DID YOU EVER THINK something like this would be constructed in the little Village of Victoria?  Well, it's a done deal, and the proof is in the pudding ... or the ice.  It's warm and well lighted, splendid and spacious.  It's open for some practice hockey at the moment, but not yet for residents and novices.  The elevator isn't operational for full access, and there are too many hardhat workers around during the day who are completing the rest of the facility.  Maybe in a week or two.  Maybe in time for Christmas.  The new toy under the tree (the zamboni) belongs to the people of Victoria.

CHECKING GUIDELINES
FOR OUTDOOR PATIO MUSIC AT FLOYD'S
Almost a dozen neighboring residents attended the November 14th council meeting to either support or speak in favor of allowing Rick and Lois Plocher, owner of Floyd's Bar, to continue outdoor music entertainment on their patio next summer.

Among other things, Floyd's neigh-bors said the summer music was no differ-ent than other background noises, they enjoy the music, Plochers did a good job of responding to complaints last summer, it should be allowed to continue, it's not a problem.
Others, small in number, said they could not sleep until the weekend music stopped; they found the music objection-able.
City councilmembers voted 4-1 to direct the city attorney to reference state statute guidelines for outdoor music, in-cluding allowable hours, acceptable decibels, and how and where decibels are measured -- from the point of origin or the point to which the music is carried.
Jerry Bohn voted against the motion.  As in the past, he believes it is inappropri-ate to have live outdoor music near a resi-dential area, especially every weekend of the summer.

PARKING PROBLEMS
AT THE POLLING PLACE
According to observations of Coun-cilmember Gordon Simanton, the voting facilities at City Hall on Rose Street are inadequate.  According to Administrator Steve Sarvi, the city should be able to use the new field house facility as a polling location during the new election.  This new location would have adequate park-ing facilities to accommodate the increas-ing number of Victoria residents.

INTEREST IN BUILDING
ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY FOR SENIORS IN VICTORIA
Administrator Steve Sarvi reported on November 14th that he had met with a developer, the Emerald Crest Company, who is interested in purchasing a 3-acre parcel at the corner of County Road #18 and Bavaria Road in Victoria to construct an assisted living facility for seniors.  Providing affordable housing for seniors has been a goal of the city for a long time.

CITY OF VICTORIA
BUYS A ZAMBONI
Council voted 5-0 on November 14th to purchase a Zamboni Resurfacer for the new field house at a cost of $58,547 plus tax.  Rink Manager Bob Carruth preferred the Zamboni over the Olympia Resurfacer because he is already trained to perform maintenance on the Zamboni equipment and it is a safer hydrostatic machine that comes to a complete stop when the oper-tor takes his foot off the accelerator.

The Zamboni bid came in around $2,000 more than the Olympia bid, but the city attorney advised that the lower bid did not have to be accepted as long as there were findings that the Zamboni was of higher quality, safer, and more easily maintained by the facility management.

PURCHASING A PHONE SYSTEM
FOR THE VICTORIA FIELD HOUSE
With a unanimous vote on November 14th, Council authorized the purchase of a phone system for the new Victoria Field House at Diethelm Park from USA Tele-com.  The system can support up to 200 telephones, offers unified messaging,  and  includes a voice mail system that is com-patible with the existing phone system at City Hall, including internal paging.  Quote for the equipment was $9,809.

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