Based on the context provided, this transcript is a **2020 Year in Review** presentation. In municipal government, this type of formal address is typically delivered by the Mayor as a "State of the City" report, even when referring to themselves in the third person in a scripted format. The speaker refers to both the City Administrator (Christina Volkers) and the Mayor (Kevin Zabel) in the third person at the [4:40] mark; however, given the official nature of the "Year in Review" and the speaker's list, this role most traditionally falls to **Mayor Kevin Zabel**. [0:04] Kevin Zabel: like other cities and communities across the globe much of the past year in oakdale has revolved around response to the covet 19 pandemic the city met its priority to maintain the health and safety of the community and city employees without interruption to service delivery by promoting online services and providing other contactless means of doing business such as adding drop-off boxes for utility payments and building permits the city received 2.1 million dollars in cares act funding which among other covid related expenses was largely used to purchase personal protective equipment cleaning supplies and to fund improvements in city facilities aimed at helping minimize risk of exposure the city also used some of the funds to benefit the community [0:49] Kevin Zabel: including a donation to the christian covered emergency food shelf most of the city's large events were canceled this year due to restrictions on gathering size including the city's annual summerfest celebration normally held in june the city's recreation department adjusted many of their programs to accommodate smaller gathering sizes and added new virtual programs to allow for more remote participation several programs experienced success within the covid climate including this year's farmers market which saw a record number of shoppers throughout the season we were able to provide a safe place for consumers shop and vendors to network with added signage additional spacing and hand-washing sanitizing stations throughout the annual community walk was also a huge success with more than 300 [1:36] Kevin Zabel: registered participants many businesses in oakdale were required to reduce capacity or close temporarily due to covet 19 related restrictions in response the city developed several resources to assist businesses including the covet recovery business loan program which provides low interest loans up to ten thousand dollars to qualifying businesses and programs specifically aimed at supporting dining establishments including temporary mobile food vendor licenses and temporary outdoor dining assistance many residents transitioning to work from home arrangements took advantage of the opportunity to tackle long-awaited home improvement projects including new roofs driveways windows decks and other projects [2:23] Kevin Zabel: overall the building department issued 2 532 building permits in 2020 with a total valuation of 85 million which is more than double the total valuation in 2019 public safety response has shifted in light of the pandemic over the last year the oakdale fire department has seen an increase in call volume most notably in mental health calls an effort to bring joy and levity to the community early on in the pandemic oakdale fire and police departments partnered to conduct drive-by birthday and special event parades in may the oakdale police with support from the oakdale fire department public works in washington county successfully managed civil unrest [3:10] Kevin Zabel: experienced in the community following the death of george floyd following the period of unrest oakdale public safety officials facilitated a community conversation with members of the public to answer questions and to help strengthen and heal a hurting community the forum was broadcast on channel 16 and youtube 2020 was also a unique year in that it was both the year of the decennial census and an election year census day was april 1st 2020. by this date every home had received an invitation to participate in the census minnesota led the country with the highest self-response rate of 75.1 percent oakdale had a self-response rate of 84.8 [3:55] Kevin Zabel: percent the sixth highest response rate in washington county oakdale city hall served as an absentee and early voting location for the 2020 election between september 18th and november 2nd 5166 people voted early at oakdale city hall and more than 50 percent of the registered voters in oakdale cast their ballot by november 2nd overall 16 831 oakdale residents voted in the 2020 election the oakdale ballot included two seats for oakdale city council of the eight residents that filed for candidacy the two incumbents jake ingebrigtsen and kevin zobel were re-elected to serve for another [4:40] Kevin Zabel: four years speaking of city leadership the city transitioned to new leadership this year in june the city welcomed new city administrator christina voelkers voters filled the position left by previous city administrator bart fisher who left the organization in november of 2019. [5:01] Kevin Zabel: craig dawson served as the interim city administrator from november 2019 through june 2020. the oakdale fire department also underwent change in leadership this year with fire chief jeff anderson retiring in july after serving the community for more than 41 years former deputy chief kevin wold was named new fire chief with joe carpentier stepping into the assistant chief role additionally the city said farewell to long-term building official bill schmidt who retired in march after 33 years with the city former building inspector cheryl mellgren was promoted to the role of building official after schmidt's departure among many shifting concerns the city prioritizes [5:46] Kevin Zabel: and takes pride in providing a high quality of life for all citizens of oakdale in 2020 the city conducted a community survey to gain insight from residents about city services and quality of life issues of the 1700 surveys that were sent to households selected at random 496 were completed the city also conducted a supplemental online survey that was open to all residents which received an additional 74 responses overall residents gave high marks for satisfaction with the city of oakdale with a 91 satisfaction rating for oakdale as a place to live and an 85 satisfaction rating for the overall quality of life in oakdale [6:33] Kevin Zabel: this year the city also started the process of updating its bike and pedestrian plan the new plan will guide improvements in accordance with the goals outlined in the city's comprehensive plan that will make oakdale a more bike and friendly community the process was initiated in march with an online survey issued to obtain resident input regarding walking and biking habits and preferences as well as identify issues and areas of concern the process which is in the public engagement phase was put on hold this summer the process will continue in spring of 2021 with the plan expected to be completed later next year it has been a busy and productive year in oakdale [7:18] Kevin Zabel: and we are looking forward to another full year ahead some of the things we can expect to see next year include in 2021 the fire department will be adding several new full-time positions as they continue to plan their transition from a volunteer paid on-call fire service to a full-time career fire department the city is also continuing to plan for the building of a new police station and a new public works facility both existing facilities are beyond capacity of operational needs the city is considering locations and funding sources earlier this year the minnesota pollution control agency and the minnesota department of natural resources announced [8:03] Kevin Zabel: options for long-term drinking water solutions for the east metro as part of a 2018 settlement with 3m the mpca and the dnr expect to finalize the east metro drinking water plan in early 2021 the city's water treatment facility in operation since 2006 currently treats water from two of the city's wells and has the capacity to supply typical water demands in 2021 the city will be constructing a temporary water treatment plant at well number seven which will further support the ability to meet peak demand in summer months and will also provide treated capacity for new developments such as willowbrook [8:49] Kevin Zabel: in september the city council approved development plans for willowbrook a new 208 acre mixed residential development that will include approximately 364 for sale single-family homes and 343 townhomes as well as 766 rental multi-family units ratings started this fall to prepare the site for the first phase of development development will continue next year including the construction of 40th street and potential home construction the gold line achieved 60 percent planned completion in 2020 there is a distinct possibility that in 2021 construction will begin in the residential portion of the development [9:35] Kevin Zabel: surrounding the new helmo transit station when complete the helmo station transit oriented development will provide 700 to 900 new housing units an estimated 146 000 square feet of employment space and twenty five thousand square feet of retail [Music] that brings us to a close on our 2020 year in review while the past year brought about challenges change and uncertainties we can reflect back on the many positive moments one thing that 2020 has shown us is how strong and resilient we are as a community and together we head into 2021 with optimism