoria related to that. And then we will make sure that we um go ahead and review the the senior resource guide for 2026 at that meeting so it's ready for
public in January. And that is all I have. That's Wednesday. Is that correct? The third. Oh, did I put that? I might have copied and pasted that wrong. If if so, November 3rd, you mean date? No, it is November 3rd, but let me check for
It's November 3rd of Monday. Yeah. Okay. December 1st is would be December 1st. My apologies. No problem. Good catch. Okay, there are no more items to come before the body this morning. Can I ask
for a motion to adjurnn? Is a move. Is there a second? Okay, I got Jenny a second. Um, all in favor? I opposed. The motion carries