Victoria MN Newspaper

MARSH LAKE ROAD CONTINUED

Estimated cost to do the road from County Road 43 to County Road 11 is about $12 million.

Stated Councilmember Tom Strigel, "Marsh Lake Road is where we're putting in hundreds and hundreds of home. I think that we have an obligation for the infrastruture."

Stated Mr. Robjent, "You guys have to say it's a priority. If the policy is development driven, and you have development driving it, the county is obligated to meet the policy."

Rolling Acres Road

The city engineer said that this road project would cost $6.7 million with federal funds paying 80%. But the county engineer reported, "I just heard it's not getting funded. We need to step back and see what we need to do to solve the problems of today. My goal is still to add left turn lanes at the four city intersections."

Mr. Robject added that the intersections of Rolling Acres Road at Hwy 5 and Hwy 7 are dangerous, with accidents higher than the state average.

Councilmember Crowley pointed out that plans to reconstruct this road also caused the most controversy among residents. He asked why the intersection at Hwy 5 wasn't addressed with the major highway construction project during the summer of 2012.

Replied Cara, "There wasn't enough money. It would need to be a four-lane highway. They did the best they could do with the money available."

WHAT IS HAPPENING AT HEI?

COULD BE VACANT FOR 12 TO 18 MONTHS

City Manager Laurie Hokkanen reported March 9th on the recent bankruptcy of HEI, a microelectronic assembly company founded in 1968, and headquartered in Victoria with other services in Colorado and Arizona.

"HEI has moved to the liquidation phase," she said. "The auction house is Maynard's out of Canada. There is a firm interested in buying the equipment and leasing the building. The city is being proactive about the future of the building. In the event they can secure a funding application, we may need to schedule a special council meeting. The short time is handicapping things but I like to remain optimistic. The auction occurs March 25th and 26th if not successful funding. The industry average says it'll be vacant for 12 to 18 months."

MAKING MINUTES MORE USER FRIENDLY

VICTORIA MOVES TOWARD LIVE STREAMING

Council voted March 23rd to change the way minutes are taken at city council meetings and work toward live streaming of city council meetings.

Currently TimeSavers takes "full detail" minutes which runs to many pages and cost. Moving forward, TimeSavers will switch to a summary style of doing minutes, similar to the City of Jordan, for example. The City of Victoria will also add Granicus software for video live streaming and agenda parsing.

Said City Clerk Jennifer Kretsch, "Right now we have council meeting videos on U-Tube. There is an option out there to interpret video with supporting documents and agenda."

She explained that archived videos can be parsed so residents can click on a topic of interest without having to watch the entire proceedings. "The video could also be watched live," she said. "The City of Jordan does this. Also Savage, Edina, Hugo. Over 100 entities in Minnesota utilize this. It makes everything a little more user friendly."

Jennifer added, however, that despite the live or video-ed streaming of council meetings, the city still needs to do minutes.

"It's up to the council how you'd like to do minutes," she said. "Chanhassen does them verbatim. It's very expensive. Hugo does a summary. Then there's an option where only the motions and votes are noted in the minutes. Staff has reviewed the different styles of minutes and liked what Hugo does."

In response to a question, City Attorney Bob Vose replied, "By law you are required to do written minutes. Minutes are the official record. The more detailed the minutes, the more inconsistency with the video. The written minutes are the record."

Setting up the project with Granicus software, Tierney Integration, plus PC and Networking System will cost $9,500. Monthly fee is $300. As for live video streaming, Jennifer said that Granicus is about three to four months out before it can do the Victoria project.

Said Councilmember Tom Strigel, "I think this is important for us to move forward on."

Agreed Mayor Tom O'Connor, "Nothing could be more accurate than a video. I support this."

City Manager Laurie Hokkanen said the city is also working with MediaCom to broadcast live.

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