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RENOVATING VICTORIA CITY OFFICES

AND MAKING KITCHEN GOOD FOR THE LIONS

Council authorized an expenditure January 8th of approximately $108,000 to renovate and repair City Offices as deemed necessary by recent indoor air quality investigations of the building. Mold and mechanical ventilation issues were found to be significant contributions to the problem.

Said Administrator Don Uram, “We spent eventually six weeks collecting bids. The project is underway.” He referred to mechanical contractors ($47,800), a general contractor ($43,706), items related to things like moving, cleanup, and painting ($8,300), and an amount (roughly $10,000) for contingencies.

“The project is underway,” he stated. “The kitchen will be renovated, not to be commercial, but to be usable, especially by the Lions and their dinner meetings and their pancake breakfasts.”

Councilmember Kim Roden reminded people, “The real issue we had here was the safety and health of our employees. I hope we can dispel any doubts there may have been in the community.”

On January 22nd City Administrator Don Uram reported on the progress of the City Offices cleanup project. “They’ve completed the kitchen renovation. They’ve removed asbestos. We’ve vacated a portion of City Hall. Demolition has been taken care of. We plan to move back into city offices on Monday, February 2nd. They found a hot water leak under the sink in the kitchen, which would not have been discovered without this renovation. Some additional asbestos removal will be done once the building is demolished, but not at this time because it’s not being disturbed. Tom Gray has done a great job. All the staff has been very cooperative. There were no budget surprises.”

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF VICTORIA?

STRATEGIC PLANNING CAN HELP THE DIRECTION

Administrator Don Uram was given authorization on January 8th to find a date for a strategic planning session, under the direction of a facilitator by the name of Richard Fusman, that would include city department heads as well as councilmembers.

On January 22nd the date and time for strategic planning were identified as Saturday, February 14th, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 at Crown College. Six staff members to be present: Don Uram, Ann Mahnke, Holly Kreft, Jylan Johnson, Cara Geheren, Jennie Kretsch.

“Mr. Fusman has over 20 years of experience,’ said Don. “He’s done stragetic planning for a number of different communities. He helps arrive at specific goals and lay out a strategy for staff to implement them ... I’m bringing this forward to take a look at it, not to make a decision tonight.”

Mayor Mary Thun said she was invited by Mr. Uram to meet Mr. Fersman. “I went to that meeting rather willingly. He wants to meet with every councilmember individually. I went away feeling good. He wants to get a feeling about goals and things from each individual. He wouldn’t form an agenda for us until he’s talked to each councilmember individually. I thought for the cost for the first step and the second step, it was really pretty reasonable, but I’m not recommending for or against him.”

The cost for his services for the first two steps of several hours is $1,500.

Councilmember Kim Roden stated that she believes goal sessions and strategic planning events “do work better with an outside facilitator.”

Said Administrator Uram, “I’m comfortable moving forward with this.”

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