We're going to hear from all the department heads who will review budget pressures with us, highlight cost savings and operational efficiency. So, kicking us off this evening is assistant fire chief Trenton Close. >> Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. So I have the privilege to talk about the community safety department. So our department is made up of three different departments. The fire department, building department, then our community safety officer program. So the fire department is currently made up of three full-time firefighters. So we brought a third full-time firefighter on as a community risk reduction specialist/fire inspector in April. So there's three full-time people working Monday through Friday. And then we currently have 27 paid on call firefighters. And we'll be kicking off our recruitment here in the fall. We've had a lot of good interest through the summer. We use kind of the summer to hit a lot of our community events, push our recruitment, and then start that hiring process for new paid on call firefighters in the fall. So, we'll be kicking that off here in the fall, but currently we have 27 paid on call firefighters. Our building department is made up of four full-time positions. our um building official, our permit tech, and then our two building inspectors. We had been running short with only one building inspector here for the past couple months. Today, we were able to welcome Sadi to the team. So, she came on and started full-time today. So, I know Scott, our building official, and Mick, our one building inspector, are really happy to have her be able to join the team and take some of that weight off of them. So, they do a lot of great work. And then our community safety officer program currently Rachel is our cso. She's been a great addition to the team. She came to the city starting last March. So she's been a great addition. She runs a lot of enforces a lot of the city ordinances as well as runs all the um calls the fire department runs. So she's EMT certified. So she's able to help with our medical calls and then assist with traffic control on accidents, fire calls, and so on. So, she's been a huge asset to to our comm community, to our department in the last year or so she's been on. And she was actually recognized this year as our first responder of the year. So, she got that award earlier this year. So, for her great great work she's put in the last year with the city. So, some budget pressures that the public safety department is facing is just inflation throughout. Um, it's especially prevalent on the fire department side on we'll take into account our turnout gear. So, it's up to around $4,500 for just a set of turnout gear, which is up about 15% from last year. And we've kind of seen those that percentage of a 15% increase year-over-year. So, that's been tough on our budget. We're trying to we've always looking for ways to bring that down to search out different vendors, find best pricing going forward, but it's kind of a big pressure that we've been facing. >> Threaten, I want to ask a question about turnout gear. Do we replace turnout gear every like cyclically for >> Yep. So the standard, the NFPA standard is turnout gear is good for 10 years. So that's OSHA standard as well. So we can have it for 10 years. So, how our turnout gear is managed is each firefighter has two sets of turnout gear. So, in case we go to a fire, one gets dirty, they have a backup set. So, we purchase on a five-year plan. So, they get a set, then the next 5 years. So, it's 5 years as their primary set, 5 years as their backup set, and then it gets phased out. >> Okay. And then it's staggered. So, >> yes, it is staggered. So, about every year we purchase around eight sets a year. So, it's not we're not buying 30 sets in one year. We have it staggered out where it's about eight sets every year. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Another budget pressure we face is our new fire station. The debt service on that's 1.4 million for the next 25 years. So we'll have that pressure going forward for the foreseable future. And then again on the fire department side just increased call volume that are that we're facing. Last year we ran 420 calls which was a record number for us. And this year we're on pace to run around 450 calls. So, as the community grows, as we continue to bring on more developments, as the community continues to grow, we're our call volume just going to keep going up and up and up. So, we're constantly looking at, you know, what's the right number of firefighters, you know, working in more duty crews, as I'll hit on that later in this presentation, but duty crews and then just having that staffing plan laid out many years to come so we can kind of face that as our calls for service continue to increase. So, some cost savings and efficiencies. We're always looking at ways we can cut costs and efficiencies throughout the department. One of the things we implemented last year was a station crew model. So, that is using our full-time staff because we were able to increase our full-time staff. So, myself, Dave, our fire chief, Zach, who's our new um fire inspector, and then Brady, who's our public works director, who's also on the fire department, we handle all the calls during the day. So instead of having to call in when a call comes in, call in our entire department and see who's around. We're able to because we have the staffing during the day, we're able to handle those calls. So it reduces the number of all calls that our firefighters get called to. And then it also reduces our wages that we're able that we have to pay out every year because we're able to cut those calls that all of our firefighters get called to. And that also increases our level of service because when we're able to have our station crew and duty crews on on, we're able to cut our response time in about half. So instead of having to have our firefighters respond from their homes to the station and then to the call where when we have our station staffed, we're able to respond from the station to the scene, which cuts our response time in about half. So, we're able to run that station crew during the day. And then we run our duty crew model with staffing the station for 4 hours Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday nights. And then we also run a four a eight hour duty crew shift on Saturdays. So again, that's running a crew of three or four that's staffing that staffing the station rather than calling in everyone from their homes. So I'd say, but we're able last year we handled about 30% of our calls through that model. So, it took about 30% of the calls off our paid on call firefighters and that's only looking to increase this year. We're tracking around 35 to 40% of those calls will be handled by duty crews and our station crew. So, we're able to provide a higher level of service to the community. We'll also see some budget savings in that as well. And then we're always looking for grants. So, this year we were awarded $2,500 from Minnesota Valley Electric and we're able to buy a new Blitz Fire that was due for replacement on one of our trucks. and we have also applied for numerous other grants this year that we're still waiting to hear back from. So, we're constantly looking for grants out there to be able to apply for and be able to save some money there. So, we're constantly looking and applying for those. And that's one of the things that um Zach, our new um community risk reduction specialist, has really been taking on looking for grants, trying to find ways that we're able to reduce some of our budgetary costs by receiving grants. One other efficiency we saw this year was we were able to purchase outfit and put them into service a new LSU trailer. So this trailer was fully funded by the Carver County Fire Department Mutual Aid Association. So this trailer runs mutual aid calls. There's two located in the county. So one in Watertown, one in Victoria. So any large fire on the western part of the county, we respond with it. And it's a rehab trailer. So, we're providing water rehab services for firefighters, but what we're also able to incorporate into this trailer was an area for our drone team to operate. So, we have a large TV mounted in there. Our drone's able to be mounted in there. So, we're not just using this trailer just for mutual aid response. We also have it set up to benefit our department and our operations. So, then we use the equipment on that trailer for a lot of our training. So, it's a huge asset to us, not just providing um mutual aid to other to other departments in the county, but also providing uh benefit to the to our department. So, when that was fully funded, it was about, I believe, $18,000 that we were able to get for that to fund that trailer and everything was funded through the Carver County Fire Department Association. So, >> what does LSU stand for? >> Life safety unit. So, like I said, it's providing firefighter rehab. So when firefighters come out of a structure fire or a hazard, we have a big tent with air conditioning or heat depending on the time of year. They're able to go in there, get water, we check their vitals, make sure they are able to return to duty or able to go home safely. So, >> thank you. >> And then some department spotlights. Like I said earlier, we're able to welcome Zach Pglo on as our third full-time employee in the as a community risk reduction specialist as fire inspector, and he's really expanding our community outreach and engagement. So, he's doing a ton with all of our community events, looking to progress that forward. He also handles a lot of our fire inspections, plan, review, and then he also handles calls during the day for us as well. We also broke ground on a new fire station in June and are looking to occupy it in the summer of 2026 if with the rain will stop. We It just seems like the site is constantly wet and it's costing it's creating a little delay out there just with all the rain, but they're still in our meeting today. They're still on track for hopefully June of next year. We're occupying that that space and that's really prioritizing firefighter health, safety, and well-being is the most important thing. So, our firefighters and it'll also house our building department. The sheriff's office will have an office there. So, we're really looking forward to occupying that next year. And then building inspections are just keep going up and up. Last year, our building department had 4,850 building inspections they completed and that was and they also had 203 new home permits last year. And this year, year to date, we they've done just over 2,000 inspections and I've had 74 new home permits this year. And that is all I have. I'll stand for any questions that you may have. >> So, that seems like it's significantly down. 74 new. Is that what we were expecting? >> So, I mean, if you look at last year, I think it's right on track. Last year, we were fairly high on new home new homes. So 74 and we have some newer developments coming forward that will increase that in the coming the rest of the year. >> We'll probably be pretty close. >> We'll probably be a little bit down from last year. But >> so mayor, members of the council, thank you. Um so in our quarter so if you if we just posted our quarterly updates, that report does have um new building permits in there. So, um, if you were to look at that report, it actually shows a pretty steep decline from in June, um, from May to June in the number of new permits being pulled, which is a bit unusual for this time of year. >> So, um, it is something that we're continuing to monitor. But that said, because we were um kind of ahead going into this year, we might I we're still on target uh cautiously on target to reach that um that number this year that we kind of used to get to with our magic eightball here. But um that being said um we're also coming into the fall season which we know uh things start to slow down um a little bit. But it's something that we're watching and continuing to have conversations with um the applicants who are submitting proposals just to get a better idea of um their phasing and what projects they're bringing forward. So, we still because we might want to adjust um those numbers going into the 2026 budget as well. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Any other questions, council, for assistant fire chief blouse? >> I just had one. Yep. >> You mentioned, right, you're going into recruitment season and you showed earlier the number of on call firefighters we currently have. What's the number that you'd like to be? Like, are we where you're at, we'd like to be at? Are we low? Are we high? Um, >> so I think right now we've had some recent departures where probably a couple low. We kind of like to be in that 30 to 35 is kind of where where we feel comfortable. And we've, like I said, we've had a lot of interest this year. And we have a long list of applicants that are hoping to join. So hopefully we have a good recruitment season. We're looking to probably bring on three to four is kind of where we like to be. We don't want to bring on a ton and have that's a large demand on our staff to get them trained. So, we're kind of looking probably that three to four is where we're probably going to land, but depending on the quality of applicants, we'll make that determination. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Any other questions, council? >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Um, up next, Jen Brewington from the community development department, community and economic development. Miss Brewington, welcome. So evening mayor, members of the council. So I am here to chat about the community development department here. So just an overview of our department. We are a small and mighty team of three. Uh we do guide thoughtful growth and development by reviewing land use applications, promoting housing options, and assisting residents and working with developers to align with the comprehensive plan and quality of life in Victoria. We also work to attract and retrain businesses to strengthen the local economy, diversify tax base, and to provide amenities for residents and visitors. Fun fact, we have about 110 110 businesses with about 1,200 employees. And obviously, you can see the growth that we have downtown with more residential and commercial coming to the city. So, we are very excited to see that happen. And we did welcome five new businesses yet this summer. So, stay tuned on some of those ribbon cutings coming up. Um we also facilitate infrastructure and placemaking projects by collaborating with our other internal departments to improve liability, livability, connectivity and growth. Um items such as utilities, public gathering spaces spaces like parks, plazas, trails and landscaping. Um and events are things that we focus on within our team. Some budget pressures. So we have a comp plan coming up here. So, as you know, that's going to take lots of time out of staff and other departments within the city. It's also an expensive cost to the city. Um, it takes time for the departments and staff to work with community engagement and partners, data collection, and then balancing the work that we have currently with ongoing projects to make sure that we're getting that done in a timely manner. Um, we also are seeing a an increased demand for services causing the need to expand and upgrade and improve municipal services. As you know, growth means additional projects for staff review such as permits, possible new development policies and while focusing on keeping that customer service um excellent within our team. Another bud budget pressure is rapid growth and as we accelerate the timeline for service expansions, we're seeing significant infrastructure investment and staffing needs. Um fast timelines are expected for not only residents but our developers. So we want to make sure when we are going through this rapid growth in all of these projects that we are not having any coordination or process challenges as we're looking at land use applications some cost savings and efficiencies. So we've been lucky enough to cross trainin some of our staff in other departments and other work. So helping with additional specialized hires um when we can cross trainin them we don't have to hire those folks to do specialized things such as code enforcement. Um Travis and our team has been really um doing great job with the code enforcement and partnering with our cso and that team to making sure that we're getting those uh requests and responses done in a quickly and timely manner for our residents along with um tree inspections that Brian has learned how to do which is causing us to not have some additional work from our consultants where we can do that internally. And then cannabis and fibers that also follows under our department this year which is not only new but it's timesensitive as well. So, that's been something that we've been able to work on internally just to make sure that we didn't have to hire any specific people into the community development team. Um, we've also tried to establish a grant tracker system which just allows us to keep um our eyes open for any potential grants that are coming to um any potential projects. Um we're lucky enough to have partnerships with folks like the VBA, the Lions, um the CDA to where we can actually get some funds from from them for some programming and placemaking efforts in the city. And then one last uh cost savings and efficiency that I wanted to mention was just adjustments to our fees. So we wanted to shift more of those costs on growth to developers to ensure that we um are seeing growth pay for itself and then just being long-term fiscally responsible when we are growing and seeing that rapid growth throughout the city. some department spotlights. Um I mentioned that code enforcement team has increased within the CD team um and just partnering with our cso and as you know economic development is code enforcement as well. So making sure that we're enhancing our neighborhoods, preserving our property taxes and just making the community viable and um attractive for people who are visiting. Uh we are doing some ordinance updates. So this is a very very exciting yet heavy lift. So we are working internally with staff, our planning commission um and other teammates to make sure that we are doing what the city is reflecting on based on its growth. Um and you know as the community changes and the values change, what does that look like as we are welcoming new developments in the community. We also want to make sure that our public safety inclusion and development and encourage economic economic vitality is important when we are looking at code enforcement cases. And then we are working closely with our comm's team um to promote just downtown growth and development within the city. They've been a really really great partner in helping us connect with businesses, property owners, developers, and just getting those information out to people um when they're visiting the community and trying to locate here. Um and so that's been a really fun collaboration that we've had with with that team, making sure we're getting information out to people quickly and transparently. And I just want to give you a quick little update on some of our numbers here we've got for development. Um, so what we're seeing when it comes to commercial development, those calls have really slowed down this past year. I'm not quite sure why, but I'm just wondering if it maybe is cost of doing development and work in the city. Um, we are seeing an increased call, however, in our retail, especially cannabis retails. Um, that that's been a big call that we've been seeing lately. So, not sure where that's going to land throughout the city, but retail is definitely something that's been an interested um piece in the community. We also have about 400,000 acres um of buildable land left and that's um not including any open space and wetlands but we do have a great potential for growth as we continue and based on the Met Council they are stating that by 2050 we will be about 2300 or 23,000 residents which is about a 96% growth. So fun numbers for you. >> Yeah. >> And I believe that's all I got for you right now. >> All right. Questions for Jen? >> More comment than anything. um you're doing a great job of keeping the businesses up to date on things and uh in front of the businesses because I think growth got a ton of it but with construction looming um I think creativity and all that stuff. So I've heard that you're out you and the team are out talking to them and all the time which is awesome. So I guess continuing that would be great. >> Appreciate the comment and all the folks here in this room are part of that that effort as well. So, we're very very fortunate here in Victoria to have that collaboration piece and support from you and mayor and the council. So, thank you for that. >> Yeah. Good. Um, so you mentioned, right, so we know you're small but mighty team, right? But, uh, with the downtown west and our southern growth development really, you know, I think starting to take off here. Um, do we have enough people to keep up with all the work? I would say yes, we do because that is a priority on our our development list is downtown west. As you know, we've been waiting for this development for 20 plus years. So, there's definitely excitement within the internal team and I think out in the public as well. But, we do track our our projects that we have going on and um Brian, our city planner, is really really wonderful at making sure that we are on target of all those submitt dates and really making sure we are transparent and vocal when a project comes in of what that timeline might actually look like. We don't want to say we can get it done in six months when we know we can. So, we're we're really um good, I think, at building those relationships with developers when a project comes in, but just being transparent of that piece. Um but I would say, you know, in the next 5 years, yeah, we're probably going to need another additional body in the team. >> Yeah, Miss Hardy, please. >> Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. also add as we continue to grow and you'll hear more from our public works department about some of the pressures that they're facing. But as we add more public space, more outlets, more trails, more streets, those are all things more parks, those are all things that need to be be maintained. Um and so as we continue to add those amenities um and that infrastructure in our community will continue to need to invest in having the equipment, the resources, um i.e. the staff to be able to maintain those things. And so that will continue to be a budget pressure which goes into um kind of the theme that you're hearing already uh develop here today which is growth. So great other questions from council. Great. Thanks so much Jen. Who's up next? Claudia, this is our city clerk, Claudia Edisfold. >> Claudia, please, whenever you're ready. >> Welcome, mayor and council members. So, I'm here to chitchat about elections um and to provide you guys with a department overview. Um part of the city clerk's responsibility is to administer elections. This includes wage compensation for election judges supplies, um, notices, election equipment setup, which could not be done without the collaboration of public works. Want to take this time to thank Mauricio Owen and Henry for all their help in helping us set up um, the precincts. Um, part of our responsibility is also technology and infrastructure, which means testing of those election equipment 7 days before every election. So, all of the equipment, polling pads, omni ballot, um, the DS200. Um, we're also responsible for staffing and training. We rely on the election judges to staff the precincts. Um, this also is outreach and recruitment, which is a collaboration between the clerk's office and the communications department, and we couldn't do it without their help. Um, Carver County is responsible for providing training to the election judges and myself and Alyssa usually attend those classes as well because we're required by state statute to get certified. Um the budget pressures for elections is logistics and staffing, improving that voter access, um increased wages for election judges, um increased printing and publication costs, um simple things. Um also improving voter access is just the placement of those signs. Um and again the collaboration between communications department and that outreach of letting them let letting the p public know when the precincts are open. Um another budget pressure is the voting machines cyber security and up upgrades. Um this year the DS200s are going to get a system update to prepare for the 2026 election. Um there's also rising demands for secure infrastructure and storage of voting equipment. So voting equipment is stored in the mezzanine and I am the only one that has um access to the the mezzanine at this time. And also voting equipment is replaced every 10 years. Um, another budget pressure and I think this is a huge budget pressure is the turnover or the retirement of election judges. When an election judge retires, we lose that institutional knowledge. The cost is astronomical and can't be weighed. Uh we try to do a mentorship program to pair election judges with each other and trying to increase student election judges is one of my goals for um 2026. Cost of savings. >> Claudia, I have a question for you regarding our election equipment. You said we have to replace it every 10 years. Where are we? Do we stagger that replacement or do we do it all at one time? uh it's done all at one time and that is usually direction and guidance for the county. So my understanding how that works is there is usually meetings done and the county will have picked out what equipment they like and what has been approved by the secretary of state and then each uh city will weigh in what equipment we would like and what we don't like um and how it flows and whatever. But ultimately the decision is based on what the county wants to use. >> Okay. And where are we in our 10-year cycle for replacement? Do you know? >> I don't think that we need a replacement for maybe six years. >> Okay. I'm looking at Miss Hardy. She's nodding. >> Mayor, members of the council, yeah, I think that's about that's it's about right. I think you had replaced them just before I started um back in 2019. So, we're probably about halfway through that cycle >> and I'm assuming we account for that in the capital expenditure or the capital plan. >> So, Trish is saying yes. Um, so the last time and I'm I hesitate because the last time that this was done, I think there were some grants that the state provided to offset some of those costs. So there's we plan for the full cost um and then we kind of lobby our legislature to help offset the cost for that. The one thing uh Claudia did a great job explaining um that process. The one thing um that I'll just note um when the state goes out and so the county is the the lead in replacing the equipment but the state and this through the secretary of state actually um will certify um what equipment can be used for the state of Minnesota. So there's very specific requirements that vendors must meet to even be part of that selection process. And so typically the county um because they're basically our lead in the elections, they don't want Chanhassen and Victoria and you know Norwood Young America all using different equipment. So they want to kind of standardize it for the county. Um and so she did a great job explaining that process. But I just wanted to add that other point of clarification for that certification process that the state leads. >> Makes sense. Thank you. as we grow. I mean, like what when would the right because we just opened was it two new pre? Right. We have two in the same building. Correct. >> Correct. And I'm actually going to touch on that. >> All right. >> Okay. Nice. Well, back to you. >> So, going on to cost savings and efficiencies. Uh, so we try to procure grants from the state. So, a good example is on the presidential nominee elections which are held in March. Um I usually try to apply for grants and usually we get reimbured for most of the cost of that election. Um the other cost savings is um e the e poll books. So when a voter goes to vote um the updates are pushed through by the county. So there is there is a hard chance or not a possibility of a chance for duplicating a vote uh because those e- polloles are updated continuously. So um that's one. The other combined savings for right now is precinct four and five are currently combined. So we're saving money by we're not paying out two precincts. We're not paying out the extra election judges. And for 2026, there's not a presidential election, so that's a cost savings for us. Um, >> when is So, right, because I guess most of our development is south, right? So, what's the threshold or when like when we would need another precinct or >> So, um, >> or not combined, I guess. >> Yeah. So, that is one of my department's spotlights, but I'll make it my first one. So, as Victoria Victoria continues to grow and expand, we will need a new precinct 5 probably by the 28 uh presidential election. Um, just to give you some numbers, in 2024, we seen a 20 uh 204% increase of registered voters in that precinct. We went from 137 registered voters to 417. So, um the other things, um department spotlights is voter experiences, election judges, staff, um and polling administrators. We collaborate to change the flow of the precincts to enhance for voter experiences. And in 2024, we seen an 11% increase in uh voters uh compared to the 2020 election. >> Do you guys have any more questions for me? >> Any other questions? >> Great. I'm sure you keep an eye on this, but there's been over the last four to eight years a sharp increase in absentee voting and remote voting. I guess do we keep that in mind as we're creating these new precincts or do we have to adhere to the strict rules and statutes? >> So, we do have to adhere to those strict rules and statutes. Um, the city of Victoria, we currently do not do absentee voting. That is administered by the county, okay, >> for us. Um, and I'm sure as we continue to grow, that is probably something that they will would like to return to the city of Victoria. And currently at this time, we do not have the space or the manpower to do absentee voting. >> So, it actually costs more for absentee voting than just going to the precincts. >> Yes, it does. >> Good to know. Thank you, >> Miss Hardy has. >> Miss Hardy, please. >> Thank you, mayor, members of the council. Just to build on that question for a little additional perspective on what it takes to do absentee voting. Um so we would be tying up probably this room or a very large room um to keep the polling machines out. They have to be secured every night. They have to be accessible uh to provide um voters with the ability to vote during that period. Um and then we would need to convene an absentee ballot board. Um so that would be probably a combination of staff and election judges. They would have to go through additional training. Um and we would have to um make sure that we uh have and have that have election judges for that period. Um doing that every day. um you're convening your absentee ballot board during that that period um to do all the things that need to be do all the reporting that needs to be required to go with that as well. Um and then we would have to be um staff that on a Saturday as well before the election >> and a Sunday >> and so it's a there's a lot involved. It's a big cost. It's a big um space challenge for us. And I think our main driver um as the county periodically asks us um about our interest in taking on that activity is we just don't have the space or the secured space to be able to administer that um on our own at this time. Now, that could change in the future, but there's um looking at our facility plans that would be very challenging for us even in the near to midterm future to take on um as an operations. >> Is there are there any cities in Carver County doing absentee? >> I believe on their own. >> I believe um I want to say there's one or two cities that are taking it on >> is doing it maybe. >> We're Did you say Laconia? >> Waconia. Yeah, that's the one I was thinking of. So, so we believe there's at least one, maybe two. >> All right. Thanks. All right. Other questions for Miss Bold. Anything else from you, Claudia? All right. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> And up next, just like to tell the truth, who's going to stand up next? It's our city engineer, Cara Garin. Miss Garin, welcome. Good evening, mayor, members of the council. I wasn't sure if I was next, but I thought maybe I was, so here we are. Okay, so uh department overview. Um I was just going to touch on the three highlights of really the things that encompasses all the things that my department does. Um infrastructure, planning, programming, and then implementation. And so we plan infrastructure then we work to program it i.e. get it in the budget and then the third step would be to implement it. So in a nutshell that's everything I do. I'm done. Um no that process takes many years. So uh we start planning infrastructure 20 years before it goes in the ground. So it's a very long process. budget pressures. The first one you are all well aware of. We have been talking about it non-stop for really the last five years. But um the transportation improvements that are now in construction that um we've been waiting a long time for are a very big um budget pressure that we're well aware of. Um so I'm not going to spend a bunch of time on that. Um but the other thing to not lose sight of is our aging pavement. So, um, we do talk about this, but we have not talked about it at length yet this year. Um, but we do have all of our pavement in the community is aging. Um, I am coming up on my 24th year working for the city. And so, uh, we are programming millan overlays to roads that I designed, which makes me feel very old. Um, but much of the pavement in the city is aging and as the pavement ages, it does need to be replaced. So that involves removing the top layer of the pavement and replacing it with new pavement. And so, um, we are working on a more, um, complete pavement management plan so that we can work, uh, with the finance department to have a more complete program for, um, how we're going to tackle all of the, uh, Milan overlay projects that you've been budgeting for over the last few years. So, we actually did pivot this year for the Milan overlay project that will be in front of you for awarding a contract at the um August 11th council meeting. Originally, we uh were going to be doing some work within the central part of the city, but we ended up shifting to doing the northern part of the city. Um because of the timing of the road closure of Highway 5 and Rolling Acres Road, we realized that we wanted to get those roads completed in the north part of the city before those main thoroughares were closed because we were concerned that the cost of those Milanover relay projects would be higher if we waited to bid them while major roadways that would need to be open to get trucks to them would be closed. So did a little adjustment of the schedule this year, but um that'll continue to be a budget pressure. And then as was um commented by um others before me, uh growth always continues to be a budget pressure. Um what I did want to note uniquely and Jen touched on it with the um comprehensive plan coming up around the corner. um for the first time with looking at the 2050 comprehensive plan, we are going to have to start planning for sewer and water infrastructure in a part of the city that we haven't really taken a really hard look at in the last 20 years. So when we go back to my first slide where we were talking about infrastructure planning, we do need to start looking um what had been beyond our 2040 area. So out in the area of the intersection of Highway 10 and 43 and points west of there. So as the planning team begins to work on the comprehensive plan, we'll start looking at infrastructure beyond areas we've planned previously. So um we'll be planning sewer and water for the next 20 years in an area we hadn't looked at previously. So, um, all of those things of course add, um, pressure as we take a look at how to fund those. Back to the second bullet on my first slide. So, um, cost savings and efficiencies. The first one being grants. This is the slide that was at the workshop where we last talked about Highway 5. Um, I'm not going to go into detail about this since we did just cover this at a workshop, but the amount of um, federal and state funds that the county was able to bring forward to the city for the transportation improvements was a huge help to the budget. Um, certainly the city was supportive in these efforts. So all of the um letters and uh interactions with state legislators and our federal delegation um by council members and also support from business community um the VBA and other people that have been asked to submit support efforts at last minutes for funding applications integral to all of this. Um then in addition to that additional staffing um you had an opportunity to meet Amanda Meyer who's been added to my team. Um which definitely will help with efficiencies and then resource sharing as always. Um so my core department consists of three people but we do use um additional resources where needed from my firm um from other engineers as we need them to step in and help where it makes sense. And lastly, department spotlights. What I wanted to just cover here this year was collaboration, coordination, and communication. I these things have just been so important really um the last couple of years in particular um especially with the transportation projects um we've been collaborating endlessly with other departments both internally but then also externally uh working very closely with the county and very closely with the county's consultants that are working on the transportation projects. Um there's a lot of different consulting partners hired by the county for all of the projects. Um whether it is the highway 18 project or the 1114 roundabout project, um different design consultants, different construction consultants, different contractors. Um so we are spending a lot of time collaborating with different folks as all of these projects were getting designed and are getting constructed. So, um it's been a it's been quite a process of working and coordinating with a lot of different folks and then of course internally um working as always with all of the other departments in the city um to try to work our way through all of these projects. Um the biggest effort has been communication uh working endlessly with the communications team that we are very lucky to have. Um, we spent a lot of time talking about transportation projects and construction projects and I I you know, we've been doing it probably since sometime in 2019 or 2020 with the Arborita Maria transportation um plan, but I do think we've hit a point where and I think Kendra and her team are probably experiencing this where it's pretty rare now when to be out in the community and encounter somebody who doesn't know about the upcoming Highway Five project. Um they may not know the details, but they know it's coming and they just want to know which year the road's going to be closed. But I do I do think that um all the outreach efforts have been effective in terms of getting the word out that the projects are coming. So, um I think that we set that as a goal at some point that we talked about of, you know, not wanting anybody to be surprised when these projects come. Now, we can't, you know, prevent surprises from occurring in terms of somebody maybe being surprised by some of the details along the way, but certainly uh want to make sure the community knows that the projects are coming before they get there. So, with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. >> I would echo your your gratitude on that. That's been a really big part of having everyone be able to prepare for this, not just our residents, but our businesses as well. And and I and that's an ongoing effort and it's going very well. So, thank you for that. Council questions for Cara. I feel like we see a lot of you, which is good. There's always something going on. So, thank you. Yep. All right. Up next, Eric Shy from our information technology department. Welcome, Eric. >> Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the council. Um, give you an overview of my favorite department, the information technologies department. >> You're the only one, Eric. No, I'm kidding. If something's not working, it's it's >> department overview. Um, I like to break what I do into three categories. Cyber security, um, our end users are gatekeepers into our systems. Um, training them, giving them the right tools, um, and the resources, uh, to help them do their job. um be on be aware of any you know new and upcoming trends anything uh security related you know that's going on in the world um we provide training along with those tools um the multiffactor authentication go as far as geo blocking um on our firewall so that we're not doing business with Australia or things like that so just mitigating and reducing that chatter just to protect us because if we're not doing it there's no reason for it to come into our environment. So, setting ourselves up for things like that. Um, positioning ourselves security-wise um to make sure that the city's well covered. Um, the other area that I primarily deal with is data and infrastructure um management. Not only is it the infrastructure, our servers, our switches, our access points, things like that, but it also is our our operating technology, our lift stations, all the technology that can goes in there. I like to help our our thirdparty vendors and kind of dig into that and make sure that everything is prompt and and working as well as possible. um with the data structure or the data and infrastructure management goes with patching. Um doing that regular maintenance, making sure that we are replacing and refreshing our servers on a regular uh rotation and so that we're not getting kind of too far out of whack and and letting our our servers and our equipment age. Um so we do have a plan. We have it in our CRP um to replace this technology every so often. Um I think our servers are slated for next year. Our firewall was replaced this year which has been a huge upgrade. Um not only our old one was about 5 years is at its its end of life. This one will set us up for future um not only for compute and um storage but also for um high availability load balancing and redundancies. um SDWAN being able to have multi-aths in and be able to use um multiple internet circuits so if one goes down no one's none the wiser we just flip over to the other one. Setting ourselves up for things like that. Um and then support and technical assistance. Um supporting these guys, awesome team. Um just getting in there and just helping them out wherever I can. Can I ask a question quick? You bet. >> Uh, so cyber security obviously is a big deal. Um, I'm just curious. So like at the my job, you know, yearly we have to do training, right? We have to watch the fun presentation, right? Do we do things like that here and and get it out so employees know like the Cuz I mean it seems like it's changing all the time, right? There's a new >> scam. Yep. >> You know, every week. So I I'm assuming like >> So we leverage a software that deals just with that. I set up a schedule and I can do anything from, you know, recent current events to um anything else that's kind of been seen. You know, you can even go back to old campaigns. Um but I'll send them out monthly. Um just the the training sessions. I try to keep them relatively short, 5 10 minutes, but it just gives it puts it in the forefront of their mind. um along with uh fishing email simulations where you'll just send one out and great team. Um they're really good at spotting it. Um >> you have a naughty list. >> Yeah. Well, even on the back even on the back end, you know, I tried filtering a lot of this emails, but you know, they'll a lot of times they'll come to me and say, "Hey, this one looks suspicious or I think you're trying to get me." And I just kind of shake my head. I'm just like, "Uhhuh." So, it's pretty funny. Um, and you know, you try staggering them because people will figure out if you do it like first of the month. They'll figure it out and they'll know. They'll all talk and so I I stagger it and that's other places, not here. >> Thank you. >> Um, so cost savings and efficiencies. Um, secured a state and federal grant. Um, one of the primary things was our our our anti virus. Um there was a whole of state uh grant that was brought forth. We are adopted into that and what it means is it gives us next level antivirus. Um we always have someone 247 watching for nefarious activity in our environment. Um if they see that then they can isolate it and segment it off so that it doesn't spread or affect anyone else. I'm one person. I like to go to sleep sometimes. Um, so have someone have their, you know, finger on the pulse at three in the morning on a Sunday, it it lets me sleep at night. So, um, having, you know, solutions like that that, you know, the state, you know, present has been awesome. Um, it just gives us that cost and effectiveness that we essentially get the same pricing as a large corporation. So um we get all the bells and whistles but we're you know 40 50 people shop. So um we migrated our ERP BSNA to the cloud. Um we were previously an onremise BSNA. Um we've upgraded to the latest version and we get updates um regularly and support has been much faster at least from my side. um getting things resolved has been um very prompt and then um collaborating with facilities and other departments to come up with solutions. Um one of the examples that I have is um the new fire station doing a time-lapse video. Zach and I um and Randy sat down and um came up with a solution that we could do this for far cheaper in-house um in which we implemented and is currently um taking time-lapse videos of our our fire station as it's being built. Um what else? Uh department spotlights like I alluded to a new firewall. Um we have two new firewalls that are in a redundant pair. Once the new fire station is built and um fully operational, I will move one of those firewalls there. One will remain in our old public works or I'm sorry, our water treatment plant so that we have that redundancy if something happens uh fiber line or whatnot is cut at the new fire station or vice versa at the water treatment. We can fail back and forth between. So, we don't really have a primary well, we'll have a primary source for all our equipment, but we'll be able to kind of switch between the two if we ever need to. Um, diversifying our network architecture um through redundancies, load load, I should say, load balancing and multiath connectivity. So just setting ourselves up um network-wise and network architecture wise um for our for growth um making sure that you know users aren't pinched or feeling that uh as we grow with that I will stand for any questions. >> So thank you so much for this. This has been a this is an initiative that we really got serious about probably 5 years ago when we felt like we were kind of being left behind and we um here at the city at city hall have a lot of sensitive data from our residents and it was becoming increasingly apparent that we needed to protect that data in a much better fashion. So this is as exciting as it all is. It's it is really great to know that this is in place and our stuff is secure. So, other questions, comments from council. >> Just a quick question for do do we still have dark fiber that we need to light up for your network plan to come into being or we lit up enough for you to get the level of redundancy that we need? So, we are lit up um for those main buildings where some of the dark fiber still remains as some of our our outline areas, lift stations, things like that. Um our old public works building doesn't have fiber to it. Um but for the most part, we're building, we're continuing to build out more and more. Um, I couldn't probably give you a percentage of how much of all of our critical infrastructure is connected, but I would say we're above 60 70%. Um, and that that's primarily the lift stations and things like that where we're we're setting ourselves up. We have fiber to them. We have uh cellular devices to them. Um, we're just waiting for the upgrade of the the PLC or the panel within the box to accept that Ethernet connection because previously they were they were running over like radio frequency. So, it's retrofitting some of those old those boxes. But for the most site, all our main sites have fiber lit up to them. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Other questions, comments? >> Small one. And I'm not sure if this should go to Brady or not, but are you involved with or is would it make sense for you to be involved with the monitoring of the in-house water systems? Are those and are those run on Wi-Fi or what are they cellular network or >> as far as like the lift stations and like out in the or the water treatment plant itself like? >> Every home has a device now that monitors how much water. So it's like a water meter and we can say, "Oh, you got a faucet that's been running for 3 days." >> Is that something that you're involved with or is that water department? >> Utilities. Okay. >> Can we like the water? >> Brady, we need to hear you. So come on up to the microphone if you please. >> Well, he's going to come up later. That's why I wasn't sure if I should ask now or later. >> Yeah. >> Uh, good evening, members, mayor of the council. The specific question that you asked with in home is that actual water meter has a technology in it. So we bring our reader to that individual water meter and we can read it back 90 days. So we can see that usage. >> Okay. >> That technology is within utility department. But on a broader scope SCADA and everything that runs the sanitary lift stations or the sanitary sewer system as well as the water system, he's all involved in that. >> Okay. >> So >> gotcha. Does that answer your question? >> Yeah, I'm just >> Thanks. >> trying to figure the technology in my house out a little bit better than >> Okay, >> do it on your own time, Christian. >> Well, for everybody who's watching, maybe they'll learn something, too. >> Yeah, I'm kidding. >> I'm sorry, Madam Mayor. Members, I think I skipped over the budget pressures slide, but just wanted to touch on it. um licensing cost increases, hardware obviously, and then regulatory compliances, um ADA compliance, uh data requests, things like that, things that take my time away from, you know, helping internal people and just, you know, doing that. It's it's a part of it, but that's some of the budget pressures that I experience. So, >> has the cloud alleviated any of that? >> Little bit. Um, I'm slowly migrating, you know, our file servers, things like that into cloud kind of cloud services where it fits, where it doesn't cost a lot of money and it it just kind of plugs that whole. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> You feel you have all the tools that you need or is there something that you'd like? >> No, I feel like I have all the tools. >> Okay. >> It's the city's been amazing to work. >> Great. Well, we appreciate you. >> Thank you. Thanks, sir. if everything's running well. >> Last question for you on the topic of what could be pressures. I mean, I I think that we you can't swing a dead cat without hitting the letters AI in today's world. And uh how much do you see that impacting the city? And do we feel like we're positioned to leverage the tools that we have? Like for example, we see co-pilot 365 everywhere as well when that cat swings um along with it. Do do we feel like that's going to be an in uh increasing pressure or do you feel that the stage of where the municipal life cycle is? Uh it's not front and center yet. >> It's not front and center quite yet. Um we I created a policy about a year ago on AI um and kind of left it up to you know allowing them to use at least internally um AI co-pilot things like that to spark ideas to kind of get you started on things and everyone's been relatively good um you know when it comes to that as far as you know AI and as it integrates into things. I don't know I'm excited to kind of see where it goes and and what I mean the possibilities are endless. we're just on the forefront of it. Um, so we're just kind of dipping dipping our toes into it right now, but yeah, being able to transcribe, you know, meetings and things like that, it's it's amazing as to what it can do. So, dipping our toes into it. Um, we haven't gone full throttle, but it as as we move and as it matures, we'll implement more and more as it seems as it fits. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> More to come on that. It's kind of exciting to see how that evolves and it changes every day. All right, any other questions for Eric. All right, up next, Jenna Smith from our park and recck department. Miss Smith, welcome. Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. So, I um have the pleasure of being able to talk about our um parks and recreation department. Um so we are a uh team of three uh full-time staff members uh as well as uh approximately 12 to 13 um part-time staff members at our recreation center. Um we are consistent of three main areas in our department and that is first one is parks and trails and so as the city of lakes and parks we definitely live up to that uh by having um 25 parks currently um which is a growing number because we do have um a few parks in development um coming soon as well as 53 miles of trails and sidewalks throughout our city. Um, we have spaces within these that are programmed that are heavily used by our renters, by um, associations that utilize our fields, by private parties that utilize our spaces, uh, people are actively out there and it's really wonderful and especially on good days, not like today when it's really hot, but on u more pleasant days that uh, people are fully utilizing these spaces. Um, our department also does recreation programming and so uh we have a variety of things that we offer um anything from contracted programs that um are more educational based or working with partners like Harvard County. We also offer um special events like senior bingo bashes. We have um some youth uh dropin camps. We've got um the Royal Ball, uh senior or superhero party, things like that. Um, upcoming this fall, we've got uh Barnyard Boogie and uh cooperation in partnership with uh Chanhassen Parks and Recreation Department. Um, and we've got other programs in the works in the future. We've also uh got the Victoria Recreation Center to manage um which is uh operated in partnership with the school district. Uh we also have a gymnasium in there as well as the two ice rinks um a fitness center and a walking track that is open to the public as well as playgrounds and other amenities that are found um outside of the park in Dettown Park. So for budget pressures for the department, we are a small team um with as many things as we do. Uh currently with only three members, we are lacking in um some programming spaces where we don't have the capacity in our current structure to be able to adjust for the needs that the very growing um community that we have um is requesting of us. And so there's a lot of um positions that um need to be filled that are currently not able to be filled. Uh we did have a position previously that focused on programming um that is not currently filled uh that we are looking to fill with next year's budget uh in order to be able to touch on some of those spaces that the community has requested. Doing things like more senior programs, youth summer camps, out of school time programming, um more throughout the year um times where uh seniors can uh collaborate, coordinate, play card games, do walking clubs, things like that. um as these continue as our community continues to grow and especially as we have a an aging population, these demands are just going to continue to increase. And so in order to meet those needs, we do need to um increase our staffing ability. Uh with that, we also are seeing some changes at our rec center. And so there's some um restructuring that needs to occur there in order to be able to adjust to one attaining um and attracting um high quality staff that will manage um the front desk at our facility. uh as well as bringing some services inhouse in order to be able to effectively um provide services that the community expects on a consistent basis. Another budget pressure that we are facing is our aging park facilities, playgrounds and trails. And so um in my time here, I've looked into a lot of the facilities that we have, especially in terms of our playgrounds. Um many of them are hitting their life cycle. So, typically playgrounds operate on a 20-year life cycle and um we've got at least six of them that are at that mark already. Um and so these are things that are continuing to pop up. Um and I do know our public works team is going to touch on this slightly, but um our trails also need a lot of help. Um we have a lot of trails that are needing um some mil and overlay that are done with it. We have a lot of trail gaps that are in the city that the residents would like to see addressed. Um, and so these are some things that as we continue to go on, we need to um be able to prep prepare um the groundwork to be able to address as well as our aging facilities. So we do have some park shelters that are aging as well as our Victoria Recreation Center. Another budget pressure, but also an exciting option is our new park developments. And so while these ones aren't aging, they are still expensive. Um we have some new great opportunities that are coming our way and thankfully park dedication fees do help with these. Um but uh this would also increase the maintenance that's needed for those and the staff time dedicated to that. Um, we have two developments that are in the process right now that are uh requiring a lot of staff time and collaboration with other city departments um that are coming as well as new ones that are on their way um through the these new developments that are coming um throughout the city as well as looking at our existing parks and facilities and seeing how we can revision these spaces so that they can better meet the needs of our residents as they are. Um and then like uh a lot of our other departments, inflation has hit us with the cost of equipment and supplies. So supplies in general continue to go up year after year. Um these could be anything from the supplies to run our programs to um supplies to clean our facilities. Um equipment for our fitness center continues to go up and uh we do have some equipment that is at its life cycle and needs to be replaced. Uh we are also seeing more an increased demand from our users for additional um equipment there. Um and so as these just continue to develop um these are things that are uh ones that we're looking into to try to make sure that we're um being fiscally responsible but then also meeting the needs of our residents. Some cost savings and efficiencies. And so uh one thing that our staff had had uh launched this year is we are utilizing technology that we already had. So um we already have um use of Microsoft Office suite and within this is an app called shifts. Um and in order to decrease uh staff time in scheduling all of our front desk staff, managing time off requests, shift changes, things like that, uh we implemented this new um feature um utilizing software um that we were already paying for um that was included in our package. Um and it has significantly cut down the time that it takes for both um our full-time staff to be able to manage our staff time as well as increasing the ease and efficiency for our part-time staff members. Um and it has uh increased a lot of like um responsibility on our staff's end um to be able to do that. And it's also created a lot of collaboration and teamwork because instead of just coordinating with their supervisor, um they're able to talk to each other through this app and it has created a bit more of a community within our staff members. So it's a fun added feature of not just increased use of technology that we already had at our fingertips, but it also created a little bit more community within our staffing. Uh the second cost efficiency um or cost saving that we had was our modified membership rates that we started this year. Uh so with that um we uh did run the numbers in terms of where we're at this year compared to last year in terms of our memberships and things like that and we are on um par with what where we were at last year in terms of number of members even though we did modify um how we do our memberships. Um, and we have not only we're not only consistent with our memberships, but we've um exceeded in terms of uh the revenue we've been able to generate, which is um a huge benefit so that it can funnel back into the facility um and address some of these budget pressures that I've already discussed in the terms of maintaining the facility, upkeeping our equipment and things like that. Um inside the um recreation center, uh one of the screens that you'll notice right when you first walk in is a digital display. Um, this screen, um, previously was operated by an outside agency. Um, and while it did display what rooms were being rented, um, we didn't have any control over what information was being shared on it. Um, so we decided to bring it in house, um, it not only is consistent with our branding throughout the city, so it's got that Victoria feel as soon as you walk into the facility, which is wonderful, um, but I'm able to operate what goes onto the screen. And so this has not only increased our ability to uh communicate in real time what new things are coming up. So we can update programs, we can make changes if something's canceled, we can make an announcement um on there. We can advertise our own programs and services on this screen. Um but it also creates an opportunity for external advertisers to come in um and be able to do that. But we have the control to be able to decide who goes in there. and so it we can ensure that it reflects the image that um Victoria is putting out. Some department spotlights. Um so this year in as I've already mentioned before, we've got all these new developments that are coming. Um a big push of that um is park engagement. So earlier at this year, uh we put together um a uh park engagement policy um that was approved this year that we are operating out of which um increases our um accountability in terms of how we're communicating with the public when major changes are coming our way. Um and so it helps us to align with, you know, what the community wants so that they know that we're listening, that we're hearing them, and we're making decisions based on what they need. Um and it's driven through that mindset. And so with that um park engagement this year with these new two major developments that are coming um we have increased our opportunities to um gather feedback. So we've had um conversations with our parks and recreation committee. Um we have a survey that is going out which um to date um has over 500 um survey responses which is a really large number and that survey does not close until uh midepptember. Um and then we've also had um so far two park engagement events. one was focused on trails and the other one was uh located at the future Huntersburg um park site. Um at the one at the future park site, we had over 80 people attend um and it was incredible to hear their feedback, to talk to them, to listen to both kids and adults in terms of what it is that they're looking for. Uh we've also been a part of um different um engagement opportunities like farmers market and truck rodeo uh where we're able to gather that feedback. So, we've had a lot of success with that and we do have another opportunity coming on August 19th um to solicit more feedback um in regards to these developments. Um we've also um had a significant increase in our facility rentals throughout um the city and so our park shelter rentals have gone up, our uh field rentals have gone up, our utilization of the Victoria Recreation Center has gone up in terms of renting out um our multi-purpose room and gymnasium. Um this year we did launch um two new opportunities. One being splitting the multi-purpose room. There's a partition wall um that is able to be split so that we can rent both sides. And we have seen an increase in people who didn't want either a full space um and then they only rented a portion of it or people who have wanted that larger space and opt for renting both sides. Uh we've also increased um Wasserman rentals to be um both sides of that facility so that people can host larger events um with a little bit more privacy there. Uh, another spotlight that we've got is uh new park and facility signage. Uh, so throughout Victoria um a very collaborative effort um was put into um creating these new um park signs. So it gives this really strong sense of community. Um you know you're still in Victoria once you cross one of these signs because it's beautifully branded. It tells you exactly where you are and it gives that um that vision and feel um of Victoria. Uh we've also got new signage in the Victoria Recreation Center which has um helped significantly with people in internally. Um and so um those both have uh just brought a lot of that um connection to Victoria um throughout the city. And then we've also had a lot of projects that um have popped up um throughout the year. Um and a lot of these are focused on just inching closer and closer to properly maintaining our spaces, providing new opportunities, and doing things that um lets our community know that we're listening to them. And so some of these projects include um a phase two to our Deerrun um one park um which incorporated additional elements because the community let us know um that they had kids of wider ages that wanted to use the space. So we utilize the footprint there to expand that. Um we uh remodeled the landscaping out at the Victoria Recreation Center. We've um um addressed a safety issue at our pickle ball courts um putting on uh fence guard toppers there. Um we've put in again all these signs. We've um completed uh projects at the uh Victoria Recreation Center to update some of those spaces. Um and so our our department has been quite busy and trying to get a lot of these things done. Um but it has been um great as we are continuing to grow and when with the community continuing to grow um there's a lot of opportunity for us to be able to expand what it is that we do. >> Great. Thank you. Questions for Jenna. signage. Excellent. >> Yeah, it's beautiful. >> Thanks to the communications team who helped uh design some of that element. >> Is there a thought to I know it's a little difficult because of not knowing exactly how our partnership with the uh school district is going to go, but to switching the sign for the recre center to match what we've done, right? like we have the actual >> so as of right now um the sign itself does have um hump like pays like respect to both um >> so I don't think that it's in the purview right now to switch it um but I'm sure we would be open to it in the future >> other questions >> I don't know if this is appropriate at this point in time but we had a long discussion about the multi-purpose room and some rebranding and redoing of some of those things have we continued with that path path or >> Yep. So, we are um per uh conversations at our last workshop, we're exploring the option of um modifying that space um a little bit differently. So, we're shifting a little bit focus to see um how we can best address that space um first before we make any further changes to that space. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any last questions coming? >> I don't think I have any questions. just want to like um first of all we should take this as an opportunity to say what a great job you've you've done and you continue to do. While we can appreciate the benefits of water mane oversizing that Cara brings to us the the reality is that the act that's going to follow you here shortly and you you are in large measure the face of Victoria to our residents. So I don't I think for us council it was when we had the workshop as council member Patterson says about the multi-purpose room uh it just impresses upon us that our focus really should be to stick to knitting here and do the things that this is where we need to really focus and do really well and stay and not follow the latest shiny lure of trying to, you know, maybe bring in somebody that wants wants to do some grand facility that um just puts too much burden on. So I I I want to say thanks for your hard work um and let you know that I think from that workshop that we had was very revealing. We probably need a little bit more frequency so we can stay focused on those things because that's really our between that and u Mr. Lee that's our that's our work product that we need to deliver to our residents and stay focused on that. >> Yeah, good point. very visible part of our work here in the city. Okay, thank you so much. Up next, Brady Lee from our public works department. Mr. Lee, welcome. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. I'll start by apologizing for my phone going off twice. Um, it was on silent, I promise, but my fire department app overrides the silent on my phone. But that was the third call of the day, so Everything comes in threes, so hopefully we're done for the day. But I'm here to talk about some public works stuff. Um, department overview. Um, here's the team minus two people that are too shy for pictures. Um, we have five full-time employees in utilities, which is going to be water, sewer, and storm water. So, I have one person that focuses more on the water side of things. One focuses more on lift stations and sewer maintenance. one in the water treatment plant. Being the water treatment plant operator, then I have two people that are pretty focused in storm water and storm water ponds. We had to kind of focus two people there because there's been oversight in the past of we're adding a lot of ponds and we need to m maintenance them. We have over 100 ponds now, close to 100 outfall structures, a lot of sump basins in the city that need maintenance. So, that's been crucial to us having those two dedicated staff. I have one full-time employee in streets right now. Um, we are hopefully adding another one in streets in the into the budget for next year. Um, I have people from utilities that are assisting that person right now um, heavily. They all came from the streets department. So, they said they could step up this year and help out as much as possible. U, we were able to add one additional full-time employee to the parks department, which has been super crucial. So, we now have five full-time dedicated people to the parks department, which has been super helpful this year. And we were able to acquire three seasonals this year as well. Um, if all goes well, hopefully all three of them come back next year. I know one of them is planning on it already. But, um, statistics wise, we did add quite a few miles of streets last year. We're up to 57.62 miles of streets that we cover around 67 miles of sewer and water main. Uh, like Jenna said, we have 53 mi of trails and sidewalks and 25 active and passive parks throughout the city that we maintain. Budget pressures. Everybody's been touching on this so far, but growth is definitely at the top of it. um talking with Cara and possibly having a complete additional downtown within the next 5 years of pretty much the same capacity. Um when it comes to snow plowing and maintenance and mowing, all that stuff is very at the forefront of how are we going to do it and how are we going to get there? How are we going to get the equipment to be able to do it um efficiently and effectively? um increased maintenance for I mean all of these parks we're getting additional parks that are going to be increased in m maintenance uh with all these street projects we're going to be getting center lanes that we'll be maintaining roundabouts that we'll be maintaining um additional infrastructure like that so all this is going to take additional equipment materials and staff to be able to maintain in the future um aging and new infrastructure our water plant was built in 2006 so we are going to be looking at putting a new roof on that here sooner rather than later. Um the original structure of the fire department that hopefully will be taking over next year once we get the new one in that was built in 1982 I believe. So that is also aging. So there's going to be some updates that are going to be needed there. New water storage facility and water treatment plant going down in kind of the west southwestern growth area. Um that's all going to be additional costs that we're going to be maintaining year-over-year. And then aging park equipment like Jenna touched on. We do have a lot of older parks and a lot of that equipment could be updated. I know one of the seats broke at a park at Meline Creek the other week and we're like 3 weeks out on that seat and that seat alone cost $2,500. So, it is there is definitely a cost there. Um kind of like pavement management. All the parks went in with the pavement when the development came in. So, all those things are kind of aging at the same time here. Um, trails, trees, and outlots has been a big one for public works lately. Trees is kind of a swear word in my world. Just we all like trees and they all look really good. But with our aging, the older parts of town, the watermarks and stuff like that, those trees are getting massive and they are starting to do damage to sidewalks. They're starting to damage to do damage to front yards, um, which is something that we need to address. Some of them are so big we're public works doesn't have the capability of taking them down. So it's comes a safety thing where we're going to be hiring out more tree removal along with outlots. We do have a lot of outlots and we're getting more outlots and we need to decide what our maintenance of those outlots is going to be moving forward. Um right now we're kind of going on a safety basis. If it's going to possibly fall and hit a home and stuff like that, we're hiring it out because a lot of it is in places where we can't get equipment to. Um hopefully on our bus tour we can show you some examples of these areas. You can drive down trails and you can see 30 dead trees in an outlot. And I know it doesn't look good and I know the city um wants those areas to be used and to look really well, but there's going to be a cost that's going to go along with that for sure. Um as well as the trails. We do have a lot of aging trails in this city. I know you guys have seen a lot of pictures of those trails with weeds popping up or just completely degraded black top. A lot of those are going to be needing a mill and overlay. And then hopefully once we get a mill and overlay down, we can kind of get a management plan moving forward and possibly be crack sealing and chip sealing or fog sealing these trails to extend the life of these trails longer than what we have been doing. Cost savings and efficiencies. We added um precise this last year, which is a software that goes into our new plow trucks. Um all of our plow trucks have this software in it. It's a GPS software. So now when that truck leaves the shop, that module, I guess, if you will, gets turned on and it tracks how fast the truck, excuse me, how fast the truck is going, if the plows are up, if the plows are down, how often um they're hitting the salt button, how much salt they are laying, how many lane miles of salt they're laying, the poundage of salt, which we've had in the past, but all that data gets stored. So now we can look at truck versus truck. How much salt is being laid? How long does it take this person to do their route? Can we adjust the routes to be more efficient? Is one truck doing a lot more than the other one? But then we can also keep all this data and input it into our MS4 permit for storm water, which is super nice. You can also use this to we'll be adding a fifth truck this year and we'll be able to plug in the city of Victoria streets and this could give us a map of you want to divide it into five ways. Here's the most efficient way you can do it if you want to take nothing but rights the entire plow route. So, we're we're playing around with that, but that's going to be super helpful. Uh especially when it comes to complaints. Um, I know we get um snow complaints often and people say we there. Well, now we actually have a data point for when, what time, if the plow was drown, how much salt they were laying um for every snow event that we have. Um, mowing, we increased our level of service greatly this year. um with the help of Ryan and one of our new hires, there's probably 40 plus years of mowing experience between the two and they the one actually owned a mowing company for 30 years. So, bringing him in and changing the model of driving our mower from park to park to park to park um on the trails or on the sidewalks or on the street. Now, we're actually we added a few mowers. We added a trailer. That trailer has weed whips. It has blowers on it. It has the mowers and they're actually using that to go from park to park to park now. So, they're getting a lot more efficient. Uh the parks are getting weed whipped, mowed, blowed, and cleaned every if there's a shelter there, it gets cleaned all in one stop. So, that's getting done weekly instead of in the past it was go weed whip it if you have time to weed whip it at the end of the week and stuff like that. So, we're getting a lot more efficient with our mowing. Um fertilization costs. We'd been using the same vendor for fertilization in the parks since I think the early 2000s, if not even earlier than that. Um, we went out for competitive bid this year and we decided to go a different route and we went with a much larger nationwide company, if you will. And we've been super impressed with the results that we have received. And when that also saved us about $15,000 from this year to last year just by switching vendors and we've been super happy with the results. In the future, one of our new hires does have his applicator's license. So we are looking at bringing the fertilization inhouse because we can um increase just the product that we're putting out so we can get better results. And there'll be a higher upfront cost for the equipment. But after that, it's just going to be the cost of the fertilizer and stuff like that moving forward. So hopefully we can increase that in the future as well. And then our uniforms. Um we ended up buying pants. The guys are very particular about what pants they wear. Um we went through a lot of different vendors and they're very stuck on one type of pant and they love their pant and that's all they want to wear. Um they did have 11 pairs of pants that they could turn in. So they'd have five to wear the week and then they'd turn in those five, they'd have another five to wear the next week and then the pair that they're wearing. Um those pants had been lasting forever and have been super durable and they like them. So we ended up just purchasing the pants and now we can purchase pants moving forward for new people and that saved us about $3,000 in 2025. So that was super good and the guys are happy that they have their pants. Um department stop spotlights. I touched on this a little bit, but the additional >> question. Can we keep the washing machines at the old firehouse so they can wash their pants? >> That's the plan. Yep. >> Yeah. As we take over that space, there's a washerd dryer there, so that'll be it'll be perfect. Um, like I said, we'll be adding a plow truck. So, we'll have a fifth big plow truck going out this year, which should increase the efficiency a lot when it comes to plowing, especially the main roads. Um, we're really looking forward to that. Fingers crossed it shows up in September like it's supposed to. Another department spotlight is just the experience that we've been able to add in the last year. Um we have been able to add one of the people has probably 15 years of public works experience. Another owned a um lawn care snowplowing business for 30 years and he's in the parks and he's doing amazing and amazing things in parks. Uh we have two other people that also have experience that have been super helpful in bringing new ideas and a lot less training on our end of things. They can kind of hit the ground running once they start and it's been super helpful. Um one of them has a background um he did an inter internship with the Minnesota Twins. So, when it comes down to turf maintenance and things like that, um really being able to bring us into the next step of maintenance and improve some of these sites that don't have irrigation, um like Lions Park and leveling out the fields and doing a lot of that stuff, that's going to be super helpful. The last department spotlight is I just kind of want to brag a little bit about um the public works team. About two years ago, we lost Jeff and that was a huge hit to the team. Um, it crushed a lot of us. He was he was the life of that department that was 17 years out the that we lost on that day and he was he was the culture down at the shop and we all loved working for him. Um, since then we've we've done awesome. We've really come together. Um, it brought us a lot closer together. And one of our new guys, we were out at a golf outing and Ryan, the superintendent, went up to him was like, "How do you like being part of the team?" And he looked at Ryan's like, "We're not a team, man. We're a family." So, that meant a lot. Um, and just for example, we had that tornado come through the Highway 7 corridor whatever a month ago is before that storm came. We have a public works group text and there was probably was probably like 20 minutes before the storm came. My phone started lighting up like, "Hey, if you guys need help, I'm available. If I need help, I'm available." Everybody chimed in. We're available. That storm hit and within 30 minutes, 10 of the 12 Puppet Works guys were here. So, they love each other. They love the community. They're a great team. So, super proud to have them. Any questions? >> Awesome. Thank you so much for that story. I love that. All right. Questions, comments. All is well. Carry on. >> Thank you. >> All right. Up next. So, if you're joining us for the city council meeting, we're in our workshop right now. It's our budget workshop for 2026. We're going to conclude our workshop here shortly and then we will take a real fast break and then be back with our council meeting. So stay tuned. All right, Kendra, welcome. Kendra G from our communications department. Good evening, mayor and members of the council. Thank you so much for having us here today to chat about our work and please bear with me. I went into communications to write speeches, not give them. Um but um so our communications department focuses on three key items. um which would be communications, engagement, and community events. Um so we really act as an internal service for all the amazing departments you've already heard from tonight. Um and then we focus on increasing accessibility, approachability, and transparency of City of Victoria services, decisions, and community impact. And we do have three people on our team, myself, and then our communications specialist, Paige Whan, and our events coordinator, Nicholas Martins. But we do consider everyone at the city of Victoria actually as part of our team. Um because it's so important to cultivate a communications mindset, but also our whole team is just really really good at communications outside of that core team as well. So budget pressures as the city continues to grow, there are variety of ways that communications is growing as well. Um and with that comes new initiatives. So, new issues arise every day and we need to react with solutions, but we also plan for those engagement efforts each year um to focus on the top issues we're seeing. For example, last year we focused on water protection issues at many of our events and on our communications and we're continuing that work this year with transportation projects coming online through this year. We've been focusing on Discover Victoria events um as a new initiative to drive people into downtown Victoria to support our local business community. And then we do have two new initiatives that will impact the 2026 budget. One is the 2026 community survey which is a third-party service expense. We are currently on a 4-year cycle with surveys conducted in 2014, 2018, and 2022. So through these surveys, the city is able to get input from residents that help ensure that the city understands the community's values in a clear identifiable way. Another initiative is compliance with the web content accessibility guidelines rule in Minnesota that governments adhere to WCAG 2.1 level doubleA standards which means that government websites, web applications and other digital content must meet certain criteria related to making them usable by people that may have a disability. So, state and local governments with populations of more than 50,000 people must ensure digital content meet those accessibility standards by April of 2026, but for smaller governments like us, we must meet them by April of 2027. So, we already focus on accessibility as a key priority and um Eric mentioned this a little bit as well, but it's across departments that we're really focusing on it. We've also been taking trainings over the last year to make sure that we're meeting these mandated standards. Um, but in 2026, there is an item in the budget to go through an audit with a professional accessibility company. So, we have time to remediate any issues before that 2027 deadline. Um, and then like many of our other departments, we're seeing an increase in costs for everything from supplies to services. And then there are just never enough hours in the day. um cost savings and efficiencies. I don't think I can speak enough about how amazing our community partners are in Victoria. Our business community and local community partners are wonderful and we've seen an increase in partner participation in all our events. Um whether it was the well-established Light of Victoria event in 2024 or the brand new Victorian Bloom event and we even saw an increase in sponsors for our summer programs as well. Um, and we really couldn't have the events that we do in Victoria without their amazing support. And that's from a monetary perspective, but just from like a people perspective, too. You know, we can't staff large events, but when we're able to have those partners come in and host different activities and parts of the events, too, that really helps. Um, so this includes all the great work from the Victoria Business Association, the Victoria Lions Club, local churches, the Victoria Library, and so many more. But again, our local business community is really amazing and just really helps out with those events as well. And then an unintended and unfortunate cost savings this year has been the cancellation of several concerts due to rain. And so we plan to use those funds for other events planned this fall, though, including a makeup concert with one of the bands on the September 10th makeup classic car night. And then one of our biggest cost efficiencies is that we do almost all of our design inhouse. So we can have professional quality work without the hefty price tag and assure ensure that it aligns with um all of Victoria's branding. We also utilize internal resources whenever possible for printing. So we don't have a large printing budget. Our favorite internal resources is actually the plotter printer um with our building department. They keep on threatening to move into one of our cubes. Um, but it can do large scale prints like you see um in the the A-frame in the photo. And so those are used at all of our events and we love the plotter. Never get rid of it. Um um department spotlights. Our favorite focus is on community engagement and working with all the other departments to create innovative and fun ways to communicate and share our message. We um elevated the Victoria Academy program this year with new activities that share what we do at the city, including a water sampling activity, a virtual fire extinguisher training, and even new ways to share information about the election process in Victoria. And so, the big highlight is the new engagement trailer, Little Vic or Mobile City Hall. Um you've probably seen her out at different events, um just out in the community this summer. She finally arrived and we love her. Um, and then for events, Light of Victoria is now a beloved tradition and our community came out to enjoy all the festivities at the 20 2024 event, even though it was only 12° out. Um, it was very cold. Our newest event was Victorian Bloom, and it was a great way to show off our local businesses while celebrating spring in Victoria. And truck rodeo was even bigger this year with a lot of new community partners showcasing vehicles and hosting activities. All event all of the events though that we put on as a city are truly a team effort across the city with departments adding their expertise and time. And then awards the city of Victoria has won two awards this year for two city initiatives in the 2025 Northern Lights Awards with the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators. One for our new website and then one for our water drop campaign focusing on protecting and conserving water in Victoria. And we actually don't know whether they're first, second, or third place awards in their respective categories until this Wednesday at the ceremony. Um, so with that cliffhanger, I'm available for questions. >> All right. Terrific. I love our new Mini Vic Mini. She's so cute and I love that she's a girl. >> She's a boat. and she has really just it it's it's just such a great visual for finding out information about what's going on and I love it so much I can't even tell you >> and a huge shout out to our public works department helping us with that. We also utilize their command vehicle, too. So, trailer room. >> Yeah. I mean, that's that's no small task to get that drug from place to place. But, so, thank you for that. I love her. All right. And again, um I do want to let everybody know that Kendra was a big part of the new park design, the park signs design, too, just again to carry out that great branding all throughout the city. So, um this is again a fairly new department for us. within the last five years or less and you guys have done amazing great work and the awards show it. So with that council, any questions, comments for Kendra and the communications department. >> No, it's just well said there. >> Great. All right, keep up the good work. And we're going to hear from our finance director, Trisha Pollock. And I think Trisha, you're bringing it home for us tonight, aren't you? Sure am. >> All right, let's go. Thank you. Good evening from the finance department. So our finance department is responsible for general accounting, payroll, risk management, fixed assets, operational and capital budgeting, audit prep, long-term financial planning, and managing the debt and investment portfolio. Our human resources is responsible for the employee benefits administration, employee recruitment, engagement and retention. And our utility billing is responsible for monthly utility billing cycles, customer service, water conservation efforts, and utility work orders. All are responsible for carrying out the directive and the policies of the city council. Our budget pressures include the paid family medical leave, which is mandated by the state of Minnesota. It's a new program that's launching in January of 26. It provides workers with paid time off when a serious health condition prevents them from working, when they need time off to care for a family member or a new child, for certain military related events, or for certain personal safety issues. This program covers full-time, part-time, temporary, paid on call firefighters and also city council. The city currently offers a short-term, long-term disability benefit to its full-time employees and is looking at costs to extend that benefit to that level mandated by the state program to provide us with an alternative to it. Um, we have not gotten those costs back yet, but we are working on quotes. But the current cost of the state program would be a payment to the state of 0.88% of the wages. That would be split 50/50 between the city and the employee. So the sh city share would be approximately 14,000 annually, but the employees portion would be in addition to their current benefit costs. So added to um an addition for an employee. Um another budget pressure is the increased cost of benefits. Last fall when we received our annual medical insurance quotes, we were given a 21% increase to stay on the plan that we had with Health Partners. So we ended up switching to Medicare, which then we were able to reduce that overall increase to 9%. Um but we are currently projecting to have at least an additional 9% for 26. However, we don't know what that number will be until October um when those benefit costs come out, but they do continue to be a major budget pressure. Um recruiting and retaining top talent. Um earlier this year, the city contracted with a consultant David Drone and Associates, which we discussed at our previous budget workshop. um and reviewed our market cities and salary ranges. So, as the city grows, staffing needs um as you heard from other department heads, um continue to grow and it's important to stay competitive with our market cities and to also be able to retain the employees that we have and to recruit for new positions. Um, we feel at Victoria it's really important to value our employees and to nurture our positive work culture as you heard from Brady as examples. And um, we want employees to advance within the city when the opportunity arises as well as support them in advancement through continuing education and training. All of which does come with a budget impact. Cost savings and efficiencies. Um this year our um as Eric mentioned, we were able to go to the cloud um with our ERP BSNA system. So we were able to um transition from a third-party um budgeting software and brought that to our BSNA. So that saved us about $11,000. Um the city continues its efforts to migrate to AC payments for our vendors. Um Abby, our finance manager, has been working really hard on getting users signed up. Um so we were able to increase the number of payments by 41% over 2024 so far. Um this saves staff time by not running as many checks, eliminates the positive pay process at the bank, and postage. Um as we all know, continues to rise. uh staff continues to be vigilant against fraud attempts um which have been high in recent months. Our water conservation efforts um our finance specialists continue to reach out to residents each month and notify them of possible leaks in their home which as council member Patterson had asked previously about the water meter. When we do our water meter reading, we are we do get a report back that gives us a list of people that have continuous usage on their meter. So, we send out letters. This past month, we sent out 107 continuous usage letters. And that's compared to 70 that we sent out the previous month. And when I came walked in the office today, Laura said her phone was ringing nonstop today with people asking for our public works to go out to rerun reports to make sure that their leak got fixed. So that's all really important to us. Um because we know that we are finding and solving these leaks. It not only saves us our water, which is so important to our Cara and her team, but also saves residents money. Um, we also continue to offer rebates for irrigation controllers and appliances. Um, and we do get a matching grant um through the Met Council for that. So, um, we've been, um, getting some good responses with people putting in those irrigation controllers. Um, one other saving I wanted to include um, this past year um, we switched our credit card processor and Eric worked um, was the lead on this project who um, found us a provider Cardpoint which cut our costs by more than half on those credit card fees um, which saves us approximately $20,000 a year. So, thank you Eric. That was a huge savings for us and um we couldn't have done that without your help. Department spotlights. Um we have a new financial report this year called the popular annual financial report or we or short um it's called the paffer. This report is a way for the city to communicate its annual financial information to a broad audience designed to be easily understood to the general public. This condensed version of 12 pages is reducing our comprehensive annual financial report which is 169 pages. So um thank you to Abby Kber our finance manager. She created the report for our residents and our other stakeholders. And you can all find that on our website. Um Kendra has that linked. Another new level of service to our residents is our utility quarterly statement. So, our finance specialists um and utility team has developed a quarterly statement for past due accounts and we started sending those out quarterly and we had a really positive reaction um with many residents just not aware that they were past due or they found that they had a credit card that had expired so it didn't automatically pay or they just had their autopay set up incorrectly. So that saves them um you know getting late fees and things like that um moving forward. So thank you again to Abby for creating that statement and to Laura and Dwight who send them out each quarter. And finally, um, the awards, the city received the GFOA distinguished budget award this year for the fifth year in a row. And we also received the GFOA certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting for the 16th year in a row. Thank you to staff, department heads, and council for helping us to achieve these high honors. I'm open for any questions. Congratulations, and thank you for your good hard work and oversight in that department. We appreciate that so much. It's it is a great point of pride for the city of Victoria. >> First questions, comments from council. Okay, seeing none, I think we're wrapping unless I forgot somebody. Looks like we're wrapping it up. All right, there are no more items to come before the uh work on the workshop agenda this evening. So I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> We have a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. We stand adjourned and we will