##VIDEO ID:BIMBaGBNKY0## e e e e e e e e e e G to mute mic or unmute mics all yours call this meeting of the uh Victoria senior advisory committee to order and we'll do the roll call uh Richard's here Dave kleinfeld's here Patrick's here and Lena is here so we're good right you record that do we have any petitions proclamations suggestions or complaints Alissa none from me you know I do have some events but these are all the same that we talked about um just a couple of weeks ago so I'll just refresh your memory but I won't get into them in detail um just a reminder we do have the health and wellness Expo coming up in January that's hosted by the chamber so get that added to your calendar um light of Victoria is this Thursday unfortunately it's the only really cold day throughout the week so we're hoping that the weatherman might be incorrect and that we'll see some 30° on Thursday evening just to keep it a little bit warmer than the teens um and then the Bingo Bash just getting that on your calendar we still haven't published the the winter brochure but it will be coming out soon and then um still missed that typo I don't know how I forgot that um but the flu vaccine for Carver County um at the Carver County Government Center is going to be this week and then throughout December so that is all I have any committee members have anything to add we're good we'll move on to uh minutes and is there a motion to approve the minutes from November 20 I so move thanks Richard we have second a second all those in favor say I I any oppose same sign motion carries we'll go on to new business since there's no old business we're going to call on Alysa to run through our senior resource guide update wonderful I'm going to try and make this a little bigger as we go through this so um as we have been through multiple times before each December we go through the senior resource guide and make some edits make some adjustments make some additions so it's ready for 2025 or the next year's publication so throughout this last couple of months we've been getting updates from various um community members and businesses so we've been adjusting it along the way and then um for today's conversation I've redlined those changes so then we can get those updated on our website and then the print copy as well so I'm just going to run through the redline changes this is in the agenda packet um and if you see anything that you want to make changes on please let me know like this isn't um in stone so like this is what we're here to do today is just make sure that everything's correct or it looks right um and if there's any changes we can make sure that before it goes to print so with that I'm just going to scroll down so I didn't make any changes to the general information so I'm going to skip that for now um if there's any changes I did make them in the main document and then I'll make the adjustments if everything's okay in the main document to this um kind of General document or general information page the letter from the mayor um one of the changes that we updated and this is a new section is and it's kind of hard to see in that dark red and that dark blue but and also with that being said don't worry about formatting um once you do track changes and the redlining formatting gets a little odd so once everything is accepted I'm going make sure that the formatting is cleaned up so it looks nice when it is available for the public to see um but anyway so the first area that we added was the Victoria Fire Department last year we added a section for the city of Victoria just a general information something that we didn't have in years prior um we decided to extend that this year to include their non-emergency information how do you reach out to the fire department if you have questions um obviously their emergency information and um some just additional programs and information that the fire department offers a lot of this happens to be on our website but if you don't know what to look for the Search terms or you're just not familiar with the website we thought this would be a really good addition um so we did have information on the outdoor warning sirens we do get questions about that every single year once uh the weather warms up and the sirens start again or at November time when they don't hear the sirens and they're wondering why the sirens only run from March to October and then we added fire department programs so like I said the formatting is a little off so there is no spacing here there will be that spacing there um but there is fire alarm and carbon monoxide alarm battery checks that the fire department does if you need assistance um can't climb ladders or it's just too high of a ceiling they'll be able to come out change your batteries um or do replacements for you they do do blood pressure checks at the fire station if anyone is interested in that and then they do um offer nox commercial products and I I shouldn't say offer but they do um work with that program so if anyone has a a nox box which is something you can have outside of your home outside of your business um they'll be able to have a key to plug into that so instead of breaking Open Your Door during emergencies they can use that knockbox to then access your home so it's just another Avenue um in case of emergencies knockbox is something that opens the door to your house it's like there's a box at the exterior of your house so you can put like a key or code in oh and so then the fire department has their own key it's more of a universal thing that they can go in unlock it let's say there's a fire or they're responding to a medical emergency instead of breaking your door they can access that and then um enter your Housey and nobody else can get one of those keys right correct y hey there's a typo up above on oh where did you see it yes thank you y I was just going to ask um so the National Weather Service does a separate check of our Sirens here locally which I know was kind of unexpected this year it didn't come on Wednesday the first Wednesday of the month at 1 p.m. um and a couple of my neighbors were really alarmed is that something that we could add to this so people know what's coming I would have to find more information specifically about when the National Weather Service does do that we can make that addition I'm just looking onl find it but yeah yeah they they don't come on the first Wednesday of the month separate times and some other fun tidbit information um Minnesota doesn't require agencies to do outdoor siren testing and they don't even actually require specific time however a lot of agencies in Carver County manages are um outdoor warning siren alarm system and the testing for that um but what I'm trying to get at is even though that the state doesn't mandate that you have to do it at 1 pm. on the first Wednesday all of the municipalities and counties in Minnesota have worked together to make sure that is the universal time for Minnesota to conduct these testing so just more of a fun tidbit to that so yeah if we have the National Weather time frame and I can do some digging on that afterwards too we can add that on there um we just had some change in phone numbers so you'll see that as well as some change in websites to some caregiver supports um resources um we did add a section and this is under or not a section we did add a a resource under Financial um within the last year trellis has added pension and retirement rights um just a service that they provide to help people talk through and walk through some of the benefits that they might have um once they get into that retirement age so we wanted to include that on here minor changes to health and wellness phone numbers um we did change some things to the Community Action Partnership or cap through Scott Carver and Dakota counties um specifically what you might have seen in years past is that they had meal pickup services or even um luncheon programs on site they have switched that over the years um and now they have senior Meals on Wheels that ensure that people do have accessibilities uh do have access to healthy meals within the county do we have a delivery option here locally no other than Humanity Alliance okay so yeah then we removed all the meal pickup locations for that too and I do believe Meals on Wheels is a program that is delivery but I would have to find more information on that for for them too but they do work with Victoria um Institute on Aging is no longer offered um so we removed that as part of this um Food Shelf wonan United is now gather and grow same location more changes to websites and then um some additional things under home health and maintenance services is that there is a car repair assistance grant through Love INC that we included on here um I'm not sure the time frame on this this does seem to be just a short-term Grant through Carver County um to Aid those that need help with car repairs or just the the financial um assistance with car repairs so this might go away over some time but I did want to include it now and then the other one is we offer um the City offers a utility rebate program for purchase of water efficient appliances and fixtures so with that we also included Love INC as they do have a variety of different networks and resources out there um we didn't include every single resource that they have on there what Love INC really does is they have a network a religious institution and churches um that respond to different specific needs so if you go on their website or call they can connect you with maybe a local church that provides things like health and hygiene products where another one might do clothing or another one might do some furniture so just that generic resource we added on here to help people get in the right direction do they have a warehouse somewhere where they keep this stuff like I said each they kind of Branch it to each of the churches churches do this yep so they have that collection or they more or less say here's the Hub and then you can go to each of these individual churches one example is so freshwater Church based out of Bonia does this they have a a local Furniture Depot that they have on their own site um that people can come up and buy discounted furniture for them and then we also added Minnesota Harding taskforce as a resource as well and then um on another rebate program Minnesota Valley Electric has their own rebate program down below I believe we included Excel Energy yep which is a similar program they have a senior discount program not necessarily a rebate program but both of those services are provided in Victoria it just depends on your address so we wanted to make sure that both of those were included and then um the Southwest Metro lending library this is a new resource in um Carver County specifically in the chasa Victoria and Chan hasset area um what this does and if you haven't looked at it yet it's actually a really cool resource um so if you can go and look at their um catalog of different appliances tools whatever you might need maybe you want to host a a birthday party and you want to have a different or variety of lawn games but you don't necessarily want to buy all those lawn games you can rent them um from them and pick them up and then just bring them back um at either a no cost or a low charge similar with things with like different types of tools if you don't if you have maybe like a wood shop project that you need but you don't necessarily want to buy a circular saw they might have that on hand or something so this um just happened recently or we just found this out um late last week so I will be removing this from the page um but Emerald Crest Memory Care is no longer in Victoria um we are looking and a new owner has been looking at potential options for that space But I will be removing that um after we get done with this meeting and approve this is the building still there the building is still there obviously y but it's empty it would be empty uh I know they're trying to and if they haven't all done it already they're they're working on making sure that it's empty of all res legal is a section I believe we added last year maybe two years ago um but we just extended that to include Carver County's Law Library um which just a resource that people might not be aware of that happens to just be in the government center in the basement so they have a ton of free resources um tons of different law books if you haven't been in there before and then they also have a computer system which has access to a lot of Law related materials that you might have to pay for otherwise can we add the phone number uh it should have the phone number there oh there it isg though does not have a phone number probably what you were looking at Patrick do they have a library in there yeah manages said at the moment it's vacant but it's going to be posted soon yeah that is that used very often can't imagine people unless you're in prison you want to be a Gill's lawyer you know well it's often used by attorneys to look up case law um but i' I've not worked in there so I just don't know sure I know we've been out without someone for nine months and no one is screaming interesting um there is the Minnesota Elder Justice Center that we included on there this year as well changes to phone numbers websites the other one that we added for vision is the National Library service for the Blind and print disabled so this is done by the National Library service they have an additional Branch from that uh if you're familiar with the national library and the programs that they do um that more or less administers um and provides users Braille copies or recorded materials for folks that not necessarily can't see or can't see that well or can handle typical print materials so it's just another Avenue and resource people might be able to reach out to they me in that service there's also uh a Minnesota library for the uh blind as well is that separate from the state one well there's the state services for the Blind and then there's the Minnesota State library for the Blind and fairbolt thank you I'll add that then I believe the last major change that was I'm sorry it's the Minnesota Braille and talking book library is the actual title thank you yeah we will get that added thank you I should noticed it three years ago no worries there's a lot of things on here I'm like how did I not do that before to know MH there is there's just a lot of good resources out there it's hard to sometimes find them um and then the last change um we did add a section for voting and elections um as we did have the election this last year we just saw an additional um number of people that would come up to City Hall just asking you know how do I vote what do what do I need to know for voting um where do I vote just all those type of questions um either that or they called us asking similar questions so we just wanted to provide those resources out there um obviously the city we have an election website that just is like a hub that directs people to each of these links but we also wanted to provide um direct access to you know the Carver County elections office who administers the election for Carver County as well as absentee voting um Minnesota voting registration and then full placefinder which is something the Secretary of State's put out you put in your address and it tells you exactly where you're going to vote the address um as well as voting hours and such again is there a way to add phone numbers for as many of possible just because don't if we can find them we can do that I believe Elections office for Carver County does have a phone number I should be able to add for that the poll Place finder is a a resource for the Secretary of State's information or website I could add their generic number I also don't want to add something that might not necessarily direct them to the rate space but I can see if I can find something for that is there a chance of getting a phone number for absentee voting too so I tried that up and finally gave up I can see if I can find something the absentee for Carver County should be the Carver County elections office okay but I'll see if there's anything for the state of Minnesota that's specific and that's maybe something we add in here too to your point Richard um there's a lot of questions about absentee voting the secretary of state does have a lot of information about what's allowed so that could just be another section or another area that we add in here yes we have the Minnesota voting registration put above that we could do Minnesota voting absentee information well I would just add it to is rather adding it's a separate thing if you want to put either Carver County because it's on the car County elections office and just put to learn about more about the election process including absentee voting or if you want to put under Minnesota vote of registration addition to registering on Election Day or doing absentee ballot rather than adding a separate but I think that's a question we got a lot at the library this year lots of election questions so with that that is all the changes for this year's uh Senior Resource guide thoughts changes recommendations questions and and it may not exist anymore um or it may just be a Chan thing do we have we don't have a section on support groups um I'm just trying there used to be a caregiver support group but that may have been based in aonia are you thinking of Encore yeah they ran them that's right Encore went out of business that's okay we do have a section for caregiver support um it's a lot of these aren't necessarily local because yes we don't necessarily have Encore anymore B um if we do if anyone does hear of any more local type of caregiver support groups please let me know because I think that would be a great addition to have on here because a lot of them are either um online b or they're run by the state or federal support but support that a church runs I'll I'll check with um Mary at Chan Senior Center she may know of ones that are in the general area and I know we don't we want this to be as Vic specific as possible or 800 numbers um but I will check with her she may know of something just curious I remember when we started this project you know you were doing a lot of the most of the work on it but is this a like a replica of what other towns are doing so that you can share and do you look at other communities resources to see if we got holes I would love to say that every city in Minnesota offers something similar to this but and even when we started it seemed like this was a huge gap um that people don't necessarily have something like this Senior Resource guide um there are some areas that I know I've pulled from in years past where I've gotten at least kind of where do we start like what kind of section should we have should we have a caregiver support section Financial all those type of things and then we could plug in the pieces um at this point I've definitely looked um to see if other Senior Communities or spaces with a senior center have something I haven't necessar found that either um other areas and avenues that I've looked at are just through um the state of Minnesota has an extensive Senior Resource help desk um asking them if they know of any additional resources that have popped up as well as just looking on our federal sites as well seeing if there's anything that has popped up um for our local area in the last couple of years or so so when we find new things um it tends to just be you know just seeing if there's anything new not necessarily does this Exist Elsewhere and then some of the additions such as the elections those are things like what we just heard over the last couple of years we know that that's a big question we should probably add something related to that um there's a lot of other community um groups that have popped up and maybe this is actually something I should add um knowing that there's not a local newspaper that's another resource that I used to look at is seeing if there's anything in there I have been looking at the wakia Patriot to see if there's anything in that area but um there is this new Carver County local news group that's based out of Chanhassen the better Society is more or less organizing it um they could be an additional add to here is just another way to find more information interesting not necessarily answering your question no you're you're getting there so this is there a like a league of municipali or something of Professional Association for the cities in Minnesota there is the league of Minnesota cities and that's a general Hub of re excuse me resources when it comes to running a municipality when it comes into senior services that's not necessarily Branch they get into they get into more General coverage of um loss and control of recreation programs not necessarily programs that you should include does that does that group have like an annual meeting where the city managers go and things like that they do have a variety of different conferences they have their big state conference and then they also have um workshops throughout the year the one thing I don't know um just because I'm not necessarily tapped into the recreation world is if there is um more focused um adult programming groups out there through the state of Minnesota there's a lot of different types of associations and groups I'm in one just for assistant city managers yeah um they're and I know our Parks director and our Parks team is engaged in the Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association and they have a lot of subgroups underneath there related to facility use to sports associations they might have something for adults that this might be more Geared for that we could send around to them to see if they have any additional resources part of the reason why I asked is I think this is impressive the work you got here with a little bit of help from us and it's worth sharing get on the program at one of those professional associations or conferences and say here's what we did in Victoria it's worth sharing with other places that want to get started it might promt them you know I would completely agree and I can't take any credit this is really the committee's brainchild of we need this this is something that you know as if you remember because you were well the only one in this room that started at that time we had a lot of speakers that had a lot of information but we didn't necessarily know how to educate the rest of the community about them or how do we piece them together um into a way that we could just pass out to the rec or to the regular community so this has really been um I don't know the first big project of this committee and I think it's been wonderful and as you guys know I'm talking to other representatives of Carver County um they've copied this and just kind of taken it for their own cuz there isn't there isn't this yes we're sharing is my point other places may need to change out some of the stuff but the basic idea would help them a lot to get started absolutely yeah and this is things that we can share um and we have done in this in the past trellis is our Region's kind of Office of Aging um obviously Carver County does a Carver County one when we're talking about henen and and Carver County and this area um trellis is what they call it that used to be the Minnesota Office of Aging the Minnesota Southwest Branch they've rebranded and you see the bunch of their resources we can share that with this with them as well and see if they want to have any additions because that's always helpful but to um see if they want to pass this out to the general Community find a Facebook Community yeah I'll do some research um I have three small things one on the one's a copy edit thing sorry I hate copy editing you're good um on the top of this page M reservations must be made seven business days in advance seven should be spelled out we can do that and then I love having you here p and then if you go to the top oh thanks um just the very first page is there I pick up this physical document does it tell me where I can find it as an online document it does not that is a wonderful so maybe on the page uh or if not on have the whole address at least the city of Victoria website on the front page MH and then the last one Is Me Being Greedy where you have the tool library that section is we loan out Hotspots for people oh yes um and that's kind of a I forgot what that section is um you know we have the I you have the library listed so I like I said I'm being greedy no I think that's a wonderful resource of and just to say this out loud for people that do not know Carver County the library does have a lending for hotspots and I know around ice fishing time it gets really really popular while youed but it is available all year around for anyone that is looking for that extra resource I might put that under Home Services because that is more of an Internet um question and I think we have other things like cyber skers in that section too so thanks for bringing that up and uh if you just go to our website I can either send it to you there's a place that says hot spots and it tells you all about them yeah so on that line Alissa can you walk us through the city website where this is located how you would find it if you're you if you can just query it at the city site and it'll pop up you have to know how to sort through some pages let me jot down the the hotspot Edition quick and then I can definitely go through that just don't want to forget um options for you it is under Community under Community Services there is a Senior Resource section okay you should be able to search I'm just going to type in senior and hit enter and it will be the first one that shows up as well as you senior advisory committee so there are two options to find it on the website good very nice thank you um underneath that we do have right away way the senior resource guide so this is the older version that people can look at right now and then um we also have senior recreational opportunities that link directly right to our Parks and Recreation Registration site and then um just as quick links we did pull out some generic information we thought would be helpful to have quickly on the page that's a good idea so like the senior linkage line um arp Ina help. info um it follows the same organizational it does yep perfect nice would it be worth scroll back up to the beginning um in the in the Senior Resource helpful links well I doubt anyone no never mind no because my my my comment would be below is a selected list of state Regional resources blah blah blah blah blah then at the in to find more resources and then a link back to the gu the guide definitely add something like that what does it mean view current opportunities oh that's the recreation stuff okay sorry resour suggestion for the guide yes possible addition um in the finance section a lot of my clients who are seniors um don't know that they can apply for a property tax or rental refund or senior tax deferral um because they're social security check they just don't you know file taxes and there's a really easy site and phone number that I can send youa for the Minnesota Department of Revenue that they can just call that form that would be wonderful thank you the second one is in the veterans resource section there's a little known agency Minnesota called s s o um and it's specifically designed for veterans to access um veterans and Social Security benefits that they didn't know they had access to and same thing there's website we can get both of those added thank you anything else best chance you can always text or email Melissa with any additions when does this go to press then officially we'll probably work on it through the rest of the month I don't anticipate us taking very long and we'll probably get it out at least by mid to end December yeah great very nice good work I have a question yeah um who decides the agenda for 2025 so that is a great question so the question is who sets the agenda for 2025 and obviously as people have been around here they probably know that answer um but there is a work plan that we start going through um probably January February and March maybe not January February and March that we'll start kind of I identifying you know what is the vision for the committee in the next year our committee year starts in April so then it will end in April um and then that needs to be reviewed and approved by city council they're the ones that technically set committee Direction um obviously with committee suggestions um so we'll get that approved in April but the committee will start working on it in February the work plan then is kind of the agenda for the committee yes yeah well it's kind of the agenda for the whole year but so yeah take us to the site and show trying to see if it's on our website even it might not be let me see if I can find it on here okay and then on that note while you're searching um love to see our senior community locally part of that work agenda and I was thinking again on theer statements that are sent out given you the first couple months of the year is it possible to send a one or two page survey to those mailed clients they're getting mail um and then also added in the emailed survey um section just asking what would they like to see and did you know there's a SE resource guide we had of our re when we went to the survey you know real a lot of people didn't even know that we had either and I think it'd be great to get their input for our agenda this is going to be easier to find my apologies because it would have been approved in April agenda roughly that time frame there it is part good for something yeah oh there a second oh it's not even pulling up the attachment however never mind thought that was going to work let's try this one instead there we are yes um so this is what we have for 2024 and obviously we'll review this at when we get closer to discussing it in more detail in February and March but obviously the first one is what we just conducted it's reviewed that resource pack for relevancy and accuracy um continue to recommen recommend ways to better in our communication efforts um suggestion just King forward thank you um continue to be that downtown west stakeholder as we start moving forward with that conversation and progression walking trails and routes that's something we're going to kick back up again starting in January um in 2023 we did that walking route uh audit as a committee now we're going to go through and actually have some sort of study that we're going to have um put together so we have recommendations that then we can bring to either the the parks committee or once we're updating walking trails walking Maps things like that that we're including in there the second to last one is continue to engage with the Carver County Office of Aging as you know we try and have a representative at every meeting but they do have a vacancy right now which I did get a message from them saying they're hoping to share the good news soon um and then the last one is explore what a senior facility could look like in Victoria which has been a lot of our discussions this year is related to the recreation center in the future of that St space so that is for 2024 um up until April of 2025 any other items comments questions we're going to need a motion then to approve the resource guide as presented and amended anybody want to make that motion thank you there a second thank you Elena all those in favor of approval of the updated resource guide say I hi and any opposed same sign it carries we'll get to New guide ready role and now we'll move down to other business does anyone have other business bring before the committee today anything from you Alysa none from me chair okay let's move on to adjournment then we need a motion to adjourn we got lots of choices here thank you in a second second it's moved and seconded all those in favor say I I any opposed same sign motion carries and we're adjourned e e