good evening everyone i called to order the regular meeting of the victoria city council we begin with the pledge of allegiance please stand and join us i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all the first item on our agenda tonight is announcements a joint workshop with the planning commission will be held on monday november 8th at 5 pm for a panel discussion with the urban land institute to discuss affordable housing budget discussions will continue with the council holding its next budget workshop on monday november 22nd at 5 pm to discuss capital projects and the city's 5-year capital improvement plan the city will be hosting a mini fall festival on november 2nd from 5 to 8 p.m at bay front park we're encouraging everyone to recycle your pumpkins so come on out with your entire family bring your pumpkins and stay for a family friendly movie we'll also be showing disney and tim burton's nightmare before christmas that will start at 6 30 pm all meetings of the city council are open to the public and held in the city council chambers we encourage anyone wanting to attend our council meetings in person to contact our city clerk in advance so we can ensure proper seating the next item we have a proclamation this evening regarding domestic violence in recognition of the critical work being done by domestic violence advocates in service of survivors and victims they serve i encourage all citizens of victoria to actively engage in the work and events sponsored by the southern valley alliance which can be found on their website www.svamn.org and other organizations working toward the elimination of domestic violence i will now read a proclamation recognizing october as domestic violence awareness month proclamation 2021-05 declaring october 2021 is domestic violence awareness month whereas more than 10 million adults experience domestic violence and whereas over 1.5 million high school students are physically abused by dating partners annually in the united states and whereas more than 19 000 calls are placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide every day and whereas the impact of domestic violence is felt not only by individuals and families but communities and nation as a whole and whereas victoria joins with others across the state of minnesota and nationwide in supporting divest domestic violence victims and survivors the advocates and organizations who serve them and holding offenders accountable in victoria now therefore the mayor and victoria council members do hereby proclaim october 2021 as domestic violence awareness month the next order of business is to adopt the final agenda counsel is there a motion to adopt the final agenda motion to adopt final agenda we have a motion can i have a second second all in favor signify by saying aye aye any opposed motion carries we'll move on to our next item and that is open forum it's the opportunity for anyone to address the council on an item that is not an agenda and not an application form that will be coming to the agenda for a future date we have two individuals registered for the open forum tonight representative greg beau is with us this evening representative bo welcome thank you thank you mayor mcmillan thank you commissioners thank you counselors there we go okay uh state representative greg bowe uh proud to represent district 47b which is made up of a good portion of victoria a good portion of chanhassen and all of chaska and i appreciate the opportunity to speak for just a couple of minutes this evening with a quick summary from the 2021 legislative session so first thing to talk about is is we actually got the biennial budget done and we got it done in time yes statute requires it to be done by july 1st and and we did that with less than a day to spare but we did get it done and i think what i'm most proud of is the fact that we got our budget done with no tax increases and that's that's huge the state of minnesota at the time had a 4 billion with a b billion dollar surplus and anytime you have a surplus that means in essence you're collecting more money than you need so at that time i just couldn't see having a tax increase and families and businesses are struggling so we got it done without a tax increase that's a good thing our statewide ed budget the education budget that's the largest category one of the largest categories in the state budget and we actually approved an education budget with a 4.45 increase for our students in minnesota and that's the largest increase in 15 years and did that without a tax increase we ended the peacetime emergency powers in minnesota and that's a big deal as well i'm a strong supporter of local control because victoria knows more about victoria than saint paul ever will eastern carver county knows more about eastern carver county than st paul ever will so that local control is important because it allows local governments to make those important decisions in our communities so glad to see that local control handing those decision-making powers back to the local government i continue to work for small businesses many people think that small businesses are open now so everything's back to normal but the truth is it's not a lot of local businesses are really struggling yet they're struggling to find staff and keep staff they're struggling to get their heads back above water the the lockdown from covid was really difficult on a lot of businesses and so the message that i want to share is please support our local businesses restaurants bars businesses of all types they're struggling yet and they need our help so this past year many efforts went into trying to restrict law enforcement and their ability to do their job and i'm pleased to announce that some of the most onerous language did not pass but unfortunately a couple of good bills didn't pass either one was going to increase the penalty for committing a crime for the benefit of a criminal gang with a gun and that didn't pass and i think it should have another one was increasing the penalty for someone being in possession of a gun when they're not legally allowed to be in possession of a gun and that didn't pass either they will be back next year i'm sure of it but the sad thing about that is a lot of our border communities are really struggling now the states that surround minnesota are hesitant to send their law enforcement professionals into minnesota for a joint response request and so the border communities are really struggling to get enough law enforcement presence in their small communities when they call their neighbors across the border for help and they won't come and it's because of the laws we have the troubles we're having and the bills that we haven't passed that are fixed things that they're concerned about so we need to continue to be cognizant of that but overall our communities are very safe and and our residents and our communities do support law enforcement and they do in for uh do support first responders and i'm and i'm very happy for that it warms my heart to see that response but we need to be aware of that and continue to work to improve those situations i did want to share that i co-authored a couple of bills one was seeking funding and received funding for highway 212. so upward of 25 million for highway 212 so phase 1 and phase 2 are moving forward quickly and that's a real positive for all of carver county as well as a good portion of southern and western minnesota all the way out to the south dakota border another one i chief authored house file 1544 which i'm proud to say uh just received a stop on the fall bonding tour and that's seeking 10 million dollars for 82nd street and county road 18 and lyman boulevard and so we got us we got to stop on the bonding tour it's going to be coming up in a couple three weeks and and that's a big positive we've got uh we're working for a bonding stop for the senate bill as well but we would really uh benefit i think all of of victoria and chaska and chanhassen by having that road improve so glad to see that moving forward and getting some traction and that's really all i have other than i just want to say i'm always available if you have any questions or if any residents have any questions i would encourage you to call my office at 651-2965 or send an email to rep.greg.bo at house.mn and i thank you for the opportunity to to talk with you a couple of minutes this evening thank you so much representative bow and we want to take a minute to say thank you for carrying that bonding bill for us on on 82nd street that is an important thoroughfare coming into victoria and we want to increase the safety on that road in a big way so that is a big part of getting that road taken care of that's my pleasure so make sure you don't send the road grader out in the next couple of weeks we want that bus to feel those bumps noted thank you thank you council anything else for representative bo no just want to say thank you yeah terrific i think you are dismissed to get on to your next thing very good thank you so much i've got to run to another community but you'll notice where i went first yeah we appreciate that have a good evening thank you thank you great uh great mayor ryan for us thank you next we have miss uh sarah baron miss baron please step to the podium and state your name and uh and your cause yes my name is sarah baron i am here representing the auburn acres neighborhood and i'd like to first kind of uh ask all my neighbors to stand up here so you can see how many of them are behind us and in support of this welcome welcome to all of you thank you for being here thank you um i do also want to say thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to to stand before you today and talk about something that's really important to all of us we are auburn acres so we're right we're the small neighborhood north of highway 5 that borders lake auburn and highway 5 just west of here and it's an older neighborhood the homes were built in the 60s and 70s and we have no access to any parks or trails um we've been kind of getting by because we've had this uh empty lot in the middle of our neighborhood that is you know was just a an undeveloped woodsy lot and so we've been kind of playing there the kids have been you know making forts in the woods and and it's been kind of acting as our our park um for us but that lot is now um up for sale and actually has an accepted offer on it so my original plan was to talk to you today about dedicating that lot as green space for our neighborhood but i fear that the pending sale will go through and we won't have that opportunity um but that kind of just brings to light you know the real issue of our neighborhood which is access to parks and trails we live you know in one of the best communities for parks and trails and we love um that about victoria and we value that and i know you guys do too um you know we we we we like paying for that i mean we we um you know we're happy to put um put our tax dollars to work for parks and trails um but we don't have safe access right now our our families have to run across highway 5 in a place where there is no intersection there are no um there's no it's not safe to run across highway 5 or walk you know into downtown victoria that half of a mile from our neighborhood to downtown victoria to get on the trails um and so i come to you today with a proposal uh to put a trail a 0.5 mile trail from auburn drive on the north side of highway 5 to sticker steiger lake lane um so just to give us you know that safe access to downtown victoria and the lake minnetonka regional trail here and lions park um so it's you know that it's a pretty kind of straightforward i've walked that thing as much as i could there is a a slight wetland right there so there will have to be a little wooden bridge or something to go over where six mile creek goes under highway five um but you know just right on that easement next to highway five is is um where i'm hoping this will go um and i know kind of what you're thinking you're like oh okay well this is just one small neighborhood and you know why would why would we build a trail just for you guys right um but if you kind of flip over the sheet of paper that i gave you um it talks about uh i did i did quite a bit of research in preparation for today i read the comprehensive plan and um all of the great plans that you guys have for developing out out west um and the trails that kind of you have in place going out that direction and you do have and one of your maps a trail that goes north of along highway 5 on the north side it's you called it a county uh road trail and sounds good to me i'll take any trail um and so this little section that i'm asking you to build soon ish um from our neighborhood to downtown victoria would be um you know part of that larger trail piece and eventually um it would be part of the trail that connects downtown waconia to downtown victoria i also kind of toured the downtown victoria businesses last night and i talked to a few of the owners about um you know how much business they get via bike uh from excelsior and some businesses said as much as 25 of their business in the summer is from bikers coming from excelsior and so then i asked well how much of your business it comes from bikers from waconia zero because there is no trail currently connecting waconia to victoria um you know kind of a straight trail um so you know representative beau was talking about how we really need to support our um local businesses and this would be one way that we could potentially increase their their business by as much as you know 25 or more especially because waconia is growing so much and and all of the future building and um growth that's going to be coming from the west so um yeah so you know and then we would partner with the city i kind of outlined how it would work we would partner with the city of waconia um to build half of that trail because it's on their land half of it and then also some of it would go through carver park um right there and so the three rivers park district would would kind of pay for that and there are already some trails that they just connect to it um so the city of victoria would get a large bang for their buck all we're asking is you know this half-mile trail which is relatively inexpensive and then eventually it would lead to this great connection to the city of waconia and all the benefits that would come to that toward the entire resident population of victoria and victoria businesses terrific so thank you miss baron thank you okay we typically do not engage in conversation at the open forum about topics but i know that the council has a few questions i'm looking over here to dana and council to find out if we want to engage that up front or if we want to talk about that a little bit at the end of the meeting council entirely up to you okay um i think in this case it probably makes sense um to do that now if that's what you want to do it's your policy thanks miss hardy we will do that um council thank you miss baron you can go ahead and have a seat okay um i thought you guys were going to ask me questions don't go far because if we do you can rush right back yes thank you most people do not prepare this extensive of a presentation so thank you for that it's very helpful to us um yes all right um i believe our park and rec commissioner is our park and rec director is with us i see her in the back and would you please come to the come to the podium i have i have a couple questions for for ann this is um anne monkey our park and rec director so hi ann how are you good good hey a question for you is this trail gap which it actually is a trail gap been identified by the parking rack it has it has not been included on the trail gaps that we have evaluated today it is within the comp plan though oh it is so we don't have all of those trails that are identified in the comp comp plan because generally those come with growth understood okay and our street improvements that are made okay terrific um councilmember black so when we do highway five um when they do the expansion would that include the trail generally yes so that's if there's local funding source for it yes okay all right because that's coming up it's it's not going to be like next year but it's going to be not this section of the road when is that in five years yeah 20 years oh yeah well it's out there but we're going to work hard to get it moved up council member oh i'm sorry councilmember black did you have anything else um no i'll just okay oh councilmember mr dahl welcome mayor members of the council um the arboretum area transportation plan improvements which i think is what you're referring to they do end at the uh around the bridge on the west side so they would not extend as far west so that that area of highway five is much farther out than some of those identified in the um arboretum plan okay terrific thank you marty councilmember a bear i have a question and um sir sir i mentioned the county road trail um is that a county trail what what what is that county road trial i i'm not sure i i don't recall ever seeing it listed as a county road trail it's a state isn't it this would be yes it's state highway 5 okay so much like state highway 7 we also have regional trail or trail identified in in that area as well so we would have to work with the state yes yeah i think there's there's a lot of jurisdictions not just and and sarah had mentioned several of them the city of victoria the watershed district three rivers park the state county city of wagonia yeah there's a lot to get them all together so we need to um so i think what um quite other questions council sorry i think what i would like to do or like to recommend here is that we direct staff to um include this on our trail gap map and it's maybe start in the process of trying to to get these folks connected to the rest of us certainly because we would certainly like to claim them they're fine-looking people they're fine-looking people let's claim them as victorians and get them connected to our get them connected to our amenities so we want to say thank you so much for bringing this to our attention and we will we will get started on the process and you have a great spokesperson in ms barron here so we will um be sure to keep in contact with her and engage her in the process as we as we work through trying to close that gap on that trail thank you so much yeah thank you thank you all right is that enough for you to all right very good thank you thank you so much for being here is there anyone else within the um council chambers i'd like to speak an open forum hi man that made everything easier all right we're going to wait we're going to give it a second while the council chambers clears and then i'm going to see if there's worry no one wants to stay i don't know why we're fascinating is there anyone else that would like to speak an open forum seeing no one we'll move on to the next item on the agenda which is the consent agenda items on the consent agenda are routine administrative and don't require deliberation or housekeeping items required by law they're approved with one vote unless someone requests an item to be considered separately ms hardy who has left the room madam mayor i can make my best dana hardy impression none from staff madam mayor there is nothing from staff that wishes to be pulled from the consent agenda council anybody from council wish to pull anything from the consent agenda seeing none anyone in the audience wishing to pull anything from the consent agenda council on that note may i have a motion to adopt the consent agenda motion to adopt the consent agenda we have a motion do i have a second second all in favor signify by saying aye aye any opposed motion carries we are now moving on to our regular agenda there are no items to come before us this evening on our regular agenda uh we will now move on to reports and emerging issues attorney votes anything from you you know maron console i feel like i have to say something because i i get asked every meeting i just would mention that on the metronet deal that we talked about a meeting or two ago metronet supplied some additional information we had some questions for them about their application and one of the things they supplied was a relatively long list of communities in which they they serve by acquiring jaguar and so that just sort of bolsters the the information that you were supplied previously and i would just mention in addition to that that in addition to chanhassen they are plowing forward in a number of other communities looking to expand in minnesota so there's all reason to believe that this is sort of a real thing and i know staff wants to get going and negotiating and deal with them terrific thank you is hardy any reports from staff none from staff madam mayor all right council reports from council nobody um councilmember black yeah the other day i was out looking at the parks to see how they um fared with the upkeep and i ran into nancy and john upton at the kirklachen park and they were cleaning it up and [Music] transplanting and got a bunch of uh shrubs out of there and was really they said they love doing it so i'm really i love that they did it and um they were asking for some mulch so i was hoping we could get that to them and um there was an area that um has the shrubs that go down the hill they wanted to know about pulling that out and planting uh wildflowers so they had a bunch of seeds so i thought i'd ask that and i see ant shaking her head so she's going to take care of her we're good so thank you terrific anything else no counsel anything else yeah uh what's remember gundersen i would just urge people to drive around victoria and take a look at some of the halloween decorations i know i know christmas is a christmas light thing but we've got a wonderful apartment unit over here that we get to see as we leave uh it's lighted and everything and uh it's phenomenal my neighbor has a wonderful yard of halloween and i know there are some others in a community in some of the neighborhood communities that i think are worth the drive so if you can get out and go check it out i think it'd be worth your time yeah terrific and we all know that the leaves are coming down so just a reminder that the compost is open and available for folks we want to do leaf recycling and as a public service announcement please do not blow your leaves down the sanitary sewers it's not a good place thank you put those leaves and bring them to our compost don't blow those down into the sanitary sewers i see people leaf blowing and we want to make sure that the the uh all the things under our feet work properly so with that if there's nothing else to come before the council this meeting i will uh entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn we have a motion do i have a second second he said it we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying aye aye any opposed we are adjourned you