LACK OF COMMUNICATION WITHIN
AMONG COUNCILMEMBERS AND EMPLOYED
At a workshop prior to the September 9th council meeting, city staff and coun-cilmembers talked about personnel issues, pay raises, and lack of communication among each other.
Councilmember Richard Tieden was especially animated about not being in-formed of a Personnel Committee meeting regarding a pay raise for the Building Official and the hiring of a new City Planner.  The Personnel Committee in-cludes Mayor Jerry Bohn, Councilmem-ber Tieden, and Acting Administrator Mark Kaltsas.
"There's the telephone.  I have an email.  I see you here every two weeks.  I've got my Fridays available," said Rich-ard directly to Mayor Bohn.
Councilmember Dave Lindgren said that in the past year he has often felt like he wasn't part of the council.
Some of the city staff members also spoke about lack of communication re-garding their jobs, their future, their salaries.  Stated Tammy Abrahamson, Parks and Rec Director, "It would be nice to know what is my potential here in Victoria, what the markers are, what my incentive is.  The unknown is hard."
Stated Bruce Osborn, Public Works Superintendent, "In ten years here I've had only three reviews.  I love my job, don't get me wrong, but we are expanding and growing all the way around us and only get little raises.  I've got four times the responsibility of one supervisor in Chanhassen."
Said Councilmember Terry Bishop, "I think we're blessed because of the quality of employees we have here.  That goes for everyone who works here.  We'll try to pay you what we can.  There are limits, however.  There are reasons for people to work here besides money.  Hopefully we'll be competitive somewhat with surrounding communities.  We don't want to be a training ground.  There'll be a lot more headaches in bigger cities.  Call us if you don't think you're being treated fairly."
Councilmember Tieden asked for current event updates posted on a bulletin board at City Hall.

BUILDING OFFICIALS IN DEMAND
WAGES RAISED TO RETAIN THEM
Councilmembers unanimously ap-proved salary and wage increases for two city employees who had been offered new positions outside of Victoria.  Stated City Planner Mark Kaltsas, "Pay increases were recommended by the Personnel Committee."
It was found that the city's current wages for these positions were below those of the surrounding communities.  The Personnel Committee moved to retain both employees.  Councilmembers ap-proved the move.
The Building Official's wage was increased from $26.37 per hour to $29.32 per hour.  The Building Inspector's wage was increased from $20.91 per hour to $22.99 per hour.

VICTORIA'S TRUTH IN TAXATION HEARING
THURSDAYS, NOV. 29TH AND DEC. 9TH
Councilmembers approved the Truth in Taxation hearing date of Monday, November 29th, 2004, with a continuation Truth in Taxation hearing date of Thurs-day, December 9th, 2004.  Said Council-member Dave Lindgren about the first date, "I'm a little bit concerned.  There's a Viking game that Monday night."  This hearing is for the taxes payable in year 2005.  Its purpose is for the public to offer comment on the levy and budget.  Time of hearing each of the two evenings is 6 p.m.

WATERMARK GROWS TO THE SOUTH
PLANNING 50 MORE UPSCALE HOMES
Two final plats from two different developers and an annexation to the City of Victoria were unanimously approved on September 9th for 56 acres south of the existing Watermark development on County Road 43. 
The two plats -- one  for 37 acres, another for 19 acres -- are officially called Watermark South and Watermark South 2nd Addition.  The two developments will appear to be an extension of the first Watermark.
Hartman Communities requested the final plat for 37 single family homes on  the 37 acres already located within the city limits of Victoria.  Lyman Properties requested the final plat for 12 single fam-ily homes on the 19 acres, now formally annexed by resolution to the City of Victoria.  As City Planner Mark Kaltsas pointed out about the adjacent plats, "This development is somewhat seamless."
Hartman Communities contributed 5.51 acres plus $8,556 in parkland dedica-tion to the city, and also a Recreational Facilities and Equipment Fee of $84,142. 
Lyman contributed 1.02 acres plus $29,589 in parkland dedication to the city, and also a Recreational Facilities and Equipment Fee of $26,975.
Planner Kaltsas said that an island, perhaps two acres in size, is included in the parkland dedication of the Hartman property.  According to Mayor Jerry Bohn, "It's a beautiful piece of land."
Public access via a footbridge may or may not be constructed to this island, to which two homes had been originally slated.  Connecting trails are part of the plat, and perhaps also a boardwalk across part of the wetland.  A sidewalk runs through the development along at least one side of all streets.
Two entrance identification signs will be similar to the current Watermark sign.

VICTORIA OFFICIALLY A STATE AID CITY

The city has been patiently waiting to reach an official population of 5,000 be-cause that number means the State of Minnesota will return gas tax money for road improvements directly to the City of Victoria, rather than to Carver County where distribution of funds back to Vic-toria was nebulous these past many years.
Mayor Jerry Bohn said the city can  now get road funding in 2005, possibly up to $250,000.  Of course, the money has to be used on designated state aid roads, which have not yet been designated in Victoria. 
According to City Administrator Steve Sarvi, these state aid roads could come to include County Road 13, Bavaria Road, Kochia, and any other street that would be constructed to state aid specifications.  Steve predicted that state aid funding "will not be so much" the first couple of years. 
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