NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 2010
Happy 2010! We hope that the new year has started off fantastically for everyone. Now that the holidays are over and the decorations are slowly being put back in storage, it’s time to bring everyone up-to-date with some items of importance concerning all who live in the City of Victor.

TRASH CONTAINERS
With Thursday being designated as this area’s trash pick up day, we ask that you NOT put your trash bins out until Thursday morning during the wintertime. This poses a hazard for our Public Works staff when they are plowing the streets and may end up with your bin being misplaced. We also ask that you remember to remove the trash bins after they have been emptied to save your bin from moving to another’s property or being destroyed. Thanks for your cooperation with this effort.

WATER RUN IN WINTER
The city has a concern pertaining to those of you residing in the Old Town
Section of Victor. If You are running water to keep your pipes from freezing, please use an outdoor hose instead of running water
in an indoor sink. It’s more costly to pump the culinary water and even more cost is incurred when the water going down the drain gets transported to Driggs through our sewer system. A trickle of water running the width of a pencil would be an appropriate “size” to run. We appreciate your cooperation.

SNOW REMOVAL
Our Public Works department is asking for residents’ cooperation as they plow your neighborhoods. Please do not push snow across the city streets or roads. It is illegal. All driveways need to have the snow pushed inwardly instead of out to the road. The ruts that are left if the snow is pushed into the streets will build up and cause future hazardous driving conditions. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

SEWER SYSTEM – RESIDENTS OF
WILLOW CREEK AND BROOKSIDE HOLLOW SUBDIVISIONS – Please be cautious as to what you are flushing into the sewer system. People residing in these two subdivisions are flushing sanitary products, heavy weighted paper towels and disposable medical bedsheets. Another concern is GREASE – it not only builds up in the pipes but also does serious damage to the lift stations. Public Works has to unplug the clogged up lift stations two to three times a month due to the above problems. For example, Pump Station #3 had recently broken down and the cost to fix it was $7,000. (Four days later the pump was clogged again and had to be cleaned out.) If you consider that cost and times it by say three yearly episodes - you can imagine what problems this causes with the city’s budget. If this $21,000 was billed back to each household - there are 151 households on the pump station - the cost to each household would be approximately $139.07.

The City does have access to the necessary technology to be able to track down the offenders. Victor’s City Council is considering area specific rates and/or fines to try to rectify this situation. Please take the steps necessary to see that this does not have to occur. Due to the severity of the situation, a Spanish translated version of this section immediately follows.


SISTEMA de alcantarillado – residentes de WILLOW Caleta Y subdivisiones hueco de BROOKSIDE – por favor ser cauteloso como a lo que están volcando en el sistema de alcantarillado. Personas que residen en estas dos subdivisiones están vaciando productos higiénicos, toallas de papel ponderada pesada y sábanas médicos desechables. Otra preocupación es la grasa: no sólo se acumula en las tuberías sino también hace daño grave a las estaciones de ascensor. Obras públicas tiene que desconectar la obstrucción por estaciones de ascensor dos a tres veces al mes debido a los problemas mencionados. Por ejemplo, bomba estación # 3 recientemente había roto y el costo para arreglarlo fue $ 7,000. (Cuatro días más tarde la bomba fue atascada nuevamente y tuvo que limpiarse.) Si se tiene en cuenta los costos y tiempos por decir tres episodios anuales - se pueden imaginar qué problemas esto provoca con presupuesto de la ciudad. Si este 21.000 dólares se facturó a cada hogar - hay 151 hogares en la estación de bombeo - el costo de cada hogar sería aproximadamente $ 139.07.

La ciudad tiene acceso a la tecnología necesaria para poder realizar un seguimiento de los infractores. Ayuntamiento de Victor está considerando las tasas específicas de área o multas para intentar rectificar esta situación. Por favor, tomar las medidas necesarias para ver que esto no tiene que ocurrir.

LEASH YOUR DOG!
For those of you who rent homes/are a renter – please be advised that the City of Victor does have a leash law and we are requesting that all owners inform their tenants that dogs are not allowed to run loose in neighborhoods. Those who follow the rules are having a hard time walking their dogs when these “at large” dogs are harassing the leashed pets. Please do the responsible thing and be a good neighbor and a good pet owner.

MUSIC ON MAIN
Teton Valley Foundation has filed a request for proposals for a possible new venue for this popular musical summer event. Victor’s City Council is considering submitting an application. If you’d like to comment the matter, please drop off your written comments to City Hall, attend the January 13th City Council meeting, or send your emails to susanc@victorcityidaho.com.

ENVISION VICTOR UPDATE FROM DAHVI WILSON
Happy holidays and a joyous New Year from Envision Victor! It is hard to believe that a whole year has already passed, but the project has made some incredible progress, and we are very excited about what is on the horizon. Let me tell you a bit more.

Envision Victor is well on track with its two-year work plan to implement a new kind of planning in our City – a process that is focused on engaging our citizens, bridging our divisions, and honoring our shared values – in order to realize a vibrant and enduring Victor for years to come. In this first year, our goal was to build a strong sense of what makes Victor so special to the residents who live here. Through public gatherings, story circles, story nights, and story interviews, we heard from people all across our community, and we helped Victorites make some new friends. We learned more about our common ground, and to our great delight, we realized just how much Victor residents share. We also worked on some great action projects including the opening of Pierre’s playhouse, several volunteer landscaping days, designing visual gateways along the highways entering Victor, and creating the new Victor Community Partnership to support our non-profits and small businesses.

Envision Victor has been busy, and we are well prepared to start the second phase of our project this January. Now that we have a sense of what matters most to the residents of our town, we are ready to begin exploring how our development plans can support those values. On January 15, we will unveil our findings from 2009, sharing the seven values that rang out as central themes for Victorites through our story sharing exercises. This event will be held at Victor’s Elementary School from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Please join us for this important event. We look forward to celebrating the discovery of this common ground, and we welcome the input from community to make sure we’ve gotten it right. Once we hone in on these seven values, we will build an interactive and highly cutting-edge tool that will allow us to assess how particular development options support or detract from them.

And we will still need your help! Understanding our community’s values is only the first step. From here, we will have to define what these values mean to us and how they are reflected in our community’s physical form. Over the next several months, we will be hosting story circles, interactive public meetings, house parties, and town gatherings to make sure we hear from you. The plans we create today will shape Victor for years to come. We hope you will participate in some of these meetings and encourage your friends and family to do the same. For our part, we will work to make all of our gatherings fun, interesting, and meaningful. We look forward to seeing you soon!

EMAIL ADDRESS
The City is trying to build an electronic database of property owners email addresses so that we can communicate more quickly, regularly and efficiently. Please email your contact information to susanc@victorcityidaho.com We realize that not everyone has an email address and will, of course, continue our quarterly newsletter mailings to supplement our more frequent e-newsletters.

PLEASE NOTE: When sending in utility bill payments, please do not staple your check to the bill. If you choose to write the account number on the memo line, you don’t need to send in the stub. Also note that the last day of the month is not the due date. Please check the bill to see when the payment is due and you will avoid late charges. Thank you.