##VIDEO ID:hf24XCVy4h8## e e e e e e e e e well good morning everyone um it's 10 o'clock and I'd like to call this um meeting of the senior advisory committee to order and our first order of business is roll call um Sharon yes here okay Susan bill is here David is not here Richard here welcome Patrick is not here and Elena here yes thank you um as some of you heard as we were if uh that I want to mention that Jack has um resigned from the committee uh we're sad to see him go I think he has been on since uh four years or so oh wow um he continues to live in Victoria and is doing well and he comes to some events so we'll we'll really miss him because he's been an integral part of our committee for the last several years next we would like to welcome and introduce Carver County representative Cara casid Cassidy welcome Cara thank you do you want to take a minute and tell us a little more officially about yourself sure my name is Cara Cassidy and I am the new Carver County Public Health Office of Aging representative I also currently serve as the chair of the Commission on Aging in the city of Chan has so I'm really excited to be here and to meet all of you thank you for having me today thank you thank you wonderful well the next order of business is petitions proclamations complaints or suggestions from um citizens so this is when we turn it over to Alysa to talk about city news and upcoming events perfect um so I'll just kick us off and just let you all know with Jack's absence we do have one um K committee opening for uh the senior advisory committee so if you do know someone that um has availability on Monday mornings and would be a great fit for this committee or is just interested um please let them know that we're we're looking for somebody and if they have any questions you can send them my way otherwise we have a ton of information on the website but happy to answer anybody's questions about um what this committee is and what this committee does um so um the next thing I have on the list is donuts and Victoria just wanted to bring those to all of our attentions the ones we have upcoming um throughout spring and then leading into summer so we do have coming up in a couple of weeks February 19th uh securing your identity and cyber systems so really looking at identity fraud um as well as just you know ways to keep your technology uh safe and secure and exactly what you need for exploring the internet that's going to be run by our it manager in house here um March 19th is expanding downtown Victoria there's a lot of movement in downtown west area um so making sure that community members have an opportunity to hear from City staff on exactly what that's looking like and answering any other questions following in April we have the transportation projects we're calling it mapping our upcoming Transportation projects we know that the arbor Mary Transportation plan is right at our door and there's going to be a lot of um beginning movement in 2025 so we want to make sure that there's plenty of opportunity for people to be engaged and of course answer any or ask any questions to our city engineer related to that project and then last um at least last on this list we have pretty much the entire season booked out already but for May um and for today uh we are going to have Tree Care in saving our ash trees of Victoria if people aren't aware we do have a partnership program with rainbow Tree Care they uh come and treat all of the city's ash trees on the boulevards as well as in certain areas of our Park system they do that on a rotation every three years and then with that um program they do a discount for any residents that want to treat their own ash trees so our representative will be coming out and talking about ash trees but also just talking about Tree Care in general just making sure that all trees um are happy and healthy and safe excuse me I have a question about that I think in the fall I came into City Hall and asked about treating I don't know if at one time there was some funds available or whatever how do you get in contact with them to come and look at your trees and possibly treat them yeah so you can reach out to Rainbow Tree Care directly um we do have a link on our website okay see if I can just pull that up I do have our website up here um it should be under residence and then we have yard management and then tree care a bunch of different resources about Tree Care on here okay um but we do specifically talk about you know emerald ashor and then they do have um the contact to Rainbow Tree Care right on the website and they should have um a Victoria discount page right from there that can talk about what that program looks like and how you can contact them and get them scheduled thank you and with that I will pass it back to you but before we probably before I do that pass it to car do you have anything from Carver County you wish to discuss and talk through sure so um I want you to know that Carver County is still offering flu and covid vaccines there are four clinics left February 4th February 18th March 4th and March 18th I will leave a flyer uh Alyssa with you if that's okay um also I don't know if you want a quick uh public health update but in uh minuto in Minnesota overall respiratory illness activity is high right now um covid is low and decreasing actually and what I've heard is for our aging population 12% morees uh people over 65 were vaccinated over the last year than the year before so there's a lot of immunity building up out there and also the variant um did not change so that's good news uh flu as you probably know is very high and increasing and RSV is moderate and increasing as well um but overall we're we're seeing our Trends are kind of preco numbers and so it's nothing extraordinary and uh we're looking forward to Spring does cover County offer the RSV not that I'm aware of but I will check for you and let you know thank you I also have cover County did put out um a sheet on what vaccines do you need as an older adult um or as an adult actually and I will also leave that with Alyssa um and I will send it to you because there are all these links and no URLs um actually on this page so I'll send it to you perfect and then I'll share that with everybody here thank you wonderful and thank you and welcome and we hope to see a lot more of you thank you oh thank you next item on our agenda is approval of the minutes is there anyone that has any questions or would like to make a motion to approve the minutes of January 6 2025 I motion to approve okay Sharon so any um all in favor okay thank you um and before we move on does any do any other committee members have anything they want to share or pass on at this time ready for winter to be over oh I know one thing Lissa um is it this coming week that they have the fishing are they still doing the fishing tournament on I don't think they're doing it this year okay you're not doing the fishing tournament this year asking is it the first I mean they they opted not to do it um in 2 the fire department okay um I do have one other thing maybe you can share last year I was on the city's website and there are a lot of community things that were on there and the Citizens Academy myself and a couple other people went to it was really educational um and informative do you want to share could you share a little more about it thank you so much for bring that up Sue let me just pull it up also on our website so what um Sue is mentioning is the Victoria Citizens Academy what the city has been doing since probably 2020 I think was our first year um is that we host in the springtime um just a a weekly evening uh series that people who sign up we call them our graduates at the end um they can learn more about City business and what goes on in the city so you know each week is a different topic and you get to go to different areas of cities or city buildings so you know one time we'll talk about you know Administration and the history of Victoria we might talk about finance and how do we budget and what does that look like um our Park system so we'll do a tour of Lan Park um you'll get to check out our Public Works Vehicles the water treatment plant and how our water gets processed through that um and just a wide variety of different topics and it's just a really wonderful way to one see the ins and outs of city government and how city of Victoria works but also just engage with staff and our city facilities as well and if anyone's interested in that please come and talk to me afterwards I can help with registration otherwise we do have um registration on our website as well and I feel like it might even be right on the homepage well maybe not I was hoping it was I have to say why she's looking it was very very educational and well well worth it and plus they provide treats you provide treats from our local businesses so if that do leave you there alone there you go um and the program is free for anyone that wants to attend and if anyone's interested it's not on our main page but if you go over the community tab um there is community vents um which will be underneath there so Victoria Academy oh yeah there it is one other thing I was reading about is um you can nominate is it a volunteer and um I know I think last well anyway that is people that are basically better the community or volunteer their time to make Victoria the wonderful Community it is I do have that up on the screen Sue you're on a role today you should be you should be sitting here oh boy um that is our community Builder award so it's we've started that around 2020 2021 um just to honor and express our gratitude for people in the community whether that's residents business owners or even past families that have dedicated their time their service um towards the city not just the city um organization but the community overall in different ways so in the past we've um honored uh Mike poppets who um you might know from Victoria vix last year we had the Upton family they have more or less adopted Kirk locken Park and really made that Park really shine these last few years um so if you think of anyone or know of anyone we do have our application period still open um and it's a really short application and city council goes through people who are are nominated through that and then um they're announced at our June volunteer event um and that's they're given their awarded um that the award is announced officially the last thing I want to mention um under I think you were under the like Park and Recreation Center about program registrations Victoria the city hasn't done this in a long time um under it used to be called Defense of Driving or driver's safety and now what are they calling it um if you look look up in the registration you saw it on the is that for 55 yes is it's not 55 alive anymore but it is something similar to that but you do when you take that you T you take I don't know it used to be um maybe under 55 yeah roadwise there it is and basically what that does have have you any of you done that in the past past it's educational I mean you do learn some Defensive Driving strategies but you take it and you get 10% off your auto insurance and then you renew it three years later and it's ongoing and I don't know if many of you have renewed your home and auto insurance but things have gone up so it's it's a great class you learn some things and you get that 10% off for all three years and then you renew it so I just wanted to point that out and I am on our registration page for that however this program is run by Cornerstone um insurance agency they're the ear Insurance Agency that's actually just a couple doors down um if you are familiar with them they're wonderful organization um they work a lot with the Victoria Business Association and classic car nights as well as the Victoria Lions Club um but they're offering this program for free for Victoria residents and uh it is it was originally going to be hosted here in council chambers but they did end up moving it to the Lions fing because we have over 70 people registered for this wonderful program oh wow so it is obviously well needed um and Laura who obviously works at Cornerstone uh Insurance um is pretty excited and we're really excited that she is willing to to host this program for us last summer they did one if you were got your insurance through them they had one there but the max used to be 25 people so 70 people is wonderful and it's coming up this Friday so if you are interested you can just contact Cornerstone um insurance and they'll get you registered for that and you walk out with a certificate that you then submit to your insurance yep well that's all I have love it I see it's February 7th yes yeah sorry February 7th at 9 a.m. to 1M okay I guess next we move on to um consider items for the um 2025 work plan awesome so we're we're getting to that time of year where we're looking at the 2025 work plan for for those in the room or viewers at home that aren't uh necessarily where our committee schedule starts in April um so when we're talking the 202 five work plan it's 2025 slash into 2026 and for 2024 we're still technically in that 2024 year cycle um but we obviously want to start looking at what's in that work plan earlier and I know we've had some conversations at the committee for the last couple of months of what do we want in that work plan so I thought we should bring this to our attention sooner versus later so we can get that flushed out and brought to council um at the very beginning of April so we can kick off the season um sure away so um first I just wanted to talk through what we have seen um in our committee's past work plans and specific projects that this committee has done in the last four to five years um one it's assisted in developing the donuts and Victoria series offered suggestions for for people to or for presenters and speakers to come um to that and I think we'll continue to be engaged in that whether it's a specific work plan item or not um created the Senior Resource guide and each year you all continue to to review that guide ensure it's updated um and make suggestions for any resources that aren't included in that guide um keep it relevant we've developed walking routes throughout the community that was done in 2023 at the fall of 2023 is this committee has walked around Victoria um in different areas and created walking routes to then share with the community and hopefully um encourage active um walking and act just active um in our residents and older adults um and then more recently the develop the table of contents in our Parks and Recreation brochure that's specific to uh 55 plus programming and as we were going through um our website that 55 plus button when you were looking for registrations wasn't there up until this committee suggested it so those are just a few things that this committee has done um just recently over the last couple of years to um really make our community um and our city better for older adults ongoing projects things that you know we continuously do um or things that we're we're not quite done checking it off on the list yet is develop a walking system plan based on that walking audit that was done with the walking routes um that's something that staff is kind of trying to get together behind the scenes to hopefully get this uh in front of the committee um before the end of the 2024 work plan so hopefully next month we'll have something together for you all to look at the idea behind that is one you went through and did a walking audit you walked the routes um and you made suggestions to things that could be improved trying to get that in a formalized plan um to really activate our unactivated spaces and improve our walking routes um long term and then obviously once you have a plan in place then we can look at is there potential funding sources that we can use um to actually make those um wishes come true continue to develop and review the senior resource guide I think I just more or less mentioned that um Community uh continue as a community stakeholder for downtown west specifically as we're lering the phase two portion phase one um has kicked off with the groundbreaking last week of the Olivine apartment complex um however they're still not done on the central Green Space for that so that will still want to be engaged in as a committee that's technically part of phase one but as we're entering um phase two with Council and looking at what is phase two and three look like we'll want to make sure that this committee is is engaged in those conversations and engaged into um making sure that things especially in the public spaces um that we're thinking through areas such as seating and walking and lighting and making sure that space is safe for everyone excuse me um a couple years ago I believe you I think we as a committee rated or expressed interest in different things that we would like that green or open space to be in I'm I don't know if that went out to the public or other people is phase two is that have they identified some things or is it still kind of open for discussion because haven't really been updated unless I was gone from a meeting on that whole project for a while totally um so just for some background we did a survey for the community the entire community and this committee also took that survey as a group but then also individually um to talk about what is the future of downtown completely look like you know what um businesses would we like to see in that space What amenities would we like to see in that space what do we want our public areas to look like um so it was just kind of an overall General View getting a an idea of what the community is really looking for um from that the council was able to create an RFP so a request for proposal from developers to say you know we have these 13 and a half acres or so how do or and this is kind of what our community is looking for developers bring together kind of a concept and it doesn't have to be a full concept but just an idea of maybe what that you know you could do with this vision for these 13 acres or so um council did receive rfps or responses to the rfps three of them last fall so fall of 2024 and they did select at their last meeting uh a developer to start working with to talk more about that vision and to talk about actually what do we want for this space based on you know this larger concept that the community has provided to them so there's still a lot more work to be done but now that we've had we have a developer in play um and council's still knocking through what is you know the initial conversations with them it will be more engagement on this committee the parks committee and as well as the Planning Commission of you know what do we want to see for that space how well with Highway five um well how will that coincide with I had heard like the Dairy Queen is kind of waiting until the highway five Project's done and whatever do you plan on just continuing everything even during the construction or reconstruction of Highway five or I think the initial plan is to keep moving things forward um obviously you know we're at the very very beginning phases of downtown west so the chances of anything going in right now are pretty slim um but I will say as part of the the the arborita Mary Transportation plan project one of the key corridors that does need to be completed to allow um people to still access this downtown during the highway 5 construction is continuing uh stiger Lake Lane up and connecting it to County Road 11 um there's actually going to be around about closer just North I believe of the the daycare um if you're familiar with that area and then it will sneak down into and Connect into um Stager Lake West currently Theory Queen will have a round well you know what I mean yes no that corner will also have a roundabout so be two roundabouts one at the intersection of 5 and 11 and one North on that road 11 um closer to the uh daycare and then that road will help people navigate to to downtown so that will be probably one of the first initial phases into downtown west that connect action Corridor um from downtown to the rest of the site wonderful thank you and then busy place oh we are it will be busy busy for the next couple of years which development is the front apartment complex on five what is is that Ro that is Roars yep so that is Roars and then the back one on stiger Lake Lane is what that is uh currently being termed Olivine oline okay different developers right um and how big is that unit theine is 145 okay units um roarers I don't have that number off the table I know sorry I think it's rough and is that Olivine is that a general public like downtown here for occupancy it's all it's all in General market rate yep yep know I'm hearing about that with an additional 300 units um and getting out on five I mean I'm sure a lot of looking at Stager Lake Lane and other things there'll be a lot more traffic flow through downtown well plus yeah because we still have Victoria flag plus that one rate alongside of it are they town houses back there looks like Apartments but it's not buy into those is there any talk ever about when they look at stagger Lake right in front of uh vix and the old Victoria house I mean that's just such a narrow funky little turn and is that limited by the space there that they can't make that wider wider there is a significant because we're right at the the Parkland there there is some limitations to that space however um I know the community development team specifically is talking with those business owners the ones that face that road so that even includes Winchester and Ry because they have that lawn space right behind the building um and just like what does the future of downtown and specifically that area look like so they're continuously talking about you know during these larger Transportation construction projects what are you also thinking about as business owners do you have projects that you might want to kick off now um it might be the opportunity to do so and then what is what does the rest of our downtown look like was there talk about some other development on that green space behind Winchester and Ry nothing official okay got lots of talk thank you you bet and then the the last one I have for ongoing projects and I know there's a ton that this committee does and I will pull up the 2024 work plan as well just so that we we're looking at you know what we have current currently in place um but explore what a senior facility programming could look like in the city of Victoria and this committee has specifically been engaged in the Victoria Recreation Center um the council was going to have a workshop last Friday but we had a few council members that were sick so we ended up postponing it we don't have a rescheduled date yet um but they were taking the feedback from the survey that we did um in October the feedback we heard from this committee and the parks and rec committee and we're bringing that to them um to talk about you know what is the future of that space and then talking about you know even short term what do we want um regards to an activated senior space within that um Senior Center or within the recreation center like this committee talk through so um we are going to continue to bring that forward we just don't have a specific date yet on what council will be discussing that but um I think once we hear from Council and get that larger Vision we'll want to bring that back to this committee and continue to have those convers ations even if it's a level of um what furniture would be a good solution like those type of things we would like to get this committee's eyes on I did have one new one and it's kind of new because we did talk about this last month but a potential specific to add to the work plan is participating in public engagement events in 2025 and I do know it's on staff's list to kind of come up with some dates and bring that to this committee so it's not forgotten on our end um but I think that might be a really really good uh work plan Edition for 2025 knowing that might come through um this summer and then I just left it General on additional items that this committee would like to see but before I pass it back I did just want to bring up our current work plan and just walk through what we currently have obviously this can change it does not have to stay the same um but for the first one and a lot of these we've already just talked about is um assessment of that Senior Resource packet um this one is continuous there's no end date to this but it's just a broad um reminder to recommend ways to better on ways that we can better communicate and reach Victoria senior population I think last month we had really good discussion about you know ways that we can engage with our businesses um ways that we can engage with our religious organizations to bring uh more awareness to senior programs in Victoria talked about downtown west um talked about Trail routes um this one is related to you cara um so it's continued to engage with Carver County Office of Aging in any way that we possibly can whether that's a representative here or attending the um the annual event we have at the Arboretum and then um we just talk through the senior facility specifically you know thinking through the recreation center wonderful so with that I will pass it back to the committee and I'll leave this slide here but I can move around where the committee would like to go um on just what the committee would like to see in the 2025 work plan anybody have any other questions or input yeah one last thing before I forget um what I will do is I will listen to the committee in their discussion here and see if there's any head nods or or head shakes um and then I'll bring this back probably next month in March to have the committee look like and we'll probably have it in more of that format that I just showed on the screen with the word draft written all over and then you guys can pick it apart again and put your feedback on there and we can add to it stuff too so just wanted to let you know on what next steps would look like after this great well we don't there's no motions for this item so if nobody has any other um thing to ask we move on to other business um does anyone have any other business or anything they want to share with the committee before we do I just want to make sure um if the committee has any additions I know we've talked about other things in the past that they might want to add to this work plan not to rush us along or not to no problem but I just want to make sure that everyone would feel comfortable with you know some of these keeping the ongoing projects on here including the public engagement events but then if there's anything you know missing this is a great opportunity to talk through through those as well and then next month we'll have the same opportunity again but does that sound agreeable or does anyone have anything they want to add in addition to this wonderful may I just say that your resource guide is beautiful and uh I I share it with or talk about it everywhere I go I was just at the lodge in chasa today and I was like well if you ever need resources you know Victoria has this wonderful Community guide that you could you could get offline and use and I know that Chan Hassen is developing one as well and yours is the guy by so well done standard to the everyone and Alysa and the city staff for yeah really working with our input and yours it it is a piece that everyone is proud of so thank you you should be and if anyone wants to take some home I do have some printed here or if you know anyone that might want one take a few I do take a few I have them put here one take over to our facility too so yeah one takeaway I had from our last kind of brainstorming session again just about um engagement with 55 plus Community who is not internet Savvy um is kind of to par lay off of interfacing with our faith community and um local businesses if we could provide printed copies CES of our resource guide at local establishments and within the faith-based community so that maybe we get some additional Outreach with our res seen we don't have the on paper anymore an ultim it's hard for any of the seniors to understand or see what we have can I make a suggestion so we do have on our current um work plan is to continue to recommend better ways to communicate and reach Victorious population I think that's a great one I think we continue to do that but it might be either a bullet a sub bullet point underneath that or an additional one because we do know that we don't have that that local paper that we have in the past um having something about recommending ways or finding ways to better connect with senior populations that aren't necessarily Tech savy and I'm sure there's probably uh a way that we can you know word that better but having something specific to that um on ways that we can connect with those folks that aren't necessarily on the internet that's a idea that's a great idea great are you may I add one thing are you aware of um the Carver County local news it's an online resource that was started last the end of last year um they specifically started the newspaper to get out of voter guide since that was sorely missing from from many communities but it's an ongoing um newspaper it's free it's online you can sign up on their website and if you'd like for me to I can send the link to Alyssa yes thank you so there there's no hard copy everything no hard cop it's all online so that does not solve your problem of reaching it would some of them possibly but like you said some aren't so they're not online right so that will fall in our 2025 work plan wonderful any other items thank you El that was a great great comment well and I think one more thing that we again we had such a great brainstorming session last time um that could be a further part of our 2025 plan is um visiting the afternoons in the park together and just seeing how we can be more present and you know some of those events I think we talked about you know adding like a putting green or a bean bag toss or something to help kind of bring in the 55 plus Community but I would like to see US participate in some of that a little so you're ask uh yes now I do remember that you're asking that maybe maybe a couple different times throughout the summer a park is picked and a couple committee members are there and try to engage people that are walking or do we want it ad or publicized that we'll be there I think we could publicize the events that we will be we talked about the farmers market maybe and the car show you know just having an informational presence you know at those I think that sounds a wonderful idea this is kind of the language we had proposed on the screen based on the last conversation but obviously there's a lot more detail that goes into you know these very high level um sentences um and aren't you guys at the the city they're at the farmers Mark they have a table there yes so if we sat with them as senior you know we could also you know take turns one of us yes so we do um we started this I believe La two years ago where um so we're at the farmers market the farmers market is hosted by Inky the city has a booth with just resources there but we also invite Community Partners is what we call it um and then we actually set up another tent and another Booth right next to us and then whoever that Community partner is whether it's a different organization we've had the Arboretum there Three Rivers Park um the library has come as well or it could be City staff sometimes we just talk about about you know water infrastructure and we have our our water Team come out and they have you know their own game and things like that um there we as a cedar group as a cedar committee can partake in one of those and have you know all of our our resources and have you know a couple of you just sitting there answering questions greeting people that walk up um and just being engaging with the public and hearing what they have to say um and what might concern them too I think it's a good opportunity to specifically hear what might be a of interests and concerns to them and I think we've also talked about you know ways at that last meeting to um bring people to the table so what can we explore and I think Patrick had some uh trivia game um suggestion uh Richard you had some suggestions about ways we can connect with our local businesses um and have some sort of giveaway so I think there's a lot of opportunity um related to this that we can really get this committee out and engaged in visiting with the public great then after we finalized the work plan in April then we'll look to maybe assign or kind of Identify some dates and other things as we go forward and I would hopefully even get some of that done sooner since we're we're currently on staff side working through the spring and summer brochure um we're trying to get our dates and things planned already so I'm hoping that we can get some of those nail down and brought to you I know everyone's summer is really busy and I know that I'm going to be absent for some of summer as well so I want to make sure we're getting all this set up well in advance um I do have one other thing could we possibly I know we have some new staff with the um with the Park and Recreation Department I'm not sure if I missed a meeting have they ever come and and introduced her to our commit yet we did have um our Parks and Recreation director here a couple meetings ago it was in the fall um Jenna Smith okay um so she has been here and introduced herself I think we were talking specifically about the Victoria Recreation Center at that meeting in the future of that but I think to your point I think there's plenty of opportunities during specific items when we get into maybe more brainstorming about what we want to see at public events having um our Communications team as part of that would be I think really helpful for them I know they also watch our meetings afterwards so they are very engaged in that way but I think there's opportunity too to have them here and you get to see their faces and vice versa too yeah they have much more of a presence now at the recreation center with where their office is so um you engage with them a lot more which is great see now Yas we should say that you plan on being there Wednesday yes and I do too for the Bingo Bash so you know that's a we'll be present there I'm planning to go with yeah and for those who are attending the Bingo Bash um on Wednesday we will have a stack of these there as well and then based on the committee's feedback from last meeting um we did start paper copies of the email newsletter lists um so we started bringing that to um our events already but we will also have that there um so if people are interested in signing up for our digital newsletters that the city puts out whether it's for the the general city one or um The Parks and Rec one there's a couple of them you'll see it on the list too um they can do that in person and then we'll take that as staff and then transfer that digitally for them so just get them registered great when I was at the recreation center today they do encourage people to register uh um so you want to get some numbers and know where they're at all right well that sounds like we'll have a busy year year exting year exciting year things will be moving more exciting for Alysa of course yes yes I'll be at the events with my stroller there you go Mark take what kind of walking device some of us never know wonderful well does anybody have any other business or should um remove to adjourn okay I'd like to make a m a motion to adjourn is there a second a second thank you Richard and um all in favor opposed motion carries we'll see everyone e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for