SUMMER ICE FOR SALE
VICTORIA FEES VERY COMPETITIVE
Jude Boulianne, Building Manager for the Victoria Field House, reviewed current activity with Victoria council-members at a March 24^th workshop.
He said that off-season ice is now being sold and total off-season receipts thus far are around $85,000.  Off season for the in-door ice arena is from March 15^th to September 15^th.
Said Jude, "People now know the arena is there."  He spoke of its use by neighboring communities.  "Eden Prairie has floor issues with one of their rinks.  Mound is getting a new rink in November.  We may lose a little there but I don't think that much."
He said he is running a summer camp for 120 skaters this summer at the Victoria Field House.  He said the break-even point to pay for the ice time is 40 kids; breakeven point including related costs is around 80 to 85 kids.
"We have around 900 hours of ice sold - about 300 of those are basically for Victoria Parks and Rec.  It looks really good for the summer.  Word of mouth is definitely working.  Overall we are very competitive."  He said that if a group pur-chases up to 10 hours of ice time, they pay $150 per hour plus tax.  Other options are available.
He added, "Knowing what the rink is like and how people get treated when they come in is also important.'

VICTORIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
TO BE OPERATIONAL IN 5 MONTHS
Nancy Whitman, principal of the Vic-toria Elementary School that is to open its doors to students for the first time in the fall of 2005, spoke to councilmembers at their March 24^th meeting.
Said she, "It's going full guns and we're excited about the building progress.  The construction is on time and on bud-get.  There is room for 625 students.  It will open with 480.  We're planning for pre-kindergarten through grade 5."
"Nine core values came out of our plannimg to help achieve academic excel-lence and citizenship," she said.  "It will be a collaborative school.  It will allow time for teachers to collaborate with one another.  There will be flexible group-ing."
In response to questions from City Councilmember Kim Roden, Prinicpal Whitman said that school boundaries were drawn according to geographic areas, growth pockets, and travel time for child-ren.  She said that, yes, there were some complaints about some students being required to change elementary schools.  "Students and families have a difficult time leaving one building for another," she said.
Greg Shank, also with District #112, said that the Victoria Elementary School will incorporate learning of the English language by non-English speaking stu-dents and child care programs.

APPROVING TWO NEW TANKERS
FOR THE VICTORIA FIRE DEPARTMENT
Councilmembers approved the speci-fications and ordered advertisement for bids for two chassis and a round and square tanker for the Victoria Fire Department.  Total anticipated cost is in the neighborhood of $240,000.  It was ex-plained that the square box holds more firefighting gear than the round one, which is why they are different.
Said Victoria Fire Chief Tim Walsh, "They are basically water haulers.  We've been working on these specifications for about three years now.  We're here to-night to answer questions."  He said the Fire Department will build separate bodies on top of each chassis.
Mayor Jerry Bohn suggested these tankers were more for rural than urban areas and questioned the need for two.  Replied Chief Walsh, "If you look in the bigger cities, they at least got a tanker for backup.  This also helps with our ISO insurance ranting.  We're sticking with two because we currently have two."  Tim said one of Victoria's existing tankers is a 1970 model; the other is a 1982 model.
Councilmember Kim Roden asked why two are being purchased/replaced in one year.  She said that, on a personal note, she tries to structure home needs so two cars are not purchased in one year.
Said Chief Walsh, "Maintenance costs were getting high on both trucks.  We've built up the fund to be able to pur-chase two of them."
Councilmember Mary Thun asked for a recommendation from city administra-tion.
Replied City Administrator Steve Sarvi, "I personally struggled with this dual purchase and shared the council's concerns, but one of the tankers - the bluebird -- should have been retired years ago.  If you don't have two working trucks, you won't have firefighters at the scene.  I support their recommendation."
It is anticipated that staff will make a recommendation to award bids at the April 14^th, 2005, city council meeting.

SMALL TOWN BASEBALL IN VIDTORIA
LOOKING FOR LIGHTS AT DIETHELM PARK
Councilmember Terry Bishop spoke on March 24^th about adding lights to a city ball field at Diethelm Park.
"There is opportunity for better light-ing without much more cost," he said.  "I'm a baseball fan.  Small town baseball is a wonderful thing.  Everyone who lives near the park knows it's coming.  I'd certainly be interested in what the com-munity wants to do.  I'd like the looks and sounds and smells of a ballpark." 
He said the park is in its "nascent stages," and that he doesn't want to by-pass the Parks and Recreation Committee nor any part of the whole process in accomplishing this goal.
Councilmember Richard Tieden pointed out there is a current concern about safety and location of playground equipment at Diethelm Park.  The safety issue is related to the kids playground being sited next to the ball field.
"We've given staff direction to get the playground equipment installed by May 1^st and this proposal could jeopardize that date," stated Mayor Jerry Bohn.
Administrator Steve Sarvi pointed out that certain people believed that Diethelm Park was going to be the ball park in town and supersede Lions Park.  Lions Park acquired ball field lights about ten years ago.
More information will be forthcom-ing at the April 14^th city council meeting.  Baseball options and safety of the play-ground area will be explored.

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