Rhonda Agosti.  "I can't let my kids out in the street.  You said this is a very unique situation.  Streets are already narrow.  Making them even narrower gives even less space for joggers and kids."
Lois Hidding.  "It would be cheaper to put in a four-way stop than any of the other alternatives."
Councilmember Richard Tieden, who spoke in favor of a four-way stop last month, asked if there were any complaints about the existing four-way stop in the Wintergreen neighborhood.  "Is it not working?" he asked.  "I think it's effec-tive.  I think it works.  I live two blocks from there.  I don't see any reason to take something out that works.  We have a park with no fence around it, no berms around it, and no sidewalks.  There's a tremendous amount of activity there.  This is a unique situation.  What would a four-way stop cost -- $400 to $500?  We've already spent $4,000 to $5,000 in time on this."
Councilmember Terry Bishop said, "Typically I listen to the experts, but I do think the studies you did don't have the same circumstances.  I'm sympathetic to the people in this area with children.  I think we should put in a four-way stop, but I advise that parents have to help children cross the streets.  The four-way stop might not alter people's behavior, but the neighborhood has presented them-selves well."
Councilmember Dave Lindgren said he lives on a four-way stop in the Kirke-Lachen neighborhood, and that 60% of the traffic stops as they should and 40% don't stop.  However, he said, of the Win-tergreen intersection, "this is a pretty unique situation."
A motion to approve the four-way stop as petitioned by the residents passed with a vote of 4-1.  Mayor Jerry Bohn voted against it saying, "You could carry this on to the ridiculous."

IMPROVING, UPGRADING 86TH STREET
FROM KOCHIA LANE EAST TO BAVARIA ROAD
With a vote of 4 to 1 on February 12th, councilmembers approved the im-provement and upgrade of 86th Street from Kochia Lane east to Bavaria Road.  A portion of 86th Street -- from Kochia Lane west to County Road 11 (which is the entrance to Wintergreen) -- is already improved.
Said City Engineer Jack Griffin, "It's starting to become a very important road.  We do think it's going to get used much more heavily.  We're recommending it as a collector street."
The engineer said that 86th Street could be constructed as a regular "rural" street at a city cost of $185,000 or an upgraded "urban" street at a city cost of $343,000.  In either case, the developer picks up a separate share of between $140,000 and $160,000.
One of the upgrades includes a lane for parking along Diethelm Park, where users of the ballfields and city facilities already park.  Jack said that this would give 31 parking spaces.
Councilmember Dave Lindgren voted against the additional $157,000 city ex-penditure for an upgraded urban street.
City Planner Mark Kaltsas said that nearby Kochia Lane will hopefully become a state aid road with fairly sub-stantial traffic ... that when the county paves Bavaria Road from 86th Street south, traffic will increase significantly ... that another name for 86th Street is County State Aid Highway #13.
Kochia Lane is the access road to Holy Family Catholic High School and Diethelm Park.

EMERGENCY SITUATION FOR VICTORIA FIRE DEPARTMENT
REQUIRING IMMEDIATE $130,000 PURCHASE
Declaring a state of special emer-gency, Victoria city councilmembers granted the Victoria Fire Department authorization on February 26th to pur-chase 22 self-contained breathing appara-tuses (SCBA's) at an estimated cost of $100,000 and a cascading system at an estimated cost of $30,000.
The SCBA's hold and supply oxygen to the firefighters.  The cascading system holds compressed air and fills the SCBA's with oxygen.
Stated Fire Chief Gary Sohns, "The SCBA's are to protect us when we go into hot zones or dangerous situations.  We've had problems with our existing airpacks failing and we've pulled out of service.  Last year we had a basement fire and a firefighter had an airpack that failed.  We watched him run out and pull off the mask in order to get his breath.  It was difficult to see that.  And two weeks ago there were four failures at one site while fight-ing a fire.  It's difficult to see."
"We really need to deal with this now," continued Chief Sohns.  "I'm not sure that if we had a fire tonight, if we could extinguish it safely ... I'm not con-vinced our firefighters could go in safely if there was a structure fire this evening."
Asked Councilmember Terry Bishop, "What caused the failures?"  Assistant Chief Tim Walsh replied, "Old technolo-gy makes them subject to the weather, to moisture, to freezing.  And there is no market for the old airpacks anymore."  Some are up to 25 years old.
"How do we pay for them?" asked Councilmember Bishop, since the 2004 budget does not include this significant expenditure for the SCBA's.
Replied City Planner and Acting Ad-ministrator Mark Kaltsas, "We haven't determined exactly where the money would come from.  Likely we'd issue an equipment certificate or take it out of another fund for now and reimburse it later.  If the city declares this is an emer-gency, we could buy the equipment with-out publicly going out for bids.  It's a 30-day process to go out for bids."
City Attorney Mike Norton advised, "It's within the judgment of the council as to whether it's an emergency.  You would have to make the appropriate findings.  Apparently the problem has accelerated in the last few weeks."
"It sounds like every time they're called out, it could be a disaster," said Councilmember Dave Lindgren.
"I'm concerned," said Council-member Richard Tieden.  "I feel it's risen to the level of an emergency situation."
Some of the findings included the recent failures of existing equipment and unsafe conditions, the scarcity of replace-ment parts for old equipment, lack of trust and confidence in existing equipment, fire emergencies can not currently be handled safely, a new system must be purchased.
The Victoria Fire Department will seek, on their own, the lowest bid for the 22 self-contained breathing apparatuses and cascading system.  Other members of the fire department's Airpack Committee also attended this council meeting including Tim Walsh, Andrew Heger, and Steve Walstrom.
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