" … And is it possible to pay for these things over 20 years?  I'm getting close to retirement.  Some of the residents have teenagers, and teenagers are expensive."
He added, "We bought this home on a dirt street 22 years ago and we've been very happy.  The price on getting sewer is reasonable."
Said Hyacinth resident Steve Giam-bruno, "We thought blacktopping the streets was going to be $5,000 to $7,000.  Our kids can't rollerblade and we don't get a break taxwise.  I'm in favor of all three if it can be made affordable.  If there's a way we can stretch it over 20 years, it would bring up the value of living in that particular area."
Hyacinth residents Aaron Johnson and Michael Scott stated that they need a new sewer system for sure.
Tom Quammen, resident on 80th Street, said he's in favor of doing sewer, and that he didn't come away from any meeting with the opinion that everybody wants everything.  "Nobody wanted to go from a $10,000 cost to $30,000 in an hour of discussion."
Engineer Griffin agreed that today, after digestion of the facts and costs, the neighborhoods are sort of split 50-50 on doing all three improvements.  "Sewer is an overwhelming need," he said.  "We need to get moving on it or they won't have it this year.  And I've told them I wouldn't put in a city road without city water."
He recommended getting bids on all three improvements so that the residents can react to real numbers.  "That doesn't mean all three improvements will be constructed," he said.  "There will be a public hearing.  There is a consensus on the sewer.  We'll send a letter to all of the affected residents."
Councilmember Richard Tieden suggested their might be a mechanism to assist the residents because of the hard-ship of paying for all three improvements to be done simultaneously.
Said Mayor Mary Meuwissen, "There is no pressure from the city on the resi-dents to do this.  The main way the city could do anything is to extend paying off time.  I would never say there is that mag-ical financing vehicle out there."
Agreed Councilmember Jerry Bohn,  "It's really the homeowner's choice.  They have to make that decision."
Stated resident Marv Hartman, who was the developer of Parkwood, "I'm still sitting on three of the lots that never got developed.  I think the number on the road project really went up in the last year ... This property was platted in 1966.  It's surprising how well the streets have weathered.  Looks to me like we'll have to do it steps at a time."
Engineer Griffin stated that the num-bers have gone up because city building standards have gone up because blacktop roads haven't been holding up.
Bids will be sought on all three im-provements and presented to residents at the public hearing on Thursday, June 27th, during the regularly scheduled city council meeting.   It was pointed out that improvements and assessments increase the value of the homes.

STREET ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
FOR CONSTRUCTING AND REBUILDING
Council held a workshop on May 9th regarding the city's comprehensive sewer plan and street assessment policy and agreed that when streets are built or up-graded, they must be constructed to the current city standard.  There was general agreement to proceed under the following assessment guidelines:

For a replacement project, 70% will be assessed, and 30% picked up by the city.
For a rebuild of a residential street, 70% will be assessed and 30% picked up by the city.
For changing rural roads to city roads or doing roads in commercial high density areas, 100% will be assessed.
The city looked at assessment poli-cies of Chanhassen, Shakopee, Chaska, and Maple Grove in arriving at the guide-lines for Victoria.

OTHER NEWS FROM MAY
PARKS DIRECTOR MARY SAARION RESIGNS
*Council accepted the resignation of Park & Rec Director Mary Saarion effec-tive May 1st and approved a three-month severance package including health insurance and PERA and uncontested unemployment compensation benefits.  Tera Kaltsas, wife of Mark, was appointed as the activity coordinator for the sum-mer's Park & Rec activities.  Tera, a teacher by profession, also helped out at Victoria last year.
*Council adopted a resolution that modifies the city's existing Tax Increment Finance districts and associated plans to establish a new TIF District #3 to achieve redevelopment objectives of the Down-town Project Area.  This action helps provide a financing mechanism for future development in the downtown area.
*Kim Roden, a resident on the west side of Schutz Lake, was appointed on May 9th to the Victoria Planning Com-mission.  There were two applicants for the position.  Each of them was inter-viewed.  Stated Kim, "I'm hoping to do a public service and learn more about public service."
*Council approved a temporary con-struction sign permit for the Watermark subdivision located on Church Lake Bou-levard.  The sign meets all requirements of the city ordinance.
*Noah Erickson was again hired for the part time park maintenance position during the summer months of 2002.
*City Engineer Jack Griffin was instructed to review the city policy for placement of traffic control signs and implement the parts of it that he deems important or worthy regarding the request for a stop sign at Pine Court and Winter-green Road.  He will bring a recommend-ation back to Council.
*Council directed staff to work with MnDOT to do what it can to prohibit jake breaking on Hwy 7. 
*City Planner Mark Kaltsas suggest-cleaning up the city-owned properties in downtown Victoria so they look better and become more marketable.  Mark re-ported on May 23 that he is getting demolition bids.
*Bids were received on May 7th for the Watermark Trunk Sanitary Sewer project and awarded on May 9th to Krutsky Construction, low bidder at $213,244.  Although there were twelve plan holders, the city only received three bids.  The engineer's estimate on the project was $181,000.