City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. It's now 5:30 and I call the workshop of the Victoria City Council to order. Our workshops are informal. So with that, we're going to dive right into our agenda. There's just one item on our workshop agenda this evening and we'll be conducting interviews for our park and rec committee our act to the applicants. Welcome. We're glad you're here. Thank you for your interest in serving in our serving our community. As the city of lakes and parks, we strive to provide exceptional exceptional amenities to our residents and this committee is vital in helping us live up to that moniker. So council, we have two full openings on that committee with three applications for consideration, including one from our incumbent Amanda Cah Hill. Thank you for serving, Amanda. Um, applicant Jay Zean expressed interest, but could not attend this evening's interview process, but he is still uh considered a candidate. We also have one student opening and re received one application for that seat from Owen Beckers. Welcome, Owen. And applicants for tonight's interview. We're going to start with introductions and then move into questions. So for introductions and each question, you'll have two minutes for a response. And our city clerk, Claudia Edisold, right over here is going to be our timekeeper. So when you hear her alarm, wrap up your thought and um so we know that we're giving everybody an opportunity, equal opportunity to speak. No need to go on if you don't have anything more to say. So no worries if you cut it short. That doesn't count against you at all. So before we dive in, does anybody have any questions about the process? Okay, very good. So, let's begin with introductions. I'm going to work in alphabetical order by last name for this section. So, start with our long with our regular term applications. And so, Amanda, let's have you go first.

Hi everyone. My name is Amanda Cahill. Um, as the mayor said, I have been on the park and w committee for three years. So, my um first term here is coming to an end. Um, and I am here because I would love to cons continue serving in the role. Um, I've been a resident here in Victoria for about 13 years. Um, and I have two daughters who are really active um, in many activities. Um, one's in um, elementary school at Victoria Elementary and the other one is at Chesca Middle School East um, as a middle schooler. So, um yeah, we're and uh my husband of course lives here as well, but uh he's not as uh pertinent to uh the park and wreck um uh discussion tonight. So, thank you.

Thank you. Um on to Oh, one one quick note to the um microphone that's in front of you. Make sure you tap it to unmute it so that everybody in the listening audience, which there are thousands, can hear you. All right, we're gonna go uh next with uh Blake Farber. Mr. Farber, welcome.

Hi. Thank you, Mayor. Uh my name is Blake. Um I moved uh with my family to Brookmore uh the Brookmore, the new Brookmore neighborhood in 2024. Uh and we're the lot right next to the park to be. So we're very excited for the park. And of course, since we're the lot right next to it, all of our neighbors on the street constantly ask us by default if we know anything about it. So, I thought, well, if everyone's coming to me for information, maybe I can do something about it. So, I thought I'd I thought I'd apply. Um, so I have a wife and uh two kids. I wrote all this stuff down, not so I because I would forget, but so I would stay on track, of course. Um, I have a wife and two kids. Uh, two girls, both at Victoria Elementary, and they're having a wonderful time. And we have two dogs as well. A little bit about me. I grew up on a dairy farm uh west of here, not very far, just outside of Mayor. Went to college in Duth and got a degree in accounting and in theater. So I try to tap both the left side and the right side of my brain. Um my day job today is I'm a product manager in town at a pharmaceutical company. And so it's constantly uh overseeing like software tools and applications being developed. So, I'm kind of like the translator between the tech development team and uh business customers, constantly keeping convos smooth back and forth, kind of translating, and I thought that would maybe translate well to uh to a parks uh a parks and wreck uh board position. Uh in October, I believe it was October, I attended the parks and wreck survey results for Hunters in Meadows Park. Just wanted to kind of understand how that process worked. not only because I was thinking of maybe applying to be uh on the committee, but just kind of wanted to see if Bookmore Park uh gets built, how that process works. And that was kind of an enlightening experience and thought I'd might want to um jump in and and be part of it. Um I consider myself a good listener, a good conversationalist, really um approachable and easy to work with and kind. And I think those skills would translate uh pretty well to um to the the job for Victoria as well. Um, like I

mentioned earlier, I know pretty much all my neighbors down the street. We're always trying to collab and trying to understand uh what we can do to um get the get the park built basically. So, thank you for the time. Thanks, Blake. Yep. Tammy Leonetti, is that right? Yes, that is correct. Very good. Welcome.

Yes. Thank you. Um, so Tammy Leonetti, uh, my husband and I have lived in Lakeridge uh, for almost 10 years. I am also a very proud member of the Lakeridge Homeowners Association. Um, we have actually been coming out here for close to 20 years though. We lived in the city prior and we've been able to enjoy the parks and the lakes that make Victoria so beautiful and so soughta today. Um, we've been my husband actually tricked me into coming out here, but that's another story. Um, yeah, I'm really uh very very interested in as we continue to grow, there's obviously massive growth out this way. Um, one of the big things for me is preservation. Once our green space is gone, we won't get it back. And that is my driving. Uh, that's my why. That's why I am wanting to participate in the parks and rec committee. I'd actually love to do more, but I travel for work frequently, so it's it's hard to make commitments. This I'm sure you all the same challenge. Good. Thank you. And last but not least, our student applicant, Owen. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself?

Yes. Thank you. Well, hello everyone. Good evening. My name is Owen Beckers. I'm a current junior at Minnotonka High School. And I'm going to be honest. Today, I'm going to talk a lot about ice cream. This past summer, I got a job at the social. It has been truly amazing. Have any of you guys been there before? Oh, yeah.

Yep. My favorite flavor, caramel collision. You know, we have 36 flavors. So, very nice. very nice. Um, but this past summer has been really fun and I've really been able to connect with our community, serve them ice cream, but also really just connect with them and that's been a lot of through through our different recreational programs in Victoria and especially our trails like this trail that runs right here, right? Goes past straight the social. We get a lot of business from there. So, with that, um, one of the big things that I really saw I want to bring to this committee is different partnerships with the city of Victoria, especially like with educational partnerships. I think kind of as Tammy talked about, you know, different green spaces and stuff like that, there was this one group, I can't recall the specific, but it was a summer childhood programming and they would come down once every two months, once every month with a group of kids, ride their bikes down the trail, come come in and get some ice cream and then learn about city government. They would learn about I remember one of the lessons was how do they get the dairy to make ice cream, right? agriculture, how do the trails work, how do all these different recreational spaces, and I think that's something I can bring to this committee. Um, luckily I've had a mentorship with Willie Jet, the commissioner of education from Minnesota, and we talk a lot about how to teach preservation and how to teach, you know, how um, we can interact with different communities, especially on a city government kind of level. Um, so that's something I really want to bring into it. I live right by Lions Park, so I've been in I've gone to a lot of the events over there. I remember last summer, maybe early early fall, there was this big event, many food trucks, many different there was a bouncy house over there. It was really fun and the community could really come together in those different recreational spaces. So, I really want to be a part of this committee to make sure that we're maintaining those, adding if we can, and making sure that our community is all great. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. All right. I'm going to call on my council colleagues to help me walk through some of these questions. So, um, I'm going to have, uh, Council Member Roberts ask the first question. We've got, I think, we've got about three questions for you guys. So, Council Member Roberts will ask the first questions. Um, Council Member Refe will walk us through the second questions and then Council Member Patterson, if you could take question number three, and then we'll kind of see where we're at at that point and wrap up after that. So, um, Council Council Member Robertson, please.

Sure. Uh let's start with Blake on this one and continue and then uh you'll go last. Um what are your interests and passions relating to parks and recreation and how would you bring those to to the committee?

Yeah, growing up on a farm, you know, obvious a dairy farm, a lot of respect for, you know, agriculture and and just nature in general. And aside from the fact having young kids, right, and and driving, you know, so many fun bike rides all over town, this place is incredible. I mean, we moved here for a reason, Carver Park Reserve and everything else. um absolute newfound respect on top of my farming history for um what Victoria has done and knowing my, you know, like I alluded to earlier, the kind of social spot I found myself in living next to the park and just getting excited about talking to folks about about expansion for the for the community and stuff is exciting and I would just love to be part of it.

Thank you, Tina. So, um I'm very passionate about, like I said, preservation. We're going to get along well. Um with the growth and development. I really want to um see how we can continue to preserve our green space and sort of manage that in a thoughtful way as we build. Um incredibly passionate about that. Um the second thing is access. There are lots of trails and you guys know they're not completely connected. I really I know we're going to take some benefit from the Highway Five project that's h going to be happening, but that's going to be over the next couple years. Maybe there's some things we can do between now and then that make it safer for me and my dog and all those kids that just make me cringe when they cross the road. Um, and I know we we've all dodged traffic a few times. So, I would say um that is why I'm here and the two things that I want to focus on and that I want to try to help drive with within the parks and rec committee of preservation and access.

Thank you. Yeah. So, I kind of talked about this in my introduction, but I'm really passionate about education. I really hope my big large aspiration is to be the federal secretary of education for the US. And through this committee, I really hope I can bring, you know, those different kind of education connections with our park and recreational areas and through different programming that I know the city of Victoria has already kind of established, but really taking that to the next level.

Thank you, Amanda. Um so about three years ago um what drove me to want to be involved in the park and wreck was um kind of um an interest or following of the progress of the um committee um working on trail gaps and that's a continued focus in everything we do. Um, and it's not just trail gaps. It's like everything that's reviewed, we're looking at so that we don't create those trail gaps for someone sitting on the committee um years down the road from us. So, so looking at making sure developments have those sidewalks and connections when they're um submitting plan and asking questions around um that. However, since I've been in the role too, um why I want to continue is because I've seen such great progress with um going out to the community and getting their feedback. And so um when I am reviewing something that's been asked of us, I'm always reviewing it based on those feedback surveys that we've received. So making sure that the priorities of what um residents are saying is really the focus and then also trying to bring those resident voices um to the meetings like when when given that. So when given resident feedback, bring those comments and make sure I'm sharing them with the committee and um presenting um my thoughts through that perspective. So, I'm really excited to continue with not only trail gaps, but looking at um access to water or water features is

also really high on our community's priority list. And then as well as the other um work that's in progress around even ordinance, park and or park ordinances and things like that. So, that those are the reasons I would like to continue serving um the group.

Thank you. All right. Thank you all for being here. Um, great that you want to be involved and continue to be involved. Um, question number two. What does being the city of lakes and parks mean to you? Um, let's start with Owen, then we'll wrap around to Amanda Blake and Tammy if we could.

So, yeah, I mean it kind of say says it for itself. The city of lakes and parks, right? and especially through this parks and recreation committee, we're maintaining these different lakes and parks, right? Making sure that not only supporting our local infrastructure and businesses, um, but also just, you know, if you think of a single constituent, right? I love walking the trail and seeing the park and I love walking the trail and seeing the lake, right? It just brings so much individual joy as well. And I know my dog has certainly enjoyed all the different trails and parks and features there and a lot of the constituents in Victoria. That's really what the city of Lakes and Parks mean to me.

Great. Thank you, Amanda. Um, what's interesting about us, and I wouldn't have ever known this except for being a part of the park and wreck committee, is that while we have um great um partnerships, our our city doesn't have that much um public access to um lakes ourselves. So it's through our our partners and park partners. So, one of the things that would be amazing is when we're looking and development is being brought to the city, um that the park and recck team is always asking about any developments in any, you know, um public access for our community members or also creating partnerships that better, um provide access, um to to those things. in in far as parks go, um, one of the things that we've been really talking about and focusing on is providing distinctive parks. So, um, we're really trying to not replicate park features that are already part of our community, but in the future, how can we make recommendations that would allow for either greater accessibility for different abilities, different ages, um, green space, parks that not aren't necessarily um, all I'll call it programmed. and stuff like that. So, um that's something that's really exciting is to be focusing on distinctive and unique features in prospective parks and when

we're able to make recommendations on updates or um maintenance.

Excellent. Thank you, Blake. So, City Lakes and Parks, I mean, there's, you know, there's certainly pride there. And even for us before we moved here, like I'm from, you know, from originally from the West Metro, so I knew that the rep that Victoria certainly had, but before we moved here, knowing it was the city of Lakes and Parks, like, "Yeah, that's cool. They probably have some bike trails and stuff along the way." But moving out here absolutely like lives up to that standard. And and you can see that and people that, you know, family and friends that come and visit us see it as well. in in in the in the um in the neighborhoods in the city around. And even, you know, as I've been following since we moved here and I, you know, had a faint interest in in um being on the committee and then of course applying and now being here with you guys tonight, I've been following, you know, whether it's meeting minutes or otherwise. And just seeing the outreach that happens and the feedback that you get from uh community members is amazing. like you're not just building parks to build parks, you're building parks that fit within each community in in a unique way. Like Amanda mentioned as well. Um you know, not making sure there's no redundancies across across amenities throughout different parks and stuff. Like the effort that goes in is is absolutely noticed from somebody who was on the outside, but now I'm, you know, I've got a a small window in at this point. Uh and that's commendable and it's definitely a process I' I'd love to be part of.

Excellent. Thank you, Tammy. All right. Um, I'll go back to what I was saying originally. Um, for me it's preservation. We are the city of lakes and parks. Um, I think it's about to maintain that tagline, if you will. We need to really be thoughtful about growing um, and preserving at the same time. Um, I love the idea of access and all the things, but I also feel like one of the things that's often overlooked is the green space is not just for us to skate through or run through. Um, there are other beings that live in this community. There's deer everywhere. I mean, coyotes I on there's always um uh posts on social media about the different creatures that are running around, which is awesome. Um, and I really um am passionate about that as well as I do a lot of volunteer work for some rescue uh local rescue agencies. Um, and I I think there's an opportunity for us to take a look at that a little differently as well. So, not just the features and all those things are wonderful, but I also think that we don't want to overlook the animals that that we share this space with.

Excellent. Thank you. by up who hasn't gone first. Tammy hasn't. You get to start off.

So, no, it's not a trick question. I was going to give you an option, but I think this one's the better of the two. Um, what's your ideal park and how would you build it? Oh, okay. Um, so my ideal park is actually Carver Park. Um, I love the that that Carver Park has been able to maintain such heavy thick greenery. Um, when I compare that to and I love the parks in our neighborhood in Lake Bridge, but there's not a lot of trees. Um, I just that would be the ideal park and partly because there's a dog park attached to it. Uh, there's also a lake with limited access which my husband would love because he doesn't want anybody fishing in Victoria in this area. So, he thinks it's overfished. So, uh not by him, of course. But I it's it's Carver Park. I love uh the the uniqueness of it, the trails, uh them being able again to maintain the space for animals. Though, I don't like the the prescribed hunt that they do periodically. Um I that would be my ideal. Everybody's happy. Thank you.

The animals, the people. Um, I think Owen, you're next. First question to your question. Does it have to be realistic or can it be? It can be anything. And you have no budget. So, there's there's the even bigger. Oh, well. Okay. I didn't know that. Let me go again. Come on. That's not fair.

Well, I'd have a huge lake with all those different kind of, you know, a playground on the lake, if you know what I mean. All the slides going into it. a beautiful beach walk up. It would have provided different tools and materials to build a bunch of different cool sand castles. I've always wanted to build those that you see on social media where they're so so high realistic and I just think that'd be super fun. So, the perfect sand from the Bahamas, I'd bring that in some of the sand from Florida. Um, but of course, amazing blue waters. I would have a playground for the kids. that have a nice seating area for people to kind of have lunch at, have those grills. I used to live in Minneapolis for a portion of the time and we'd go down to I'm not remembering the change of name, but Lake Calhoun, and they would always have those different kind of seating areas near then a big beautiful trail going across the going around the lake. That would definitely be my dream park.

Follow up to your question or your answer, of course. Would you have a zipline? Oh, well, I can't even believe I forgot to mention that. Well, of course, I'd have three zipline. Thank you, Owen. Um, Blake, you get to go next. Um, my perspective is tunnled because I have two kids in elementary school, so of course I play. Can you turn your Can you turn your microphone on, Blake? Thank you. Thank you.

That's okay. Um, so my t my my vision's a bit tunnneled because I have two kids in elementary school. So I the first thing that comes to mind is uh play playground equipment that would be suitable for all ages and and accessible for those that need it as well. Um noise level that's appropriate for the neighborhood. If it's kind of out in a field in the middle of nowhere, do whatever you want. Skate parks, pickle ball courts, tennis courts, basketball courts. If it's houses all around it, you know, we'll talk about it. Um, of course, a park should use all of the space that it's been given well enough, whether that's we've got space for a soccer pitch, let's do that. We've got space for a baseball field, let's do that. Or we don't. So, it's going to be a playground equipment. If there's space, it should accom it could accommodate for parking if that's needed as well. Um, importantly as well, I would love a a splash pad and a swimming pool and all that stuff, but if it's not costefficient to maintain year round, that needs to be uh that should be probably uh considered as well. And then um lastly, three zip lines as well. Yeah,

Amanda, you're doing this right now or have been doing it with the committee, so you get to go last. But create your ideal park, please. I know it's it's it's so hard because it's now very informed by what uh community members are saying. So the the ideal park is a regional park. So that's more like a destination park. So it's not within a neighborhood. So just let's clarify that. Um the amenities that are highly requested for not in uh a neighborhood is definitely a splash pad, a poured in place uh a playground which is like the rubberized surfaces you see at some of the new um playgrounds. It really makes it accessible for all sorts of um people. And then um also sports amenities. So, um, our communities are, um, running low on some, um, field spaces because our sports teams utilize, um, them so heavily. And so um some uh fields whether that be softball, baseball, lacrosse, soccer um because those community partners um are serving um many of our Victoria kids here um now and lots of times we do still have to go to uh Chanhassen and other communities for um some um facilities. So that that would be um an ideal park that um I've heard is also desired um in the community.

Great. Thank you. Um everybody had a chance to answer that question if my notes are correct. Um I the final one of the questions that I have and then we'll just kind of open it up here to see if my fellow council members have additional um questions. But as a committee member, you're an ambassador to the community. And what does this mean to you? And why do you think it's important to have community ambassadors? And Blake, let's start with you.

Yeah, that's kind of what gets me the most excited about this opportunity to be honest. Since we moved in, I I apologize for nearly going to a broken record at this point, but I didn't expect moving into a neighborhood of a bunch of new houses for all of us to just kind of bond. We were just looking for a house that was in our price range in a neighborhood that we liked, right? And now we found oursel in this community where everybody's in the exact same position because they're all new builds. All of our kids are the same age. Most of the parents are almost all the same age. We all have really similar hobbies. And I've found myself lowkey the ambassador for the neighborhood. Like with the building manager for LAR, um people are asking me questions when they could just ask him. But like cuz I kind of chat him up all the time. Whenever I see them, they come to me for for questions for stuff. And I've I kind of like it in a weird way being that little like social beacon. I guess I'm kind of good at it. I think my wife would say I'm good at it. Um uh and those are the types of things that I think I contri I could contribute the most uh here as well is just sort of being a a beacon of information. Always approachable, always well informed. I like to think I'm well organized. There's probably times when I don't take notes and I should take notes, but I think that happens to all of us, right? Um but uh yeah, the people around I think is is yeah, it'd be fun to build parks. Sure. But but being that sort of beacon of information for people is something I think I could excel at and that's what gets me excited to be here.

Great. Thanks, Tammy. I'll be a broken record, too. Preservation. No, I'm just kidding. Um um I actually feel like I'm an ambassador now for our HOA. Um and I really enjoy that. I like representing uh our community and I would really like to represent the broader community when it comes to um the parks and lakes and the again it is a broken record but it's so important to me and I I know it's important to our community to balance that growth and the development and I would love to be able to represent that those voices and hear from people. Great. Thank you, Owen.

Yeah. So, we have a saying at Minnetonka High School, do the right thing and represent us. Well, I think that really carries over to ambassadorship, right? Whenever you go out into the community, you know, you can always be tied back to the city, be tied back to, you know, the parks and recreational committee. And through that, it's really important, you know, when you're always out in the community being kind, being helpful, you know, always, you know, if you see someone drop something when they're, you know, going over and helping them pick it up, you know, that kind of stuff. Those little small interactions I think really do make a really large difference. And that's what it mean to me to be an ambassador um for this city, especially through working at the ice cream shop. Again, I always told you I'd go back to referencing ice cream. Um I met a lot with the community, a lot of kids. It was really fun. Um, and yeah, just kind of being, you know, that beacon showing what Victoria really has to offer, what our community is like and yeah, kind of being that kind of what he said, being that point person for information because although we do have a very nice, manageable website, it's nice, you know, to talk and ask and get, you know, a human response rather than reading it off like a website, for example.

Thank you, Amanda. Um I spoke to this earlier but um really bringing the community's voice is so um well how I see it I'm an ambassador in the role is that um before each meeting really diving in and prepping into what that week's topic is going to be. So sometimes that involves doing like more research on your own just to see what other communities are offering or if it's a a topic about our current parks, it's, you know, going and visiting those parks that you may not have been to so that you can, you know, see that space um, you know, and feel it and experience it with like I've brought my girls and um And in those in doing that kind of like prep and back work, I've been able to contribute more to the discussions um and and maybe make um more informed recommendations based on either um like I said research uh going to these spaces, going to other parks that we want to more emulate or talking to um community members about their experiences um in those places as well.

Very good. Thank you. So, uh um probably a year or two ago, we really um wanted to go out have the have the city staff go out, meet people where they are, and just gather up information about what they want from their parks. And it has served us really well. And I hope all of you had a chance to kind of interact during some of those park visits when we're gathering information because I think it really does help inform um what the community really wants, what our residents are looking for. Um council members, other questions for these

I think just on the subject that you just brought up. Um you know, we all lead busy lives, right? We have families. Um but obviously it's important to be uh at our meetings, right? the not our meetings, but your parks and Rex meetings. Um, and then hopefully, you know, getting out and doing some of the outreach stuff as the mayor talked about, I guess. How available are you? You know, again, being that we have busy lives, how available are you to participate in those community engagement type activities that are maybe outside of the parks and wreck uh meetings? So, I I'll start at this. Yeah, absolutely. So, I love talking with the community and really talking with people. Again, at the ice cream shop, again, always referencing ice cream. I always love to hear what different um what everyone's favorite type of ice cream is, right? It can definitely say a lot about a person. I will say I remember there's one girl that lives over there in the flats. Every Sunday at 5:30 p.m., she'd come in, get a quart of licorice. I was always surprised. I mean, I do see its qualities. I will not lie. But really going out and doing that out outreach I think is really important. I sit on um another student spot on um on the Minnotonka Schools Foundation and we do a lot of outreach through that and we kind of communicate with you know students and staff and parents and really see what they're looking for especially in the summer. Um I have a lot of open availability and I loved what the point where you I forgot your name. I'm so sorry.

Amanda. Amanda thank you. Um, Amanda said, you know, going out to seeing those parks and doing all that pre-work I think is really important. And yeah, thank you. Thank you, Hammy.

I would love to get more involved. Um, and do more of that. Uh, I have to I'd be remiss if I didn't call this out because it was an important calculation over the weekend. I've calculated how many times I've walked the dog on the trail and it's over 3,000. So, I like to think I could become a trail ambassador and start asking people questions, but there's so many informal impromptu opportunities besides just the big things that we do. But, um, I'd love to be able to do that. And I do have the flexibility um, with my schedule. I do travel, but I you guys set this set the agenda or excuse me the the timing of this so I can work around it. Committed to attending.

Blake. Uh yeah, schedule wise, no issue whatsoever. Um I have a full-time job. I work from home, but it's very flex, you know, other than the kids to gymnastics or dance once in a while. um the the monthly meetings, the outreach programs, whether it's a a Saturday in June or a Saturday in Feb, um can make can definitely make that stuff work. No problem. And excited to like I was alluding to earlier as well, the outreach stuff is is kind of what's pulling me in the most. So excited about it. Thank you, Amanda. You're wearing sweatpants like I was before. Yeah. But the the camera's only torso up, so I'm good. Yeah. Yes. Still I am in sweats. And Amanda, you are kind of doing this already, so but you can still answer.

Yeah. And and I I I mean I would say that I have a really good attendance record um as far as the meetings go and um making sure that that's a priority um in our family's life. Um but also you become um like an ambassador that like you so so you it doesn't happen often but sometimes if there's a topic that people are very passionate about somehow they find you. So like it's like um they'll reach out to you like oh they know my husband they went to him you know the day after the meeting occurred and asked him a question about the park and wreck board and what's going on. So um and so those conversations with um uh community members like I said my girls are in um a lot of uh organized um different sporting activities. So um by default a lot of those take place in the park. So, you're out there having conversations and and and talking about um utilization um in that way, too. So,

should get everybody a t-shirt that says I'm on a park and maybe ask me questions. Yeah. Ask Ask me questions. Tell me what you think. It' be great. Well, and when you're on the trails, can you make sure people are picking up their dog? Exactly. Do not get me started. You're right. You're right. That was my next question. All right. Anything else? I have a couple of extra. Yeah, go ahead. If I may, council members, um, these will be just quick. Um, how are you guys, any of you members at the Victoria Rec Center?

Yes. No.

No. The reason is we are going through a change with that facility and part of that is going to be research from you guys. Um I always say the job requires reading the packet going out being curious digging into topics. Um we have a lot of different opportunities and things that are happening with the rec center that's very different than where it currently sits today. Um, are we going to take over full ownership of it? Are we going to do other things with it? We don't know. But we're going to lean on you guys to go back out and do a lot of that research. I watch all of the videos. I don't go to a lot of the meetings, but I watch all and I listen to everything you do, and I take notes on it. So, I'm hoping you guys can help catapult us up into a smarter decision based on that for what we're doing from the rec center um um viewpoint. Um, I guess my last question for you is how many lakes can you name in the city of Victoria?

Do you have the actual number? I don't know what the actual number is. I think Amanda might know it, so that'd be cheating. I don't I don't know a number off the top of my head. I was going through names of I I know I know this is this is one five. Who's got the most? I think I can name. My husband would kill me if I couldn't name them because he fishes them. Can you phone a friend? Yeah, phone. Uh, should we name them off and like see? Yeah. Um, obviously Stiger, Wasserman, Pearson. Um, uh, you could consider

Minnotonka. I know. There's an edge. Minnetonka, Minasha, there's Marsh Lake. Um although that's not accessible to most people, but um Virginia, we have city. We have residents who live on Virginia. Yeah. Tamarak. Schultz. Yeah. Shoots. Y shoots. Sorry, I always put an L in there. Church. Church. Got one left. Bavaria. Oh, is that actually I don't think so. Actually, a lad. I've driven by the latter part of the alphabet.

Okay. There's a couple. Is there one atra? Yep. Zumbra. Zumbra. Oh, three. There's 13, right? 13 lakes. She says she's got two more. I I thought there was like 15. I didn't hear Auburn. Did somebody say No, Auburn's one. We did say, didn't we say? Anyway, that was just a fun closing question. pond. Yep. Does is that considered there's I want to say there's is Kelzer big enough. We consider everything a lake. I got a pothole with water. I thought it was 13 but you know the Savannah Valley um we should

you did that. That was actually a very fun exercise because I I could well with most wanted to end with something fun, right? Aren't a lot of the areas if I remember right from Victoria Elementary, the the areas of the school are the different lakes, right? So yes, yes tomorrow so I can cheat. There you go. Call you tomorrow. You guys forgot one. We do not have kids in the school system. So, this is it's good perspective listening to Yeah. to that. The rec center though, can I ask a follow-up question? Absolutely.

Um well, and actually it's so there's a lot of people like myself who after COVID just I don't leave my basement to work out. I have my Pelaton equipment and that's all I need. But that is really interesting. it would be a fun conversation to have with the with the local people about what would get you in there because when you said that I immediately thought, oh no, I don't use the rec center. Um, but maybe I should. So that's kind of be interesting to dig into that a little bit. Yeah. Which is which is prompts me to ask you, do any of you have questions for us? Yeah, Owen. I may.

Yeah. Owen, please. Is your favorite one, ice cream flavor? Oh. And two, favorite part about being on the council. Council member Patterson, you want to go first? Um, community engagement. And um I think I like Superman the best. It's that or some sort of chocolate rocky road thing. But anyway, council member Refe,

I'll start with the the tough one, but it is still Caramel Collision is my favorite and it always will be over at the social. Um, community engagement is is big and just watching Victoria evolve and being a part of that evolution. Uh my family and I have lived here for oh 25 years now. So it's just been fun and to be a part of it on the with the with the team here. It's been it's been a lot of fun to watch that evolution.

All right. Ice cream mint chocolate chip. And my favorite thing is how much I've learned and the amazing people that I have met. I have met some really incredible people and just have learned so much. It's been so rewarding and fun. Council member Roberts. Um, I would say I I can't remember if it's called just if it's just peanut butter ecstasy or if it's chocolate peanut butter ecstasy, but it's Yeah, big chunks of peanut butter and chocolate is amazing. all of the

and then I would say um probably the favorite part would be working with city staff and city manager and my council members because as the mayor has said many times we have the best staff around and so I I would say there are times where I would not be doing this if it wasn't for how great our city staff was. So you will get to work with them if you're on park and Rex and they're amazing. So I would say that is my favorite part is interacting with them and that's in this building and all right like our public works, our fire crew, right? Like I mean they're all amazing people. So

speaking of the city staff, I would love to hear from you and you what your favorite ice cream flavor is and of course your favorite part about working here. Claudia first. Um I was there this summer and I believe that they had like a mango because it was

Yeah, it there was milk in it. That was my favorite ice cream. I know they had the lemon one, but when I went back I think it was gone. and just all the new interesting people that I've met, not just employees, but um people that have come to city hall and just learning the new about the developments. It is exciting for me. Okay. Um chocolate peanut butter. Council member Roberts and um for me it's all about building community um and leaving a place better than when you found it. All right question. Yes, please.

Oh, this could be tough from the Well, well, now I'm like I can bring this back. I might have one more meeting. Um, what could park and wreck do to make your job in making the actual decisions easier? So, so Park and Wreck doesn't have any of the I don't know how to say I'm not any of the power. The park and wreck makes the recommendations. Park andre is an advisory board. Thank you. Advisory committee.

So, yep. So we solely make the recommendations and then you guys have the tough tougher job. So what could park andre do to make your job easier?

You know we always say you guys have the tougher job because you do all the heavy lifting for us and then come to us with a recommendation. And one of the things that I will tell you is we feel very confident in the work of our committees and our commissions. They do great work. they have um they hold it to a very high standard. And so we almost almost always I can only think of maybe a couple of times in my time here behind the dis that we've not taken a recommendation from a committee or a commission. Um so I I would say keep up the good work. Um, I don't know that there's anything I I always feel like you guys provide a really great perspective for us to consider as we're making decisions. So, I appreciate that.

Yeah, I wouldn't say that anything better. I think it's just all of the amazing things that are going to be happening. Right. So, right, we've got downtown west that are going to be happening that's going to have park areas, right? We've got um uh you know we have we you know just all these changes that are going to be happening and these opportunities to find whether it's the next destination park somewhere or it's how are we going to um you know really get people to come to our downtown west area not just for the businesses but for that community engagement. And so it's not something that you to do better. But those are the things that I think are going to be really fun for you guys to work on in that because it's going to be a blank slate, blank canvas really, like to do a lot of amazing things down there

because that's what we want. We want people to come, right? Yeah. So, I think a lot of it's been said, but uh show excitement for it and continue to show excitement uh for what's going on and what's happened and be visible in the community, which you guys tonight have already shown a lot of excitement in your own way, which is great. Uh that's I think a huge step in this. So, join the rec center, come to my office hours, which are 8 am Tuesday and Thursday during yoga class. we talk afterwards. Um I was gonna say the yoga instructor is not happy about your office hours.

I scream I scream in there late, but usually there's a gap of time afterwards where I get to engage with a lot of different people. But um that's just a joke. But in a on a more serious level, Amanda, like read the packet, learn the situation, research the situation. I sometimes do it here, but I call out people that don't engage during the conversation and it may be too much, but ask three questions on it. Even if it's something you think you know the answer to or it's been covered, it's something that educates everybody else and it educates everybody else who's watching. So, you're kind of covering the topic a little bit better. Um, again, this is nitpicking the one to 2%. I think 98% of what you guys do is right, but um just some ideas on on how to maybe perform a little bit better. Um but that's that would be it for me, but thank you for asking. All right, any final questions? All right, with that we're going to wrap it up. So, thank you so much for being here with us tonight and applying to be on these commissions. We do have um two open seats, correct? Two open seats and a student seat. So, right. So, even if we end up not selecting you, please come back and try again. Oftentimes, we'll put um alternates and we put people kind of on deck. So, if some, you know, cuz things change all the time with people's lives and they have to give up their their position and we we always love to have people ready to go. So, thank you again for um applying for being here this evening. We'll make our official appointments during our March 9th meeting. So, you can join us or watch us online or otherwise I'm sure the staff will get in touch with you. And with that, there's no more agendas on the no more agenda items for the workshop this evening. So, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn.

Move to adjurnn. We have a motion. Can I get a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. We stand adjourned and we'll be convening our regular city council meeting in 10 minutes. Thanks. The United