technology and entertainment that connects millions of people to moments and experiences that matter to you most um we've spent more than a decade working to address digital inequities um from connecting people to the internet to supporting young diverse storytellers to opening doors for the next generation of innovators creators and doers Comcast wants everyone to have the skills resources and tools they need to success in an increasingly digital world we are thrilled to be supporting the Southwest Metro chamber of Commerce um and all our Community Partners as they host these important conversations so looking forward to today and thank you [Applause] guys thank you so much hi I'm good afternoon yes my name is Lisa ersi and as he mentioned I'm with the chasa Historical Society um we are an all volunteer 501c3 nonprofit organization here in chasa and we're focused on recording and sharing chaska's history um it seems highly appropriate that we would be a sponsor for this event since the mayor's kind of pinpoint the benchmarks on where communities are going or where they've been and where they're going why is chaska's history important it's because by learning about problems of the past and how they've been solved or not solved particularly well um that we can better address the challenges and the excitement um of the future we do have a lot of exciting news at the Historical Society uh one of those is that the history book that covers 1950 to 2000 during a time when Chase's population jumped from 2000 to 20 no to 177,000 at that point in 2000 um a very important time frame in chasa and as so many of these communities are dealing with Incredible growth it's a great lesson on how to do that and do it well so that you can maintain your sense of community the book features eight chapters including a chapter on local government a chapter on small business as well as on industry and the printed copies are going to be available in early 2024 as I have been telling people for the last six years we've never been closer if you want to find out the beginnings of Security Bank and Trust it's in there jonico The chasa Herald they're in there Coopers empac Lake View Industries they're in there and then also please consider a business or industry membership to the chasa Historical Society with membership your company will receive our quarterly News letters and previews of our events and other offerings and also we will recognize your company's commitment to supporting the local community both in our newsletter and on our website please grab a flyer from your table or talk to me after today's program or even look for the links on our website which is chasah his.org thank you everyone at the city for everything that you do for the people of your communities you make an important difference to all of us who live work and play here thank you thank [Applause] you yep good morning everyone my name is Michelle Swanson I'm a community relations manager for Excel Energy uh Excel Energy is very pleased to be sponsoring this event today I think we've sponsored this event for several years in a row and I have to tell you it's one of my favorite events because I think it's great when you can get multiple Mayors in a room and talk about what's happening in their cities in this in this area so I'm very excited to hear about what is happening in the city in these cities and in Carver County so again thank you for attending and we appreciate that we can sponsor this [Applause] you know when I was trying to figure out who was going to go first today I was like all right how we going to make this happen all of a sudden I get a text saying hey I get to go first right it's like oh okay courney so this year since this is my first year I decided we'll just go alphabetical order and then next year you just watch out we're going to do Little Rock Paper Scissors contest to see what happens so I'm excited for that already so uh everybody give a nice warm welcome to Mayor Courtney Johnson City of Carver thank you all right we good okay good afternoon let's try that again folks good afternoon all right my name is Courtney Johnson and I have the honor of serving as the mayor of the city of Carver um getting right into it 2023 was a year of a little bit of change on the Carver City Council um new to city council is Eric pman who is the gentleman who is on the far left there um and then also knew very very recently as in last month is Reed Welch Who was appointed to city council following the resign of Joy mcnight rounding out of city council is uh Christy Mock and then Lorie s from left to right on that picture because this is a chamber event I want to start out by bragging on our businesses a little bit um and we had a bunch of new businesses that I'm excited to talk about in Carver this year first new business that opened up was the getaway motor Cafe which is located in Carver's historic downtown this is a coffee shop 7 days a week and then on Thursday Friday and Saturday nights they have adult beverages um and often times entertainment food trucks Tara Nate Roy who are the owners of the getaway motor Cafe were also the recipients of the 2023 historic preservation award uh which recognizes the work that they put into this once dilapitated building that sat vacant for literally decades up next is nextsteps Learning Center which is a child care facility and fourstar parent aware rated program that provides child care for infants Toddlers and preschool AG children it's located just a little ways from Quick Trip off Jonathan Carver Parkway and Monroe Drive and they opened last February quick uh next steps it has two other locations and they're opening their fourth location um shortly here in Shaka uh this summer M's Pizza opened up in Carver Square which is on the southwest corner of the roundabout off of Jonathan and Carver Parkway its owners are Carver residents Jeff and deian misin and they have eight children between the two of them what's fun about the menu at MES is that there are items that are named after and by their kids so this is a privilege that the family children have after working at the restaurant for a certain number of hours so if you go there you'll see menu items like heaths Buffalo Mac miles's mac and cheese and Kenzie's bacon cheeseburger pizza it's also worthwhile to note that M received a community growth partnership initiative Grant in the amount of $90,000 from the CDA which really helped them um towards some of their development costs uh another new business in Carver Square which is in that same development right uh next to the roundabout off Jonathan Carver Parkway is Healing Hands Veterinary Hospital Dr chissa hly previously had a mobile Veterinary practice where she would make house calls and she is now transitioning that to a brick and mortar location Healing Hands opened up just last month and last but only because I'm going in chronological order is Hometown Bank which is coming soon to Carver they're moving dirt on their location which is right next to Quick Trip off of Jonathan Carver Parkway and Monroe Drive Hometown Bank will also be home to a mocha monkey coffee shop this nearly 6,500 ft building with double drive-throughs one for the bank and one for the coffee shop is anticipated to open in the spring of 2024 which we're really excited about um up next is residential development residential development is still strong in Carver although we've seen a bit of a Slowdown from the exceptional years of 2020 and 2021 that said we're still seeing some really clear indicators of the strong housing market in Carver when we get a large development come in we will often phase it um to allow for the construction of improvements over a number of years in general developers move forward with those phases every 12 to 18 months this summer though this year we've seen Timber Creek which is a lar product uh move three phases in one calendar year opening up 159 single family home sites so that's a really strong indication that our housing market is strong and that there are a lot of folks who are excited to build and live in Carver and who wouldn't be um we're not just seeing single family homes in Carver if you look at that picture on the Lower leftand Side um that is a project that the CDA has submitted to the city of Carver for a 60 unit apartment building with a mix of one two and three bedroom apartments we anticipate pling seeing those plans at Planning Commission and at city council sometime early next year um moving on to talk about our Parks this is a rendering of the future Creekside Park which will be located at the site of our former wastewater treatment plant on the corner of what was formerly known as County Road 40 and Jonathan Carver Parkway the new Creekside Park will include pickle ball courts a dog park frisbee golf and an extensive trail system the city was awarded a $350,000 outdoor recreation Grant from the DNR for the development of this park we also received a $363,000 grant from Great River Greening if you've driven past the site recently you'll see that they're in the process of doing some tree removal down there um and what they're doing is they're repurposing these trees for a really neat project where they are going to help stabilize the banks of the creek that run uh runs alongside the park so uh construction on the park itself will begin next year next up is the newly expanded iron Wood Park Ironwood Park is located just west of Carver Elementary and it grew by 3 and2 acres with this expansion the new improvements which are located throughout both portions of the park the existing and the new uh include an outdoor classroom a basketball court a pavilion a new skate park passive passive seating areas and permanent yard games including cornhole and pingpong and then speaking of the skate park we all know it's a favorite of chasa Mark winch in fact we recently saw him and got this picture of him shredding on the halfpipe as an aside almost as if he knew moments before this started Mark sent me a text saying be good today and I said who shared my slides with you so uh on a more serious note Carver's Levy Improvement project is something that I've spoken to this group about before um I'm excited to share the the city of Carver was included in this year's State bonding Bill and will receive $6 million for the levy Improvement project this is the largest single amount that we've received so that's really exciting um and it brings the total that we've received on what's estimated to be a $1 million project to 9.65 million so this money will allow us to begin construction on a levy Improvement project which could happen as soon as next year um every other year following an election the city of Carver has a strategic planning session where we sit down and set goals and kind of develop our parameters to guide our work for the next couple of years this year we took a longer look um and started out with updating the city's mission statement to with a foundation of community integrity and stewardship we are committed to serving current and future residents businesses and organizations of Carver um from there we also work to determine five priori areas which will guide our work for the foreseeable future those North stars are enhanced Financial strength improved operations responsive development stable infrastructure systems and focused Communications under each strategic priority there are desired outcomes key outcome indicators and performance targets which describe the results and information on how those results those expected results will be measured um I referred earlier to the former County Road 40 So within the last year we underwent the turnback process with the county so now kind of officially the city of Carver owns if you will what was formerly County Road 40 so it's now no longer County Road 40 those signs have been taken down it is old Carver Road Fourth Street East Broadway and Main Street West um so with that not only are we on the hook to plow and otherwise maintain that start that section of road but we are also able to make improvements on it which is a process that is well underway um what we did is we convened a group of constituents that included residents and business owners along that Corridor and throughout our community um and we've come up with three concepts that we're going to be working on which I'm kind of excited about this first one that you see here is the corner of Broadway and Main Street so to get your bearings the getaway motor Cafe is on the lower left hand corner of that image on the left uh Greg's historic gas station is on the upper left hand corner and what's on the lower right is a future Park in our downtown area so the improvements that we're looking at there are bump outs to shorten those distances where folks have to cross the street coming out of the park to make that the shortest time that they're in the street and the safest way to cross the street uh Main Street East on the right hand side there will be converted into a oneway with additional parking um and then um just kind of more wayfinding and kind of make it really clear that you're kind of entering a Park area and entering our downtown the next is the intersection of Mount Hope Road Old Carver Road and Fourth Street East so right where Casey's gas station is downtown if you're familiar with that intersection you know if you're coming down the road from Mount Hope Road you've got to really crane your neck to the left almost like an owl to see how far back you can get your head because it's really difficult to see the track that's coming from your left hand side um what we are doing is we are proposing to change the entrance and exit um on the northernmost side of Casey's parking lot to square off that intersection a little bit so it's not as harsh of a of an intersection you'll see we're also adding bump outs to also help provide a visual cue to slow down and that you're coming into downtown and then finally the pictures of this aren't as intriguing but it's perhaps perhaps the most um eagerly anticipated part of this project project but we are working on a trail extension from downtown Carver along Main Street East from downtown all the way to Jonathan Carver Parkway so this will provide a safe way for folks to get from downtown to the Future Creekside Park to uh the Bluff Apartments and to the the Bluffs apartment or uh uh neighborhood so finally there is so much in Carver that comprises our small town feel that many of our residents say it's what they love about our community and is what drew them to our community and that includes the Edith an award for property Excellence the black helmet ceremony for new firefighters as they're becoming uh transitioning from probationary firefighters to full-on Firefighters Trunk or Treat celebrating the carber Lion's 50th anniversary and night toite and so much more so with that that wraps up my presentation thank you all for having [Applause] me thanks courney I want to know what your first move is though next year rock paper scissors depends on what depends if Mark shows up is that what you said no I'm just kidding come on all right keep going to see and how do I move that thing the clicker thank you appreciate it yes please just forward all right all right well welcome everybody it's great to see all of you today uh this was not part of my presentation but I want to get something out of the way this is not a purple dress it is not because it's the color of the city and nor is it the color of prince it's Pino Noir so that's what I like to drink so I got asked that a couple times already nice purple dress so I just wanted to clear the air right away so because I know that's what we all care about is fashion right all right so welcome everybody again my name is Elise ran I'm the mayor of Chan Hassen it is so great to be here with all of you today uh first I'd like to say thank the chamber for hosting this event uh as was said earlier by the representative from Excel it is truly one of our favorite events of the year it's a fun way to close out the year but then it's also a way to fun way to move into the holidays so thank you for hosting this event I know we all enjoy it also thank you to the the great sponsors for making this happen and the support that you give the chamber and your involvement men in all of our communities and I would be remiss if I didn't uh congratulate Steve uh for his new position with the chamber I can't think of a better person to to lead this group forward uh your passion for businesses your energy your at every ribbon cutting and just appreciate your positive energy that you bring to this this organization and I'd also like to knowledge uh the fellow our my fellow Mayors and cities uh it is such a joy to work with all of you I know I say this every year but uh it's important to say I think the strength of the southwest region is because of the relationships that we have with our neighboring cities uh so it's great to know that we not only have a great working relationship but we certainly enjoy giving each other a hard time so there's a lot of teasing and laughter amongst our group but it's that camaraderie and collaborative nature that really strengthens the the this community as a whole from businesses to resident and continued growth so I enjoy working with all of you and I'm excited today to to share with you a little bit about what's going on in Chan Hassen uh what you will see as I walk through this presentation uh talks a lot about the investment that the city is making in our community because we know with a strong community that supports our businesses and it continues to strengthen and grow um our city for people to live work and play uh at a very high level uh who is Chan Hassen and Chan Hassen at a glance we have five council members if you move from left to right on the screen we have council member Josh Kimber Mark vanoven to my right Haley Schubert and council member Jerry McDonald and we have a range of years of service on the council ranging from one year to moving into your 17th year uh so we have a great relationship uh great working relationship we have um a a shared vision for the future of our community and I truly enjoy working with all of the council members we have five commissions and anybody that knows anything about commissions they are really invaluable not only to the city councils but to the community as a whole we have planning Park and Recreation environmental um Commission on Aging and last but certainly not least our Economic Development commission and I save that one for last because it's a great segue into uh to the businesses that are here in Chanhassen if you have an idea or you are struggling with a question or you need support from our city uh Samantha dagio who is here today our economic development manager and our commission is a great resource so I encourage you to reach out to them uh because commissions uh like I said really provide great feedback and communication with the council as we set our priorities and agenda for moving forward so you also see a lot of numbers up there 81 awesome employees 30 Parks 117 miles soon to be plowed I'm sure but hopefully not for a while and then 620 Acres of open space all these numbers uh highlight that we have a growing community and uh but what we know that is at the heart of our community is both our residents and our businesses and it's just our people and Community is at the center of everything that we do so I'd like to transition into talking about the great events that are at the heart of our city it's something that our city staff works really hard on creating a sense of community in Chan Hassen we know the importance of our role as a city is to bring people together to make them feel part of their community so that they not only want to be there to raise their family but then stay after they retire so we talk about being a community for life and this is really what our um programs offer these City sponsored events I'm sure many of you are familiar with our three-day Fourth of July celebration uh we have an Easter egg hunt uh Senior Center events and then of course uh our beloved Memorial Day ceremony we just had a Veterans Day breakfast um but we really work hard at honoring and thanking the veterans that have so proudly served our great nation some of the other events of course our Halloween celebration our on December 2nd we light up the city with Christmas and holiday lights or Christmas tree uh we have uh great Artisan fairs and Senior events and then of course llamas I mean who doesn't love llamas so we should probably bring llamas to our city council meeting because we know then a lot of folks would attend when llamas arrive so um but again we just want to make it fun intergenerational bring people to our city bring people into our community and that is really why um the next couple slides are so important to us because at the heart of our city um in our down downtown is finding places and spaces to create that sense of community two years ago we um we went through a facility study and that facility study showed us where our our different facilities were at where we needed to do some uh work and repair and obviously our our city hall was the number one thing on the list that needed some dire attention I always call City Hall kind of like our fun house if you make it in you may not ever make it out um it's very confusing it's a lot of winding areas through there um and so we knew that a new city hall was a priority for our city but it couldn't just be a city hall it needed to be a Civic campus and a place to bring again our community together and so uh this plan was created and I'm going to walk it through walk you through it from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen um directionally that is from the south to the north so at the front door the front door is just that it's a long 78 and it's going to be the entrance to our city hall it's going to be the entrance to our Civic campus you will walk up uh they like to call it all fancy but the grand staircase um but it's going to be a grand staircase as you walk up to the spine of the Civic campus you'll walk through um the Memorial Day ceremony area where a veterans Monument is uh right along the east west spine you'll see the mall and that is going to be just a grassy area because it connects the senior center which which will be in our city hall to the library and that was something that was very important to our seniors to make that connection so there will be outdoor places to sit and have a picnic or a cup of coffee uh and just enjoy the outdoors either coming from the senior center or the library right in the center of our Civic campus is called the hollow and that is going to be where there will be uh some playground equipment adaptive playground uh equipment as well as some fun water features it's started out being called a water park um or a Splash Pad but then you would get visions of big buckets of water being dumped on your head and that is not what this is this is just going to be um beautiful fountains where kids can enjoy those hot summer days then you will move as we move north you'll go up um some stairs and it'll you'll land in the living room and that is another park building uh that will have both both indoor areas to sit and enjoy it'll also have some covered outdoor uh seating when uh we'll have a fireplace out there in fire pits we will have a covered performance stage for our popular Summer Concert Series where people can enjoy from the lawn and we'll have some tiered seating for people to enjoy the concerts and then also have just some outdoor lawn games for people to play and again come together as a community as you go to the North or the top of the screen that will remain an outdoor grassy area and that will uh serve the purpose of not only soccer games and and playing tag and just having fun but it is also the site of our fourth of July Carnival so we wanted to make sure that we remained um having space open for that as you move East it's called the courts but we will have a skate park a refurbished skate park and and pickle ball courts and if anybody knows anything about development and what is happening in cities if you don't if you're not uh devel Ving pickle ball courts you're not doing it right so I know Courtney talked about pickle ball courts I'm sure the other communities are going to be talking about pickle ball court I'm W winking at Victoria over there um but pickle ball is a favorite of everybody and so we wanted to make sure that was part of our Civic campus and now we'll walk south and we'll cut through the parking lot and we'll land back at our city hall and this is hot off the press we just saw this on Monday night but this is our new um proposed new City Hall and we are Beyond excited about it yes it's a a government building um but really the purpose of this and the vision for both Council and staff was to uh bring the outdoors inside and make sure when you are inside you are connected to the outdoors so you'll see a lot of uh Natural Stone and natural wood glass and windows and we're just really thrilled about the way this is coming together on the very top of your screen it's a little it's focused in on the senior side uh we wanted to highlight that because again that's such an important element and component of our city hall and the the beautiful part of that and the request from the seniors is they like to have a place to be outside uh in those on those nice months and so where if you see where those wooden beams are that's called the porch and that will have seating for seniors to be able to sit out and it's across from the Veterans Memorial it sits across from um the mall area and it will just be a great great way for our seniors to be at the senior center but still um be able to be connected to Nature uh on the lower right of your screen uh that is zoomed in on the council chambers which is really exciting so our council chambers will be on the second floor and something that was really important for us is to have that position on the building so while we're in our council chambers we have an opportunity to look out onto the city into the community uh when we're making decisions that impact uh the city of Chanhassen will be able to look out and um and see our city so we're really excited we break ground uh this next summer uh we will stay in the city hall while the new city hall is being built and then that will open uh hopefully fingers crossed 2025 and then after we move into the new city hall then we will um demolish the existing fun house and uh and build all the park amenities and have our Civic campus so if you'll join me we'll walk down 78th Street to the west and we will land at our Premier Park which is Lake Anne Park I'm sure many of you have visited there for um baseball or softball or soccer the beach park pavilion there's so much that it already offers at this park but with the arpa funds and some grants that we acquired through the state uh we are going to develop the land that was acquired when Prince's land was developed into the lard development off of Galpin Boulevard and so through this park all you're seeing right now is trees but why that's so significant when you see that tree canopy is we will be building trails and have Bridges and Boardwalk with access all around you are feeling like you're in the North Woods it is these toing beautiful trees you can't believe that you're in not that the city of Chanhassen is a hustle and bustle type of city but it's still is just um a a place for respit and it's just gorgeous so you'll like I said you'll be able to access from all areas of the city and you'll be able to enjoy um some pave trails and then in the future just natural Trails throughout um throughout Lake an so that project will begin in 2024 with the development of trails next uh you can walk bike or drive your car down to avienda now I hope none of you are rolling your eyes when I bring up avienda Village because I know I've talked about this for the past few years and you're like gosh darn it when is this thing ever going to get developed um but we're making progress and the infrastructure is in the roads are in the signs for the roads are in and you can even see some um models uh already up on the site so there are uh 39 Town Homes I'll flip forward and then back so these are the Charles cut Town Homes there are 39 town homes that will be on the eastern most part of the or Western most part of the property then when you move forward or back uh West you will will have 53 row homes then right at the center of this development will be an apartment building and we don't have the name or the developer of the apartment building anchoring on the northwest part of this development will be a grocer I texted the um the developer this morning and I said are there any announcements when it comes to the grocer and he said nothing formal so it still has to stay private however I know that there a lot of rumors going around out there but none of those I can confirm or deny so please don't ask um but they are getting very close to being able to announce who the grocer is and then once that grocer um is announced the rest of the development will move forward people are the developers are just basically waiting for to have that grocer identified for the rest of it and then you can see right in the heart of it is again another great Gathering space for the community with retail and restaurants and intera active games uh right at the core of avienda and again those are the Charles cud town homes and then in my mind I saved the best for last um when you look at this slide these are the people that mean truly the most to our community uh at the top this is our fire department our Chanhassen Fire Department in the Carver County Sheriff's Office uh we invited representatives to come to our council meeting on September 11th so we could acknowledge the great work that they do uh it's something that we try to do every single day uh uh in our lives but this was a very special event to bring them forward and just acknowledge the great work uh and then of course the the brothers and sisters that they Lo lost on 911 and then in the bottom we're going to play a little game can you find Lori hokan no but these are our 81 amazing city employees I mean they do the hard work day in day out uh led by our city uh manager Lori H henan who I who is here today and who I greatly appreciate uh she's hidden in there because that is just who she is as a person uh wanting to make sure that um the acknowledgement goes to her great team that she is surrounded by um but they really do the hard work and heavy lifting of our city and I am so grateful for all that they do to make Chan Hassen uh truly the best place to live work and play so I think uh our city staff all of those that are here today thank you for coming uh and thank you for what you do every day so wishing everybody uh a very that is it for me and uh for my presentation I appreciate your attention just know that the city of Chanhassen continues to invest in our city uh again to promote and attract businesses from all over and residents to come and live and raise a family so thank you wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and happy holidays and look forward to seeing you out in the community thank you than you thank you thank you yeah oh yeah and my on maybe I need to rethink the whole rock paper scissors thing and we do like a pickle ball tournament I don't know why not awesome next up alphabetic order would be chasa we've got Mike Juan representing chasa today thank you Mike um once again hey let's give a round of applause to Crooked Pine catering great lunch today thanks Jan and team appreciate you thank you very much so come on up nice warm welcome for Mike much good afternoon good afternoon everyone so so my name is Mike Wong I'm the city council member representing Ward 4 in chasa and um and and each year one of the council members is um is is assigned as a mayor PM this happens to be the year I'm mayor PM which means that I'm mayor Mark stunt double for today um I get mistaken for him all the time so no big deal um so one of the things we do every every year as a council is we get together we Define our strategic objectives and as part of that we have this visioning process and we have we have strategic objectives that drive everything we do in the city and as part of this um with the council has to be unanimous on all these objectives so these are critical priorities for the city so the six priorities that we have in our vision are quality of facilities vibrant downtown a welcoming respectful engaging and inclusive community actively developing Southwest chasa quality city services and environmentally conscious community so all of these things are represent at the bottom of the screen as we go through the presentation you'll see them kind of light up to highlight which of these items are touched as we go as we talk about the some of the different things that we're doing in our community but I'd like to start with the story first now it's kind of a kind of it seems mundane at first but a while back for not that long ago the the water Ander department is out doing some maintenance just cleaning some lines and they realized there's some debris out in the field and one of the problems with this debris was like it kind of indicated something was wrong out there and so they did a little investigating and realized that one of the contractors who was working on some of the pipes out there had actually damaged one of the pipes so they so the city water department basically water and secure Department reached out to the homeowners and they worked with the contractor and said you know what we got to fix this we got to do the right thing so as they were doing that they said let's also make sure that we you know let the homeowners know that there's going to be an outage communicate that information and take care of them throughout that process and while they were there they said you know what let's also put in um stock valves that way that we can you know turn water on and off individually to the individual residences while we were there and this is the type of thing that happens when you have great people who are empowered to do the right thing right and you also give them the tools the equipment the facilities to be able to do the job that they need to do and serve and really provide ultimately great service to the community and that's really what this is about this is about great service to serving all of our community members people who live in the community people who work in the community and businesses in the community so we're going to be talking about facilities in a little more context but before we do that one of things I'd like to do is take a little step back in time so who here was born after 1987 ra your hands so if you were born after 1987 you're younger than some of our city buildings here right and so back in 1987 some of the top songs were Walk Like an Egyptian by the Bengals nothing's going to stop us by Starship top grossing movies were three men in a baby and Fatal Attraction you remember that one and then you know if you turn on the TV cheers was still in its prime right um gas was 90 cents a gallon and if you were lucky enough to have a cell phone it costed probably about $4,000 at the time but a mo Motorola D attack actually in today's dollars would have been about $10,000 for that $4,000 phone and weigh 2 and2 pound so you all have a 2 and a half pound phone in your pockets right yeah and here's the cool thing the iPhone wouldn't be invented for another 20 years so that is where 1987 was and also this guy was thinking about running for mayor yep yes oh he L you yes so when we talk about 1987 this is the context of when a lot of these buildings were just the funding was established for building a lot of these buildings and that's that's important because the buildings that we have now the facilities we have have been fantastic buildings the fire station Municipal Services building City Hall Community Center they've served us so well over the years they were built fantastic built to a great standards and fantastic but times changed since that time there's really three major things have happened right there's first is first is that the buildings just gotten older right as anything gets older it just needs a little more TLC more maintenance and it's expensive to maintain these things the community has tripled in size back then we were about 10,000 people or a little less and now we're almost almost 30,000 and we're going to be in the next 15 years probably close to 40,000 residents so we have facilities who are built for 10,000 people that will need to support 40,000 people and on top of that we've learned a lot about technology and how things work in terms of how to best serve our community so things have changed in terms of the way we serve our community and then the needs of what it takes to serve the employees who actually serve our community to make sure they have the tools that they need to be successful we'll talk about that a little bit more when we talk about the we talk about the um Public Safety campus so we'll jump into that first so Public Safety this is the campus that includes both police and fire originally we actually looked at this campus as something that would be um a a campus that would be something where we would take the existing fire station and then repurpose it to basically be the effectively new fire station and police station but as we really dug into it and investigated realized wow you know this is going to be a lot more expensive than we thought it was going to be and because of that and because of the shape of the building we realize there's be a lot of space inefficiencies so it made so much more sense to say you know what we just let's build the new building that can carry us forward another generation and so that's why we've that's why we're making the investment to move forward with this new Public Safety campus and part of the reason why is when we talk about things we've learned along the way let's look at our fire surface is a great example of this so in the fire service we have a volunteer fire department much like chass and some of our neighbors do and we're so proud of that but back in the day not so long ago the fire service worked in an all call model Whenever there was a fire every everybody got called and the first six people who showed up got in a truck and went to wherever the call was the problem is that's super inconvenient if you're a firefighter because you're getting called all the time and you don't know if you're actually going to be going or not and then the other challenge is that response times aren't nearly as good as if you have people at the station already so we we've we've moved to a Duty Crew model but one of the challenges with a Duty Crew model is that if you don't have space for people to sleep you can't run it 24 hours a day and so that's something is really important and in terms of Duty Crew model how much difference does it make well the duty crew model actually reduces a response time from 9 minutes to about four to 5 minutes 5 minutes of response time faster what does that mean when a fire doubles in sides every minute that means it's double in size five times over that five minutes or if you have an anic response or anic um situation where you're basically not getting enough blood to your brain five minutes will mean the difference between potentially brain damage and death to a successful outcome so having people there at the fire station can mean life or death so that's why it's important and in addition to that we also have things like decontamination zones we didn't know what we didn't know about carcinogens back then so protecting our firefighters um Duty Crews mental health having spaces for mental health for the police having areas for evidence storage interview rooms U firearm storage or even protection of the police vehicles or personal vehicles of the officers who are on duty during that time so having all these things is so critically important and what it what it gives us is quality of service and allows us to attract and retain the best and brightest to serve our communities but let's talk about some of the best and brightest and we love our every member of our community and one of the programs that we're so proud of is growth through opportunities and in fact growth through opportunities is an internship program that allows people with varying levels of physical mental abilities to basically participate in internship where during the summer they basically intern through all the different departments within chasa and over here sitting at the table is Christian Meyer one of the graduates of our program so Christian let's give her a round of applause to [Music] Christian and so Christian Christian's one of our graduates here and you know he's like and he's went through the program and be able to see like all these different areas and this is a program that allows them to be able to see and you know touch different parts of the community and and then through this we've actually hired two of them to Christian and and another one as um as as employees of the city so through this program he was able to experience a more breath of things that can H things that we can do out there and also get a chance to work with the community and one of the best things is that he's actually working for the community center now so he's actually taking time off from his job to be here so thank you Christian and one of the other things I missed earlier I do want to make sure I touch back on is that we talk about great people that make great things happen Jack worm at the back corner of the room here Jackie you raise your hand here Jack has worked in the city of CH for over 45 years so if you're younger than 45 years you know yeah so Jack thank you because so Jack Jack Works in our electric department and in fact he's still working because we just can't let go of him right you can't let go of a good thing and Jack is literally Works in our electric department so when we say He Keeps the Lights On he literally Keeps the Lights on here so thank you Jack for all of your years of service we really very much appreciate it yes and so and one of the other things too we look at being inclusive as a community um is that we also are looking at building a miracle field and inclusive playground so we're working with Community Partners to do fundraising to make public partner public private Partnerships to develop these amenities that will benefit everyone in our community and allow accessibility and allow inclusion for um people within our community and those to be a destination for others from outside the community and what's really exciting is in addition to that we're also renovating the chasa Part 30 into the loop which should open next spring now what's interesting is that if you're a golfer you know who likes a flat golf course that has no barriers on it right well barrier free golf isn't about having no barriers right it's about having golf that's interesting and accessible for everyone and Everyone likes a little challenge but who loves who who loves like having a sand trap in their game right everybody yeah right so the the great thing about barrier free golf is there's no sand traps there's no bunkers so it's but it's a it's a worry that you can enjoy this sport of golf of any skill level and so we invite you to come and give it a try when it opens in the spring and of course um with this there's other community initiatives that we also spearhead to with our with our uh Human Rights Commission so such as the pride picnic the African cultural night the Latin food and music festival and of course driver's license for all to include all of our communities within chasa and of course there's many more but you know we're just the tip of the iceberg and of course if you looked around outside you know driving into here you probably notice Highway 41 as and by the way has anyone seen this guy driving around because about a week and a half ago we had a we had a ribbon cutting event and mayor Mark was uh able to drive across the drive across the road and cut the ribbon with his 46 Chevy there so let's give a round of applause to Mayor Mark and that [Music] one so you know this is one of those projects that still has more work to be done because there a lot of the know landscaping and the posos and um the tunnel that have to be done and those will be fully finished in um July of 2024 but we have to give a big thank you to all the downtown businesses the residents Engineers construction Crews County and state Partners as well as the chamber and downtown business Alliance for getting this done so a big shout out to everyone there and but along with this there's other things going on in downtown Chasco as well um there's the Minnesota River Bluff Trail can connection which is actually this the under the underground walkway that will pass through that allow you to walk from Carver all the way to Minneapolis as a long walk by the way so and of course there City Square West which is down the street and that's across from City uh from the city Square uh Park and that we're still working on um getting funding for that and so we have we had a bonding tour in October and we're looking to hopefully kick that off in the next year or two once we can secure some more funding for that and that'll be a great public and uh a public amenity with residents and Retail as well and as we talk about um things we do in the city we can't we also can't forget about sustainability and as part of mmpa we're actually one of 12 member cities that's part of the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association so we were effectively our own um Municipal electric company or power company and one of the things we're really proud of is the fact that that we are actually at um ahead of the 25% energy renewable energy mandate from the state which is due by 2025 because we are currently at 43% of renewable energy generated within our within our area and what's really exciting is that we're able to do this with you know with things such as the lur biomass facility which basically takes effectively leftover food and waste food and actually converts that into natural gas or to use some of these wind farms that um that we actually have that are built and owned by and operated by mmpa so through all these different measures we're starting to move that needle and move towards that sustainable goal and let's talk a little bit about some of our businesses so when we talk about business now Jill is a a small um and but growing company it's a local company that focuses on you know on manufacturing of polymers and one of the things that's exciting about this company is this is a great example of a company that started here in chasa but it's continued to grow and reinvest in chasa and this year they'll be investing in another 31,000 square fet of real estate and then expanding into that with another you know 5 million and probably 10 to 12 jobs so is a great example of continued growth in our area and then in addition to that we have companies like Amis which is actually um based out of Boston but then what they specialize in is um MRI machines and hospitals be able to move MRIs and hospitals to surgical use and they've opened a new facility here in chasa and you know and what's really exciting is like companies like that coming into chasa to invest and bring businesses and jobs and revenue and what's really really cool is that it's not just companies that have like um Technologies like that but it's also more data centers too so for example Cloud HQ is looking at building a 1.9 million ft data center in chasa as well so there's a lot going on and that doesn't even include some of the residential you know like 26 Town Home units 151 single family dwellings and another 705 apartments that we're building and all this ties into you know all about this small town community that's just growing and there's so much happening here and we but all the people who are part of that need to go somewhere so where do they go they go to the community center and the community center Center itself is what we talked about is one of those facilities that's over 30 years old but right now we're in a visioning process and as part of that visioning process we're trying to understand what the needs are today and into the future so we can figure out how best to serve the community now the good news is we have IDE we can ideate it and we can figure out like what things would look like what it would cost but right at this point we haven't identified any funding so there's no funding associated with it don't know exactly how big it's going to be or how much of it will do so right now it's a lot of is just trying to figure out exactly how much or what we could potentially do and what we as a community want to do so there's a lot of that's that ideation at this point so still going through that process and we're really excited to go through that in partnership with our community and of course there's a bunch of other projects going on so if you've driven up north on 41 and Dr driven through the new PV roundabout you're probably noticing that there's a bunch of development up there including um the springs and mcnight Lake which is about 280 of uh new condominiums or or rental condominiums that are being built that will be right next to the new Costco so Costco will be coming to town and that should open in uh fall of 2024 so a little less than a year from now it should be open and of course the chasa tech center and of course the multif family units we just talked about but wait there's more right so some exciting news is that we have the 2024 US amateur golf will be coming to hazeline and chasa town corpse and next August in 2024 here at the curling Center we'll have the five and under National curling championships and five and under doesn't mean under five years old by the way um it means I asked that question so it's what it means is if you have less than 5 years of experience curling you can you can join that national competition and that's a national competition next April and then the the 2026 KPMG women's PGA Championship will be here at Hazel te and but but here's the the thing was most exciting to us the 2020 9 Ridder cup will be returning to [Applause] Hazelton and this will be the first time that the Ryder Cup has returned to the same location in the United States so that is a little feather in our C so but let's close with a little bit about the that first story we told you earlier so remember we talked about the the sewer and water and the the sewer the water getting cut off well one of our residents who lived on that street dine was actually going to go into surgery later that week and was really concerned about what happened but because of the communications because of the the effort to reach out and work with her and make sure that she was accommodated and they were um and taking her needs into account she was so grateful for what this what the water department did that she wrote a nice thank you letter to thank them and this sets the bar for what we do as a community in terms of providing great high quality service that you would find in a small town and this is something that we really hold true to in chasa that this is about all of us this is about the residents about the businesses this is about all the people who come to visit us that we treat everyone here as a member of our family so we do this all because we're a quality small town thank you uh all right that was awesome next we have I just can we get a copy of all those pictures of Mark please welcome micophone [Applause] the thank you good afternoon everyone okay I I screwed this up there we go there we go hi everyone I'm Deb McMill and I'm the mayor of the wonderful city of the of Victoria and I'm honored to be here today and uh when you when you bat cleanup like I'm doing here today everybody has already done all their thank yous to the sponsors and the and the hosting organization and their fellow elected uh officials so uh thanks to all of you for taking care of that business for me um however it is I I still am very [Applause] grateful um in this past year we've been working hard in Victoria to build community for our community so I want to share some highlights with you today from City street streets to parks and trails safe drinking water and safe neighborhoods we recognize that our community to be a desirable place to live and invest must lay the foundation for our community to connect and grow one of the more exciting pieces of news that we received this year were the state and federal funds that we will get to make the long awaited and much needed improvements to Highway 5 as well as local connections to this Corridor with Tire with the tireless work of County engineer Lyndon Johnson Lynden Rob jent there's I'm sorry lynon and all our Community Partners at the cities of Chanhassen chasa mindat and the lscape Arboretum we were able to secure nearly 80% of the funding for the $148 million needed to improve the highway 5 Corridor improvements on the roads that feed into the corridor or serve as a relief Val for Highway 5 will begin as early as next year including 82nd Street which runs along the backside of the Arboretum and then work on on Highway 5 is anticipated to start in 2025 these improve through these improvements we are building Community for our community the projects will boost safety decrease congestion and unlock economic investment making it easier and safer to access our downtown businesses which are the heart of our community not only are we building roads in Victoria we're using the power of Engagement to build community for Community we're humanizing our approach so we as a local government are more approachable we're meeting people where they're already Gathering we're listening to ensure what's important to our community members is reflected in the work that we do at the programs and services we provide I want to share a fun story that really shows the power of Engagement that has uh that reflects our building Community for Community this summer we relocated our skate park to Lions Park to make room for our new outdoor pickle ball courts there's that theme at dtel Park we worked hand inhand with Victoria resident and enthusiastic skateboarder Stevie Wiggins Stevie attended a city council meeting this past year and spoke passionately about the sport he offered to volunteer his time and talents to the project which we gladly and enthusiastically took him up on City staff along with Stevie meticulously planned the new layout to ensure that the skate pars Parks equipment would cater to skateboarders of all skill levels and including his own three-year-old daughter who's expected to frequent the park and hopefully take her first ride on a skateboard within the upcoming year the collaborative effect effort resulted in a skate park that not only meets the needs of seasoned skateboarders but also Fosters and inviting environment for newcomers to the sport the Victoria Lions Park Skate Park stands as a testament to the power of community engagement and the shared passion for creating space that brings people of all ages together why do I share this story it's this type of Engagement Outreach and collaboration whether it's for our Parks or Transportation or infrastructure projects or economic development that helps us build community for our community in fact we continue to work closely with our business community proactively seeking and sharing information and proudly working together to develop strategies and visions that will carry us forward and strengthen our community new this year we helped build and identify a 50 plus women business owners and Senior leaders in Victoria who now make up Victoria women in business this collaboration is designed to build camaraderie serve as a sounding board for new ideas provide peer support for our local business community and showcase the different women-owned or women-led businesses that we have and please don't let that name scare you off participation is not limited to women it also welcomes supporters of women in business additionally our team contacted every business in Victoria to extend an invitation to meet one-on-one we've ask questions like what keeps you up at night what do you love about Victoria what are your expansion plans in the next 5 years and how can the city support your business in the first week alone we met with 11 businesses and heard over and over that these meetings are helping our Victoria businesses feel more connected more confident to invest in the community and more are excited to share new ideas and as valued members of our community it's our connection and our relationships with our residents and our businesses that reinforce that we are building Community for our community and in Victoria we also take pride in the many Partnerships and Community Builders we have our community Builder program is now in its third year and provides recognition for outstanding volunteerism or exemplary action um or extraordinary commitment to making Victoria a better place today and for the future in 2023 the Victoria Garden Club was awarded this honor for their dedication to beautifying our city which makes it an even more attractive place to live work and invest we're so grateful for the many volunteers who generously donate their time and talents to bettering their community and we honored all of our volunteers this summer during our volunteer recognition event we're also grateful for all of the organizations clubs Association Faith communities nonprofits and businesses and associations who are working hard to build community for our community through their investment work and commitment to events and activities like our classic car shows Victoria's Halloween event our winter lighting and the vix baseball games it is these events that continue to promote our businesses and the many wonderful businesses and amenities we have that draw visitors and residents alike to Victoria and our downtown which adds to our vibrancy in Victoria in every conversation decision interaction we are building Community for our community this year marked our fourth year for our Citizens Academy where residents get a behind the scenes an interactive look at how the city operates not only do they leave feeling more informed engaged and connected to the city they feel connected to each other as many Forge new friendships in the course of the five weeks they are together our popular monthly donuts with Victoria series continues to grow this year we have a record we've had record turnout and the topics are 100% driven by the volun by the attendees of the program in July we hosted our third annual Truck Rodeo which Drew hundreds to the Victoria Rec Center where visitors see and sit in the various vehicles trucks and equipment that the city uses the event is becoming a family favorite for many and is well attended by our business Community as as well in August City Firefighters council members and staff visited 20 neighborhood parties during the annual night to unite event um you don't see it here but that very day we took delivery of our brand new fir truck and we got to ride in that for the first time that was very fun in September we welcomed several hundred of community members to our Fire Department open house where they learned more about fire safety and emergency services in Victoria and also got to show off our brand new fire truck at that our city staff has attended dozens of community events throughout the year with our city Booth hello Victoria this year we connected with residents and visitors to share information and invited input and feedback on what it means to be the city of lakes and Parks I hope you've been inspired to visit Victoria or perhaps do more than just visit Victoria is the city of lakes and Parks but it's also the city of amazing residents and businesses the city of vibrancy and resilience the city of Community Connection and involvement the City of Friendly neighbors and Charming neighborhoods the city of opportunity and the City of success Gathering input and feedback from our community developing a plan thinking longterm and being Nimble enough to Pivot helps ensure we build a resilient community that allows Victoria to thrive now and into the future as we know that the work we're doing today and the decisions we're making we're doing in the spirit of building Community for our community as I wrap up today I want to say how proud of the team we have at the city and how grateful I am to serve alongside the dedicated city council colleagues that I have Derek Gunderson Chad Roberts Greg evansky and Andy R and it is a pleasure to see and get to know the many many wonderful residents and businesses that make Victoria shine I also want to take this opportunity to thank the staff at the city of Victoria we are so grateful to have talented dedicated staff that carry out the council's vision interact with our residents developers and businesses always with the highest level of respect and customer service to wrap up I invite you to spend some time in Victoria and explore our many programs recreational amenities Services dining and Retail places all of those things that make Victoria the vibrant resilient wonderful and unique community that it is thank you again for having us here today it's been a pleasure much well was great we have a few minutes left I don't know if anybody has any questions I do want to uh ask if there are any elected officials here to please stand I know there's at least one that uh can't miss C lman is here so thank you for that you know any other City officials that are here just thank you for being here uh Sam Southwest Media news I just appreciate everybody's partnership with the chamber it's made my first month and a half on the job that much more fun and exciting so excited for next year for what all four of our chamber cities have to offer all of us and if anybody has any questions we do have a few minutes uh welcome you to come on up and ask a question if you want to know you know what color scy shirt is it blue I don't know looks blue to me is it Seltzer blue I don't know but anyways again anybody have questions or concerns questions for the chamber questions for our four cities um the floor is open project selfy part Chan Hassen oh yeah they're moving dirt this week mayor I know I heard there was a new dog course going in um it's a Excel business park so uh we've got a lot of comments about uh the involvement with the community but Excel did a great job with an open house inviting the neighbors and residents to attend sorry I don't need to have my back to you um and then as well but it's going to be a place where basically they um a Dispatch Center so where they store their trucks and vehicles uh there's no environmental concerns I know that's been a question that we received if there will be any uh concerns that we have to worry about from environmental clean up but there is nothing it's just it's basically where the Dispatch Center for them to to maneuver their trucks awesome great question thanks mikee all right we back here Michelle Kan positive pres GL okay uh I I love meeting all the Mayors and being here so it's such an honor I'm a new business in chanz actually and I didn't hear much about like mental health programs and mental health initiatives especially for the next generation and youth is can the Mayors or one of the Mayors specifically touch on Are there specific programs that are being established to for example eradicate teenage suicide those types of things can I suggest that we give that there is a round table I did get an email from Scott text about this we can play ping pong because I give it to Dr Scott Dr Scott leads our public health for car County one thing that a lot of people don't realize is often times the role mental health falls on the county and that's in partnership with the cities part school districts that's in partnership with the businesses but couldn't be more uh proud that Dr Scott's team are leading a number of initiatives one is called communities of belonging we recognize that mental health is tied to community connections and when you talk about an affluent Community it's very active sometimes you don't have those Community connections um we have a high alcohol use in this area because we have disposable income those are the those are the the nuts and bolts behind some of the things that are going on so there's initiatives called communities of goong where in in in communities talking about these things Dr Scott's also leading the charge November 30th there's going to be a a forum um we're talking about mental health mental Wellness the things that are there we're bringing together school district and bridg viw and county you just talked about those three entities they represent about 20% of the workforce in our County and it'll be a panel organization and then there's headwinds too that um that collectively we can do and we are doing there's uh opio tellers that are on the table there's going to be tax revenue from from canab and those are some sources of funding that we haven't had before and we need to put those to work so I'm just going to say that from a broad spectrum the county typically deals with a lot of those in partnership with communities I see a lot of nonprofits in them as well and I'd just like to get 30 seconds Dr Scott to say a few more and it's going there I don't know I think commissioner did a nice shot I'm not sure takes any of his Thunder but just to acknowledge we are going to be partnering with Rich Medical Center to hold a mental Wellness Round Table uh be addressing how we're planning to use the opioid settlement agreement dollars and then also post to panelists of people just to begin the conversation about how we can collectively address the issues of mental health because I think no one of us can do address that issue and it's across and obviously we're seeing a significant crisis and growth and concern about mental health in our community but I think collectively along with the concepts of community belonging we can probably make that start reversing some of the trends great thank you I'll for you that email I got it oh you got it all right awesome anybody else make plans any other of our business uh business business partners have any exciting for 2024 Samuel any questions no oh mind you had a lot of one no you didn't yeah that apprciate and Dr Scott for your comments at the at the county level uh but we do get a lot of questions from residents about posting information on our website about um Mental Health Resources and we hesitate to do that at a city level because um one it sits with the county but two uh we don't we don't want to pick one or over the other so that's why we get questions about would you please do it but we have so many amazing resources in all of our communities and we do have nonprofits I mean from mental health to grief Club Minnesota we have so many great organizations within each of our communities that do reach out to the city and we can um give that M information we pass it along we just don't post it on our website so it is a concern of all of our cities it's certainly a concern with both of our police uh and fire departments and we take initiatives internally to address it but as a community as a whole we really like to make sure that that's at the county level um with the professionals at the county level but it's a great question and and we do definitely have Partnerships and work closely with all of our um nonprofits in our in our respective communities but thanks for the question excellent we do have something exciting we're doing the chamber as well we're doing our annual Giving Tree we have about nine nonprofits right now signed up and we're looking for a way to engage our nonprofits with our business with our chamber community so they can get to know each other and understand more what they do throughout the entire year versus just the time when everybody's asking for that gift for the giving uh giving week is coming up giving day right um so we're we're excited about that we partnered with uh loving and a better society and I think we got seven other nonprofits that have signed up and the goal is to to come up with 1500 gifts for those nonprofits that sign up and their gifts that they can use throughout the year so look more to that more more info coming out today in the newsletter on that as well um I don't know it's awesome day we got room to probably fit out up 40 or 50 people in here next year so I'm excited to that anything [Music] else no all right well thanks everybody for being here thanks [Applause] [Music] again