To Victoria Lions Club
Dear Members of the Victoria Lions:
The City of Victoria sincerely thanks the Victoria Lions Club for their gracious donation of a new flagpole for City Hall.  The City Hall flag pole was damaged by wind during a recent storm event.  The Lions Club acted quickly to purchase a new flag pole for City Hall.  The new pole an flag were installed May 27th in front of City Hall.  The Victoria Lions Club continues to be a great partner and generous donor to the City of Victoria.  The City of Victoria gives thanks for their continued support of the City of Victoria and the many organizations that they contribute to throughout the com-munity.
Sincerely, The Victoria City Council, Victoria, Minnesota

SETTING DEADLINES AT WATERMARK
AND WORKING TOWARD BUILDING THE TRAIL
Cal Haasken, developer at Watermark East, attended the May 27th city council meeting in response to complaints about the development.  At the end of much discus-sion, he received notice to take care of six of the seven complaints in the next 30 days.  At that time council will set a new time limit in which the development's trail sec-tion must be completed.  Most of the discus-sion centered on the trail.
Stated Mayor Jerry Bohn, 'This devel-oper's agreement was signed two years ago and the trails aren't completed yet!  The silt fences are still up.  It looks like an aban-doned development.  It's not fair that people have to look at that.  My recommendation is to stop issuing building permits until this is resolved."
City Planner Mark Kaltsas pointed out that there are still quite a large number of his lots not developed.
"We've been in communication with the city," said Mr. Haasken.  "This always requires engineering, which is very time consuming.  Time delays are part of the pro-cess ...
"The trail has been a significant prob-lem.  Basically we're fighting four govern-ment or quasi-government entities.  We took four proposals for the trail to the Minnehaha Watershed District.  And the trail goes right down the middle of the Magellan Pipe Line.  We haven't been sitting on our hands.  I'm running into a brick wall."
The chosen trail site runs through a swamp area along County Road 43, and Mr. Haasken has indicated that the trail cannot be built in that location.  Stated City Planner Mark Kaltsas, "We assume that your engi-neer that designed it can build the design."
Stated Jack Griffin, the city's engineer, "It still hasn't been shown me that it can't be built.  They owe us a trail.  I believe it can be built, but I'm not the one going out and doing the surveys."
It was stated the developer's engineer must be held accountable.  "This is not the city's problem to resolve," stated Mayor Bohn.  "Westwood needs to be motivated."
Stated Councilmember Mary Thun, "I think this is ridiculous.  I think it's nuts.  I'd be in favor of no building permits until we know where the trail is going."
Stated Councilmember Richard Tieden, "He's making an attempt.  I don't think it's appropriate to stop his business."  Richard asked Mr. Haasken to do grading and seed-ing on the lot of complaint adjacent to the home of a resident.  "I think these things are workable," he said.
In speaking directly to Mr. Haasken, Councilmember Tieden added, "But I think you need to take command of your engineer and take command of your development and get the job done.  The only person saying the trail can't be built is your bobcat driver.  Why don't we set a deadline, a date when it's got to be done!"
"I'd agree with that," said Council-member Thun.  "I'd go along with that out of respect for my peers."

PREPARING FOR STORMWATER RUNOFF
WITH A TWO-INCH THICK DOCUMENT
Councilmembers approved the City of Victoria's Local Water Resource Manage-ment Plan on May 27th prepared by TKDA.
Said Jack Griffin, city engineer with TKDA, "This is a required document that has to be prepared by the city.  Minnesota is a very progressive state so we've had storm-water ordinances in place.  Some places are getting hit with it for the first time."
Speaking in general about water quality of lakes in Victoria, Jack said, "When you develop around Lake Wasserman, the water quality will actually improve because nutri-ents won't be washing into it."  Separate holding ponds are required with most new developments.
Jack said this is probably the best time to get some baseline data on the city's lakes for comparisons in five years.
"We tried to estimate what costs will be," he said.  "We did the best we could for 2005 and then used an across the board 4% index ... We used projections of the Plan-ning Department based on the number of new housing units coming in ... We made a list of everything that can be funded through this program ... These are often fixed cost activities.  As you become a bigger city, you have more people sharing in the costs."
Estimated stormwater charge per Vic-toria household is proposed to be $7 to $10 per quarter.  Larger buildings with more impervious surfaces and parking lots are estimated to cost more.
The City of Victoria's Local Water Resource Management Plan, which is a two-inch thick document, will now be submitted for review and comment to the Metropolitan Council.  TKDA received $18,000 from the city for preparing this document. 

A FEW MILLION DOLLARS
TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE IN VICTORIA
Councilmembers received financing plans May 27th from Paul Donna, the city's financial advisor with Northland Securities, for three upcoming public improvements.  Council also gave direction to put each of the three competitive projects up for sale on June 24th, 2004, with a 20-year financing package. 
*The Street and Utility Improvement Bonds for road and utility reconstruction in various neighborhoods this spring and sum-mer total $1,740,000. 
*The Water Revenue Bonds to finance the water treatment plant, and approximately $1.6 million debt service, total $9,475,000. 
*The Equipment Certificates for approved Public Works and Fire Depart-ment equipment total $315,000.
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