[Music] welcome to agenda Edina a program summarizing the actions taken at City Hall that affect you most I'm your host dorothia Marty mayor Jim huband and in cumbent Council Members Carolyn Jackson and James Pierce have been reelected to the dinast city council in this year's general election hin was challenged by former council member Ron Anderson according to un official election results huband won with nearly 55% of the vote receiving 16,8 187 votes to Anderson's 13,860 it's been my great pleasure to be the mayor of Adina now I'm in year 20 and has gone by so fast I just can't believe it uh but there were things that I still wanted to see completed we've got all these things all these projects going on in the Parks uh we've got about $72 Million worth of spending Authority from our tax spers to improve those Park systems uh we're in conversations with the county about a potential new art center at the new library the county is going to build at 70th in York uh we've got a new fire station coming online and there's just so many interesting things going on right now planning commissioner Ryan day also ran for a seat challenging incumbents Jackson and Pierce Jackson was the top vote getter with 16,552 votes while Pierce kept his seat on the city council with 13,784 votes today's 12594 voter turnout was 86% in Idina approximately 59% of that turn out voted early at City Hall or by mail and 41% voted in person on Election Day the reason why um folks are have decided to vote early it's really a speculation on my part um some of the things that I would think of is that every time I turned on the news the people were talking about voting early so it was a top of mind for everyone um it probably is a convenience thing rather than waiting for election day where um something may come up where that that one day they just can't make it to the polls um they decided to come out and vote at a convenient date um that works um for them um I believe the political parties were also pushing um early voting so those are probably some of the things that resulted in such a high turnout for early voting hubin Jackson and Pierce will take the oath of office for their four-year terms at the first city council meeting of the New Year the city council has given the go-ahead for the second phase of the Redevelopment of 7200 7250 France Avenue Orion Investments initially received approval for a planned unit development on the site but recently requested a modification to reduce the first floor ceiling height from 16 to 14 ft in the second phase of the project this phase will bring a six-story 150 unit apartment building with underground parking to the area what makes this a project that ultimately received approvals from the council is that we're aligned with their PUD but we did make some further tweaks to further better the project we pulled out the restaurant on the first floor which reduces the traffic impact We Shrunk the first floor height by 2 feet to be more efficient and more sustainable yet we maintained everything we talked about as far as the bike path The Pedestrian paths all of the parking is contained within the building and we've got an acre and a quarter buffer with the neighborhood so we preserved all of the good and tweaked it to make it a little better the site is currently vacant Orion Investments plans to begin construction yet this fall upon celebrating her 40th anniversary working with the city of Edina environmental health specialist and recycling coordinator solve Wilmont recently said that change is the constant in life since starting her career in the mid 1980s Wilmont has certainly seen her share of change Edina TV met with her recently to take a look back at the impact she's had in our community 40 years ago solve Wilmont was looking for a job I walked into the city what she found was a career it happened to be registration season and the staff there were swamped they said well if you can start today we'll put you on right now and so she began working for the Parks and Recreation Department at that point computers weren't widespread in the city yet we were using uh cards for limits on registration for swimming lessons and once the cards filled up with names that class was full an even better fit in the city soon presented itself and Wilmot knew exactly what to say and I have a degree in biology and the health department was expanding by one person so I was able to use those words in the interview to say well Public Health isn't meant to harm people it's really meant to improve their well-being for the decades that followed Wilmont has been at the Forefront of many changes in public health I was part of the very early programs for the recycling um system from its expansion to a little bucket down at the curb collected weekly to the cart now that we use every other week and then the most recent expansion was Organics and the first memo I wrote was in 2012 and it took us till 2020 to actually initiate the program as well as overseeing major updates in swimming pool safety following a tragic event Abigail Taylor U the child that had a terrible accident at a pool because of a drain cover her family was involved here in he dying they lived here in udina so I was part of the recreation water advisory committee when that new regulation came inact I was a president of that Association that's one of the areas that I've really embraced in the public health system that we can make some significant changes that can benefit the water quality and the safety for reducing waterborne illnesses uh through those changes after being part of so much over four decades while making Idina a safer place to live and visit it what has Wilmot learned the big thing about change is that it should happen um it's hard for us to embrace change sometimes because it's comfortable to be where we're at uh but man if things don't change I mean every year we age that's a change we just have to embrace right so that's where we need to look at change as something to embrace and see what we can do to make that change a good thing from Edina Fire Station 1 I'm Scott Denfeld Edina TV one more area of change in Wilmont 40 years with the city included meeting her future husband while he was an electrician in the public works department the couple has two sons Thanksgiving is Thursday November 28th city offices will be closed that day and Friday November 29th during this Native American Heritage Month Thanksgiving all also offers a chance to reflect on our shared history including the experiences of Native American tribes generationally impacted by early settlers may we honor their resilience and Rich cultural heritage As We Gather in gratitude this season in the spirit of gratitude we at Edina TV are thankful for your viewership and interest in news about your local government thank you for watching this episode of agenda Edina I'm your host dorothia Marty [Music]