HELPING TO KEEP VICTORIA SAFE
THROUGH AGREEMENT WITH MMUA
Upon recommendation of Public Works Superintendent Bruce Osborn, the City of Victoria approved the extension of an agreement with the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association for 9 months at a cost of $7,635.
Stated Bruce, "Public Works is work-ing with health and safety issues every day."  He said the alternative and cheaper option with the League of MN Cities is not comparable.  "The LMC doesn't offer written programs.  They're not custom made for the City of Victoria."
"It's life or death to go into some of those manholes," said Bruce.  "I want my men to go home alive.  MMUA is worth every cent.  They customize every book to how we operate in Victoria.  It takes a lot of work to put a safety program together and keep it together.  Right now, MMUA is helping us write four grants.  MMUA is about 99% successful with their grants."
Replied Councilmember Terry Bish-op, "I've heard enough.  I'll take your word for it.  I appreciate your coming to-ight."
Said Mayor Jerry Bohn, "Based on your testimony, this is an important ex-penditure for us."

OTHER NEWS FROM NOVEMBER
NEXT COUNCIL MEETING IS DECEMBER 4TH
*The next city council meeting will be held December 4th after a workshop with Springsted.  A city meeting-workshop regarding water treatment will be held the morning of December 5th.  The final 2004 city budget will be reviewed and approved at a December 11th council meeting.
*Councilmember Dave Lindgren said he received a call from Victoria resident Tom O'Connell who asked about holding the annual Chaska High School Home-coming Parade in the "all new" downtown Victoria.  Tom had said the parade can not be held in Chaska, its normal location, because it is too "dangerous."  Dave said he would try to uncover more specifics.
*Councilmember Richard Tieden said that the initial interest in bringing an assisted living enterprise to Victoria has not developed into a concrete proposal.  He's hoping interest may be sparked for a location in that part of Laketown Town-ship that will be annexed to Victoria.
*Acting Administrator/Planner Mark Kaltsas reported that delinquent utility bills are almost twice as large in number as past years.  They will be collected with property taxes along will an 8% penalty collected by the city and a $25 county fee.
*Councilmember approved a Joint  Powers Agreement between Carver Coun-ty and the City of Victoria to complete a transportation study that will identify future road corridors and connections in Laketown Township as it prepares for annexation.  Stated Planner Mark Kaltsas, "It talks about the split of project costs.  The major area of the township will go to Victoria, so we probably stand to benefit the most by this study."  He said Victoria and Carver County will each pay 39% of study cost and Waconia will pay 22%.  Total cost of the study is approximately $22,000.  Added Mark, "We really pared this study down.  We took out a lot of the glamour and glitz.  It's reduced in scope but I think we're getting what we want-ed."
*City staff was authorized to negoti-ate an offer with a candidate for the posi-tion of Community Development Admin-istrative Assistant.  The city interviewed seven candidates.  One candidate, who resides in Eden Prairie, was very strong and was expected to begin working for the City of Victoria during the week of Thanksgiving.
*Councilmembers authorized an ex-penditure not to exceed $1,800 to central-ize computer systems hardware and pur-chase firewall upgrades and perform net-work cleanup at city offices.
*Councilmembers authorized an ex-penditure not to exceed $3,600 to help relocate computer equipment and update an office space to make it "user friendly" for Finance Director Jylan Johnson who stated, "It is my desire to be as frugal as possible."
*The Personnel Committee was given permission to interview and hire a finance clerk for the City of Victoria.  An original offer to a candidate was not accepted; staff will advertise in another pool.
*Effective January 1st, 2004, the Ser-vice Availability Charge (SAC) rate for new connections to the wastewater system will increase by $75 to $1,350.
*Councilmembers approved health and safety programs for the City of Vic-toria as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
*The Planning Commission is in-volved in the naming of the new 600-foot street in Victoria.  According to City Attorney Mike Horton, "In the ordinance it says developers name the streets.  It is suggested that the Planning Commission come up with a suggestion since the city is the developer."
*Regarding downtown construction this summer, Councilmember Dave Lind-gren said, "I think the contractor did an excellent job.  Just about every night they cleaned it up so we could drive through town."