1992 05 15
CHANHASSENSENIOR COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING - MAY 15, 1992
e Chairwoman Montgomery cal1edthe meeting to order at,9:30a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Barbara Montgomery, Selda Heinlein, Sherol Howard,
Batbara Billison,Jane Kubitz and Emma St. John
STAFF PRESENT: Paul Krauss, Planning Director; and Judy Colby, senior
Center Program Coordinator
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Montgomery: I gues~ we need to change the order
around here if Chris is not here yet. Maybe it was not confirmed with him.
Do you want his number?
Colby: Sharmin said it was yesterday when she talked to me.
Montgomery: Maybe he'll show UP.
Colby: Should! run up and askth~m to call him?
Montgomery: Well it might not hurt. , His number is 934-6167. $0 let's
change the ord~r of the agenda. We'll put Chris on a little later on here.
Would you like to go ahead then and we'll have you, not yet but We'll just
switch you with Chris. Will that bealtight?
e
Bert Haglund:
Sure.
Montgomery: Okay Bert. So we'll ,have the senior center construction will
'be number 2 and history will be number 4. Anybody else,have any changes or
additions you want to make to it?
Bl11lson: You hav~ a St. Johnson on the board. .
Montgomery: dh we do? That's interesting. Well we're coming to our
ap~roval of,the Minutes here. I think there's something else incorrect
too. Okay.
Emma, what page, where are you here.
MINUTES:
St. John: On the very first one. Members present.
\
Montgomery: Alri~ht. And correction there is, how did your's read?
st. John: Emma St. Johnson.
Montgomery: Change from Emma st. Johnson to Emma St. John. Okay. I had a
correction on page 16 where they referred to sail in small letters, and
that is, SAIL in caps referring to the Senior Agenda for Independent
Llvi ng. 'It comes out 1 n a different context when it looks asi f we're
tal king about a sa i ling pr ogr am or s,omet hi ng.
-'
st. John: What part?
SeniorCommissionM~eting
May 15, 1992 - Page 2
--
Montgomery:
On page 16.
It was line 3 under Senior Commission comments.
Page 16.
Montgomery: Yeah. When it refers to sail. Page 16, line 3under Senior
Commissloncomments.
I don't have senior commission comments on 16.
You don't? Well, I'll check that and make the correction. At
an~rate, where that is referredto:as to sail or sailing~i sail's,th~y
are referring to this. independent living agenda. Other than that_ do you
have any other additions or corrections? Okay, would anybody like to move
that we approve them?
I make a motion that we approve the Minutes.
I second.
st.,J'ohn moved, Howard seconded to approve the Minutes of the Senior
Commission meeting dated April 24, 1992 as amended on page 1 and 1.6. All
voted :i n' favor .and' the -motion -carr ied'~ ,-'
.
~Montgome~y: So let's hea~ what Bert Haglund has to say
Center construction here:
It
Be~tHaglund: Good morning. If you've been driving by and trying to ke~p
trackjourself on the progress, ~ou'll notice that the ~estibulea~dition
has beenm6ving along per schedule. The roof for the vestibule was put on
earlier this week. The structural part of the roof at least. And .the
masonry isgetti ng completed this week . Next week, ac.cordi ng to the
contractor's schedule which right now everything seems to be progressing on
schedule. You had been given,a copy of this at the .last meeting. . But
according to this schedule n'ow ,they are. next week going to be moving
inside of the space and doing what's called the rough inwork,whtchis to
do the thing~ that ultimately will be hidden but ~hey have to do that rough
in work,now. They have in fact sta~ted .todo some cutting of the existing
concrete floor to make way for the underfloor plumbing $0 some of that has
been started but they'll really be doing that in earnest next/week. .. So
from a scheduling standpoint, basically it 'sto say that we're ,on schedule.
Which is great. As part of the Minutes that were distributed, you'll
notice in the very'back there are some MInutes that were included here for
your information. There's the Minutes of a progress meeting 'that was held
on May 1st and this isa weekly meeting that we have withthe'contractor.
It's like the last maybe third, fourth page from the end. Were you able to
find that in your Minutes? Okay. Sa this is the Minutesofa progress
meeting held.on May. 1st. And like I said, this is a weekly meeting we have
withthe~ontractorto just keep pace with the schedule. Things that are
coming up in the construction and so forth and resolving issues that might.
come up. We will be providing these Minutes to Sharmin andsh~has agreed
then that she will distribute them to the Commission, to JUdy and others
that should be kept informed. So.you should be getting these on a weekly
Senior Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - 'Page 3
e
basis yourself. And then behind that, at the very end of the Minutes is ~
what's called a Field ObservationuReport, which is two pages long. This
comes from our engineers. They visit the site themselves on occasion to
take a look at some of the more technical aspects of the structure or the
mechanical or electrical systems. Ancl in this case, one of those. reports
was jncl~ded here for your information. This tends to get pretty technical
andldon't know that it'sa great deal of benefit to you. L think the
progress meetings is ~here really we get a better sense of the status of
the project and what's going on. So the plan is to have the progress
. ~e.tingMinutes distributed but not all of the individual site visits and
technical'reports. Does that sound okay to you? Great. . I really don't
have anything else to report today. Are there any questions?
Montgomery: I'm just really pleased that things are going according to
schedule and I think that says a lot.
Bert Haglund: Yeah. We've found the contractor to be a very good person,
firm tbw6rk with. They and we and the city were working as.a team being
cooperative and it's a good experience.
That's great. It was interesting reading these re~orts didn't
you think? It gi~es us an idea of all the complicated things that go on
during construction. We're getting an education.
e Bert Haglund:
Good.
Montgomery: Thank you Bert. That's real~y helpful.
Is it Nelson and Rudie Associates or how do
I
Yeah~ Nelson, Rudie and Associates.
He was at south.Shore this mornin~ for coffee. Mr. Rudie.
Oh he was? Okay.
I notice that EOS has a new contract with Westonka-Mound.
Bert Haglund: Mound-Westonka, the school district. Yes. Yes.
~orking closely with those folks.
Montgomery:
very. much.
Okay, anybody have any other questions for Bert? Well, thanks
We appreciate the sharp eye you're keeping on all this.
Bert Haglund: Very good~ If you ~aven't, I'd like to invite, if. you have
any questions yourselves individually, you can feel free to call me.
That's perfectly okay with me. Although I'm dealing primarily with Paul
and Todd Gerhardt now during this construction phase. I still remain
accessible to any of you who have any questions along. the way~
e Montgomery: Thanks very much. We appreciate that.
Heinlein: I didn't seem to be paying attention but I
this at home. That's what was driving me...
.
Bert Haglund:
Alright, thank you.
Senior Commission ~eeting
May 15, 1992 ~ Page 4
ON SENIOR CENTER ACTIVITIES SURVEY.
Colby: I've distributed the final copy of the tabulations of the survey.
I Just received them this morning, right befo'!e the meeting so 1 haven't
much time to go over them. But there are some real/surprises to me in
reading through this. There's so many that aren't widowed and I'm Just so
used to whenever I'm working withseniors,to be working with an awful lot
of. .'
I wonder where they are?
Colby:. I keep looking at that and thinking, what is it aboutChanl1assen
but I think I'll stay here b~cause it might work. 1 don't know. Sol
really, r feel a little bit uncomfortable talking .too much about It because
lIke 1 say, I haven't really gone over it too much.' I 'mnot sure if
there's been very much ofa change but we did add quite a few~6re surveys
that we received at the tall end to this. So maybe we can talk.ftirther
about it at the next meeting wheri we all have a chance to kind of go
through it.
Montgomery: I think o'ne of the concerns was. the budget for the survey and
watching the costs as far as havingre-rLins or new information or whatever
and'Iassume that youwil! be watching that. with Paul or with whoever~
-
Cdlby:Right. This is the final. 'We still happen to haVe a
stragglers come in but we're not ~oing to be tabulating t~ose
Montgomery: Okay. I'll make a note.
Howa.rd: Are you familar: with the one that's now distributed at theChaska
Center and they say it will be in doctor's offices and allover to be done
for ~a.tern Cafver~ounty?
Colby: You know, when I was talking .to Gala Mattsen, she said that they
were doing.
Howard: Yes it is under community education.
,
Colby: That they were going to be doing a survey and that's where I just
wish we could all get together. There's so much of this communication that
we've already paid the price. Even if ~hey'd give us 10% for the rights to
use it, it would take away from our budget. It would certainly be...
Howard: It's a senior survey and one would reall~ think they would have
acquainted either Betty or me with the fact that they were doing this. To
me this is our purpose for being 9n that board.
e Colby: Do you have a copy of that?
Howard: I didn't bring it.
Colby: .1'11 ask Gala to bring it to the
And you didn't know anything about 'that?
SeniorCommlssion Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 5
e
Heinlein:
Is that the one you had to fill out?
It's about 4 pages, yes and they're plastered
, .
No.
Montgomery: I thi nk that is a little str"ange.
Howard: And we did go to one meeting, March meeting I think.
/
~e were handed one at the meeting yesterday
Howard : Eastern Carver County, 55 and Older, Senior Survey.,
Heinlein: Yeah. It was handed out at the meeting yesterday.
around and gave it to us.
Howard: 00 you hav~ it with you?
Heinlein: No. I left it at home. I filled it
whether I'm going to send it in or, not.
e
Howard:
It just seems to me it's so repetitive
Colby: '1 had mention~d that and I think Victoria al~o was, they weregoign
to be do~ng something.
Howard: Well, they're in on it.
Colby: Victoria was.
)
Howafd: And Chanhais~n is mentioned. Now who inChanhassen knew this was
happeni ng?'
,
ColbY:5hetoldme tha,ttheywere looking into doing a survey. Gala told
me that they were looking i~todoing a survey and they hoped to, and 1
said, we've got a survey~ Maybe we should sit down and talk about this. I
,had no idea it was going to happen this fast.
Hernam& is the one you should send it back to
...different information?
It
~olby: Well you know, if ,Judy ~ere here I'm sure she wouldteally poke
holes at this very quickly because number one, it isn't being mailed out .
'50 who is getting this? B~sically the people that are probably a little
bit more mobile. Like you said it~sat the community center.
doctor~s offices.
Howa'l:d:lt's at banks. I
SeniotCom~ission Meeting
May <15, 1992 - Page 6
e
8i11ison: And those that live in Chanh~ssen and don't go to some of these
bank~oreverything, don't see it~
Limited i~formation in ~ way.
Colby: Well it's hard to say. It'~.just so hard to say with surveys. But
it\ will be curious to see it,and if you've received it at. home and opened
it and filled it out. If you were at . bank, would you pick
then fill it out? I don't know.
So then their information wouldn't be very
Colby: That's right and I'm curious to know the questions just to. see if
it's gOing to be able to be deciphered who's answering these questions. Is
it Carver? Is it Chaska? Is it Chanhassen residents? Do they have
questions like ihat?,.Do youtememb~r?
e
Howard: It was a whole bunch of questions such as,
food program? It was all these different programs.
swimming lessonsat the community center? Have you
questi~nsof what you have partaken in.
!
have you eaten in
Have you taken
a whole list of
Heinlein: No. Only your address. If you sign ev~rything
If you signed it.
Colby: Who's going to analyze this?
Montgomery: Is it more then a list,a survey for them of how
facilitIes are being used? Is it more that?
Colby: well possibly the reason this got out so quickly is, at our
Advisory 80ardmeeting, Gala mentioned that Community Education's primary
goal in this coming year is to get to the seniors and help with
and offer more to the seniors in the county.
Howard: Absolutely nothing wason theIr agenda. We didn't go to the
meeting this week. Absolut~ly nothing was on their, agenda about se.nlors
again. . They say one thing and do another thing and here comes a senior
survey that w~ had not heard of. I don't understand this Community
Education.
Colby:
board.
I'll talk with Gala about it as a separate Issue from the advisory
I'll tell her that we, you ~now.
Montgomery: Who should take this up with whom do you think?
e
Montgomery: 8ecausehere we ~ave.thisproblem with linkage anyway that
I thought we were working on and it ,would be nice if we're all working on
it., I ;don't quite understand.
Colby: I think once you have a ship moving in a certain direction, to turn
that is going to be really difficult and I might be a catalyst. but I'm a
pretty small catalyst to get that moving. I think it's going to take quite
awhile because,as we go through OUr agenda, this same conversation will
Montgomer~: Okay.
much more togethe~.
being a part of it.
Because that's really too bad you know. We can
Thinking of it as the senior community and all
Senior,Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 7
e
number of times. Our community isn't as outreaching
It's the Ch~ska community. The Carver community.
This is not new.
Colby: So we.'re not going to change it quickly
it. I mean it's just silly not to. iBut I will
about.it and then I' II report next meeting.
Howard:.. There was a banquet for the people who had contr ibuted to
community education and they hadalI the 19cal legislatorsata d~scussion.
It was quite good but .a term, YOLl know how they all have their favorite
terms and the term that came up quite often was turf. You must not .intrude
on my turf. I was amused by that but see, everyone at the community center
or the community education wants thei~ turf. .
Colby: The ~ommunity center is where I felt thatm6re
. education.
.
Howard: Well community education is doing that survey.
ColbY: The community center was not very willing to work with me at all
where commu~ity education, and I'm wondering if they don't have very many,
their staff is not as strong. Or'they're thinking, oh boy~ Something's
going to get'accomplished without us having to do it. But also, I mean
that's okay If We can get time at the community center on that.
Montgomery: Well I think we just have to do what we can andb~ open
ourselv~s and try to bring things together but as you say Judy, this has
been g6ing on for a" long time and we're not going to turn it around over
night but WE! can keep our cool anyway and not get drawn into it.
} .
Well not establish Chanhassen Senior Center as that . Not
If we're relaxed and ~pen to the whole community..;
Montgomery: We don't h~ve to do it, right. And I think that will, in the
long run that.'s going to really be a good thing for us and I think we can '.
do it.
Colby: I don't have another appoi ntment but see I'm real
tape so that's why I keep looking at the clock you guys.
that tape.
,Montgomery: It needs bells or something Judy. I don't know.
.anything,else that youwal}ted to talk about in connection with
e Colby: No.
Montgomery: ,Well, we'll all take a look at it and see how it translates as
far as planning is concerned in our own minds. Maybe make some notes that
Senior Commission ~eeting
May 15j 1992 - Pags 8
e
we can talkabout.or that you could bring up at the advisory meetings.
Colby: rfyou feel there's a need to bring Judy back, the ~osts really do
go off quickly when we have her here and I don't know about you
talks so quickly and everything she says is so good but Idon~t
mean T just like, by the time she's done.
She's so familiar with it and we're not. _
Colby: Read that part as
Montgomery: Yeah, that's helpful. We should really pay attention to. what
she has to say. And use thatbot~in our planning for all sorts6f things
but especially for the center.
Colby: Yeah, I guess I feel strongly about let's not ,put
now that it's done.
Colby: .. .tryingto analyze these things and. I think
important but possibly what you can'do is take these,
here? She is on th.re? Oh good.
Montgome'ry: That's why I love these tapes because then you can go
e Montgomery:
Oh no. We're going to use this in a lot of ways.
Colby: Yeah. Let's keep this on the top of our stack so
the information.
Montgomery: Okay, anybody else 'have. any comments? Well let's
. apprbaching you too soon? 00 you need to catch your breath: or
like to?
Chris Pol~ter: I'll just wait my turn.
Well.it's your turf!. We/timed it just right aS,a matter of
HISTORY OFCHANHASSEN.PRESENTATION BY CHRIS POLSTER.
Montgomery: This is Chris Polster, by the way and he's going tb b~talking
to us about the history of Chanhassen and what he 'd like to do about that
. and how we might be able to be part of.it.
Chris Polster: I personally ~~ not here to speak aboutihe history of
Chanhassen but possibly to draw upon the experience and the life 10nQ time
that the seniors have spent in the community. This whole thing carne about
when I was talking with Sharmin. I men€ioned to her that we'have.an Art
Fai r coming up, as you may kno,^" and I'm pretty much involved inorganizi ng
this Art Fair. That's going to be run primarly down around the new Market
Square area.' The artists will be' around there but we want to make it a
city wide type of celebration and one of the things that occurred tome is,
well t.wo things . First of alII asked Sharmi n if she would check with the
ride share program and see if ma:Yhethey wouldn't want to doa promotion of
e
Senior Commission Meeting
May 15,. 1992 ~ Page 9
e
some kind where they would jlJst dr i vetheir 1 i ttle bus around town) 1 i ke
that. Something for the kids to hop on and just kind of see the sights if
you will. And I mentioned to her it might be kind of fuM to do something
with the old jail up at City Hall because the kids, all the. kids I've ever
brought up there have just been fascinated by that little old building and
especially that Jail. .Just a great thing and Snarmin'ssaying,goll you
know. I wonder if the Senior Commission would maybe be interested!n doing
something as part of a city celebration there. M~ybe dres$ing up in the
traditional, or I don't know if that's the right word. Traditional but in
th..oldtime types of outfits and maybe doing something in that little
square up there. So actually I'm not hereto propose any Ideas of .any kind
except I did.mention to her that fora couple of years I 'vebeen trying to
find people that do know about and are i nteres,ted in the history of .
Chanhassen. Carver County as you know has a historical society out in
Waconia and it covers all of Carver County but! there's very, very little.
I've been out there studying the history of Chanhassen and it took me about
3 hours to study the ,whole history of Chanhassen based on what they have
out there. The Director was telling me that there are quite i number of
people that have been inChanhassenfor a long, longtime,. .'. Some~amilies
that are pretty much go way back. The Pauly family and some of the others.
I've been successful in getting some old photographs from some people but'
quite 'frankly have not really been successful!n I guess organizing a
branch if you will of a historical society.Sharmin knew that and said gee
whiz, I wonder if maybe you shouldn't throw that out .to the Senior
Commission and see if they wouldn't, be interested somehow in being involved
in setting up a Chanhassen branch of the Historical Society.' I know that
Carver County Historical Society would love'to see something like that.
Something like what Chaska has and they're pretty proud of their historY
down there. They've got a big building and just a real big community
involvement in the history. I guess that's really the only reason I'm here
today is Just to maybe throw that idea out and see if maybe there's first.
of all some involvement that the senior commission may want to have in
developing a branch. Chanhassen branch of the Historical Society and then
secondly to see if perhaps we couldl)'tgetsome involvement from the senior
communityi n this arts fair. I know t.here are quite a number of. artists
that are in the senior age bracket in our community. That are part of the
quilting club for instance and other organizations. I'm also involved in
the District #112 Community Education system and one of the things I'm
trying to do. is find teachers that can teach kids the different arts.
Something. that I call the lost arts. Whether it be sewing or knitting
crocheting o.r something that the ,talents just aren't ,bei-ngpasseddown
mother to daughter anymore. I guess in my own mind I find that kind of a
tragedy that the lost arts aren't being carried on anymore.' Sol guess
that would be another challenge that I would pose to yo.u. If there are
people in the senior community that might be interested in being involved.
in>the ,arts fair, either.by way of demonstrating or shOWing their own .
artistic ability and secondly by gettin9 involved with some of us in
Community Ed to ~evelop an arts program for the children. I'd really
interested in hearing from the senior community in that respect.
e
e
Montgomery: Have you talked to Jerry Ruegemer by ~ny chance about.,
he's inter ested in some hi s'tori ca 1 r esear ch of some SOl'" t .
Senior CommIssion Meeting
May 15, ~1992- Page 10
--
Chris Polster: I've talked .with him briefly and Karen upstairs also has
done a lot of work, or as ~uch work as ariybody. She for instance has been
the caretaker if you will, for lack of a better word , of the cemetery out
there and probably ~nowsasmuchas anybody. In fact, even within the
buil~ing here there are a cociple of city employees who are parts of long
standing familtes. Chanhassenfamilles so we've been able to put together
.. a little bit. Otherwise, I' ve written articles in the newspaper and real
truthfully I just haven' tdone,ei ther .something, I haven't done something
ri~htiri order to get the interest or maybe there just isn't the interest
there. Whatever thesituatiori.
Howard: Judy, did the survey ask how long people had lived
bommunity? It should have, shouldn't i~?
Montgomery: I thought there was a question something like that.
take. a look at some of our suf'vey result.s and see if anyt.hing.
Howard: It would be pointles. to ask somebody who's lived here 5 years to
be on the historical. We need a list.
--
Chris Polst.er: Well through the senior center and those kindsoTsocial
organizations, I guess what Sharmin was thinking, .and I have to agree, it's
a perfect place to try and tap some of that experience. I don't know,
ma~be the situation isn't creating that historicalsociety6ranc~. ,. Maybe
~..,e don 'tneed ,that but if we could just get.t.he informat.ion.. If any of the
families ha.ve bId pictures that they could share that. we could make copies,
or stories. All the cities in Carver County have books out as a mat.ter of
fact, or most of them about. t.heir cities. But Chaflhassen, there's just
nothing about Chanhassen.. .
e
Montgomery: How far back would you consider of interest?
that pertains to the historY of Chanhassen?
Christ Polster : Ithi nk anything. I know from an architectural point. of
view, t.he City Hall goes back to the 1880's I believe and the St. Hubert's
Church goesba6k to the 1880's. .' I have personally been able to find
information going back to the 1850's, although not. a l~t of informatioh.
The 1 nformation I have found came from the book about Chaska and the book
about.Waconia. Also, somebody in the early 1980's had done a research
paper on Chanhassen. Really a nice job. They apparently handed it into a
college program or something.and.made a copy for the historical society ahd
did really a good job of footnoting it and everything. Unfortunately, the
person that wrote it was a woman who's name has probably changed to. a
married name and I haven't been able to track down that person. The
footnotes, the .reference materials, I haven 'tbeen able to track down that
either. A lot of the reference materials came from the old Ex6elsloT
newspapers and that kind of thing. It really was quite fascinating and
this history went back to about 1819 when the Commander at Fort~nelling
had sent his son, as it happened, out exploring up the Minnehaha Cr-eek
which of course ended up in Minnetonka and they had kind of expanded their,
Iguessexplorat.ion downt.o t.hisarea. . So that 's as far bac'kas I can go.
1 personally haven't gone any farther back t.han that t.o find out. I know
that there Were two Indian tribes. TheOjibiwc,l'sand Sioux and r know that
down at the upper Sioux Reservation there is some historical data but
.'\
senior Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992.- Page 11
e ~frankl/ I haven't had a chance to go. down there. I've got my fingers in
.. too many th i ngs a nd just have n ' t had a' cha nee to do that. It's fasc.! na ting
though. It really is fascinating and I'm kind of a history buff an~way
so.! guess maybe it's only fascinating to ~e.
Montgomery: it sounds tome as if it's something that we certainly
be able to tie into and I .think there's been some interest in/doing
sort of thing~ How .boutany laterh!story? Are you interested in
anything a~'recent as in the 60's?
I~ve been around since 1942 In Excelsior.
Chris Pol.ter: We have a little bit more access. Nothing has ever
recorded or written but we have for instance Chamber of Commerce.
newsletters from .the 70's and the 60's and there are some newspapirs~
around. There was an Excelsior newspaper for many years Iguess~
Personally I'm interested in all of it. I'm most interested in ancient
history.
Montgomery: Yeah, I've been here for 31 years.
Chris Polster: Oh really.
Chris Polster: Really. See the mostdyhamic history has occurred in the
las~20 years here.
\e Howard: I grew up across the lake so I've been in the general area all my
life but I've lived in Excelsior since 1955. 6r Chanhassen.
Kubitz: After ~e get out ceriter going and some of our.
'Chris Polster: That's what I was hoping.
Kubitz: ...might have the contacts.
-
Chris Polster: Right. And .ven if we just had a file/draw or something
where people, if the~had old photographs or storiis or anything that
they'd like to re~ord. .
Bragg: 'So~ethirig that just happened recently this year is ! had gotten
some people together for a reunion and we had itln that old City Hall and
that was, oh that was neat. Judy helped getting that and it was for a
teacher who had taught in 1924 to 1928 out in the old country school at
Mayer. I got in touch with those. pupils and we had a real good time. A
real good turnout.
Chris Polster: I dotild sit around talking to people for
kind of thing personally but that's me.
Colby: St~ Hubert's did something when they had like an anniversary of the
Franciscan and they had quite a bit. tt was real interesting, I don't know
if that was the.Chan paper or if that was in the st. Hubert paper that
I read it. When the Franciscans. first came out here and established st.
Hubert's so I'm sure,that there's history.
Senior Commission Meeting
May 15,1992- Page 12
-
Chris Polster: There is some history there. Father Steve isn't.real
familiar with it yet. He's only been here faY a year and isn't too
familiar with the files or anything yet but he has expressed an interest in
participating whatever,way he can but surely many. of the histor ical eVE(l'nts
revol ved right around the church par ishes. The letters of. Theodore Boast.
i'don't know if any of you have ever read that but it's probably the. most
interesting and comprehensive history that I've been able to find. .The
Theodore Boast family was one of the first settlers in Chanhassenand all
of his letters back to his parents in Sweden had been saved.andcoffiPiled in
a book and gee it. was just fascinating. There were basically two
religions. Back thendiscrimlnationjust like now was fairly rampant, only
instead of color or gender it was religion back then. It was the Lutherans
against the CatholIcs, etc., etc. and the Germans agai nst . the Swedes so
that is really interesting. Theodore's perception of other people for
instance from other countfies. And then he would talk ~bouf Chanhassen
itself and the lay of the land and there were maps in there. Quite a lot
of the history revolved around Chanhassen and Excelsior because Excelsior
being right on the lake and ther:ewas a lot of trade going on there. I
mean it was just really interesting and that book is available at the
library here for instance. I went out "and purchased it because it was a
nice reference material. So there is srime information. Even more
importantly than that, I think one of the reasons I'd really like to do it
is because.Chanhassen, as many of you may know, is growing so much now
whether we ~ike it or not. Many'people like it. Many people don't... But
we just really don't have our own identity yet. We're still kind ofa
suburb. of Chaska and kind of between Eden Prairie and Wacon!a. Even though
we're the biggest city in Carver County, we don't really have a history to
falLback on ,at leasfthat 's been recorded and I think for community pride
sake, it would be really nice if the people of Chanhassen,~specially the
people that bave been here for years, were recognIzed for their
contribution.
-
Howard: Have any family histories been done by any of these large?
Chris Polster: Not published. Not published. There are some people I've
talked to, Russ Pauly. I don't know if you know him but his family goes
way back to the early 1850's asweiland I believe Rose Pauly is still
alive in the farmhouse and while I ,haven't talked to her , Russ gave me some
photographs that were kind of neat. One picture that t.Jas taken at the turn
of the century of a train that had b~en derailed. All these people
standing on a'" locomotive. .. It was Just neat but the story behi ndi t was,
this train wason it's way pastHazeltine Lake or something and it just
derailed and all the freight and everything else and it was the big news
story of the day. But what was really interesting to me was .the 610thing
on the ~~o~le and th$ freight train itself. The old steam engine and
th~t's. the kind,of things kids really enjoy and. I think on developIng a
future much is dependent on recognizing the past and we just don't have a
past really to call on, at least I "publ ication form in Chanhassen. . So I
guess that's one of the big reasons from a ,community perspectivedwhy I'd be
interested!n doing that, and I don't know how to do it. I'm nota writer
myself but I don't think there's any better resource probably for a'lotof
things in this community. Not ju~t history and art buta,lot of different
areas from the seniors. I personally would like to have some involvement
with the" senior commission in some way from a hIstorical perspective and
Senior Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 13
frome community development perspective. Through District #112 Community
Educati6n. .
st. John: Is the Pauly name older than the Kerber name?
Chris polster: I think pretty much about the same time. ,I~ was first
settled in about 1848 and the Kerber and t.he Pauly families came here and
'.the c6mmunityitself wasn't incorporated but the parish, I guess it began
with the paiish. The community was officially established in 1852 and the
Pauly's and the Kerber's! believe were both members of that parish
community. In fact many, the Powers family. 'Many of the streets you see
around here are names of families. Powers Blvd., Kerber Blvd.. Goll,
there's a couple others that elude me right now but if you read that book
or went through that bo~k you'd ~ee names in there that you'd say, ah.
Th~t's how we got that name. I'd encourage you too, if a~y of you are
interested in history at all, it's right next door. It's a green book and
it's just fascinating.
I know Kerber Blvd.. .came around with a petition....
Chris Polster: So they're kin~of legacy to the community. That's'neat.
.
, .
Colby: I'm meeting with the Advisory Board for the Senior Center next week
but on Monday before that meeting ! am having all the volunteers that we
did a survey and they sent back and said they'd be interested in
volunteering. -What I can do is ask if anybody t<Jould be interested in
h~ading off a committee for this. I think there's going to be ~5or 20
peo~le there so I certairily can't believe that somebodymaybewouldn~tbe
i nterestedi n that.
Chris Polster: 'It would be fun and the kids love i t ~ They love, . I don 't
know if they .love history so much as far as studying it but they love
living it and that's one of the things about the City Hall for instance.
They just love that jail. It just'has a lot of tales to tell I'm sure. It
would be kind of fun I 9uessto.
Colby: Well there's a reminiscencing program that the ~eniors ar~ working
on that Emma probably would tell you about. That reminiscencing that they
bring illtothe school. It'sa Medtronic grant that they bring into the
school how it was when they weregrowi ng up and to all levels . Not just
elementary but to the high schools and the response has been phenomenal. I
thihk it would be great to have something rather than. on yourself, on the
city.
Chris Polster: Yeah; I think that would be great. I guess
familiar with that program. I'd love to see something like
Montgome'rY: Isn't the idea that whoever 'sgoing to do this with the kids
gets some. training so that they l'eally do know ho'w to approach them and do
a good job and I think that would be something we certainly could.
,- , -
e
,Chris Polster: I know in St. Paul I have an aunt who, she's a retired
teacher now but she works at the Ramsey House and one of the things she
does, she's an artist herself. Retired art teacher but she volunteers her
Senior Commission Meeting
.May15, 1992 - page 14
e
. ,
time. She dresses up in the traditional 1850's look. I'mean there's kids
going through all the time and what~hedoes is she bakes using the old
stove. It's really fun. The kids really like that but it'd be really fun
if somehow we could get that across the kids. What the people used to
dress like and what was important to the people back in those days. '
8ragg: This is what I'did. r took some pots along to the Minnetonka High
lttOTY of the day. But wh and. gasoline iron and a coffee
grinder and some soap that my mother had made that I still had around.
Then we talked about Eleonor Kerber was with me and she was the one that we
honored at this reunion~ When she was talking about how sh~taught school
and this little building had all 8 grades and that and those kids were .
really interestedaod the thank you notes that we got from them afteiwards
was really appreciated. It made it a fun day. I had a ball.
Chris Polster: For school in Chanhassen was actually out by, I think it's
by Lake Hazeltine. ,Lake Hazeltine is named after the fil"st teac:herin
Chanhassen. Mrs. Hazeltine or Miss Hazeltine and I wish I knew where
exactly it was. '
Howard: Oh I know where it was. Right on TH 41 .
50's.
--
Chris Polster: Is the building itself. gone now?
Howa~d~ It's that little white school. building and it was right across
from where they had1a temporary village hall and there was a maintenance
building up on the right as you go south on TH 41. There's a maintenance
building up on the right where we voted a.ftertheytore down the school
which~as right across the street.
St'. Jobn: Well that school, wasn't that mbved up to theChaska? Isn't
ihat tBat little white building? Sure. that's that little white building
by the school in Chaska.
Look at all the information right here...
Chris Polster: I think it could be. It's one of the things I think that
could tte the generattons together. I know I feel badly for my kids in a
lot of ways. They don't'have a gramma and grampa anymore that's local at
least. Their gramma and grampa have either passed away or they're in
different parts of the country and of course the family units havekind.~f
grown apart as our society evolves a Tittle bit.' But! really wish, that
the kids could have a way to tie the generations together. There's still
so much~o be le~rned from 'the peopl~ that have been her~ lon~ eri6ughto
tecich us. '
e
st. John: I heard something this morning that was interesting. There was
an art fair in Excelsior and this one lady went down there and she took
some old games that she had had like marbles and jacks and taught some of
the little kids and she said all they knew about was watching Nintendo
games and that and didn't know this and to get some of those games.back to
the kIds.
Senior Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 15
e
Chris Polster: They don't realize how, what few resources and things that
people had back in those days. I mean they really lived by their wits a
lot more. Made up their own games and made their own clothes. I mean they
did everything themselves. They lived in houses with fireplace .for heat.
Yeah really.
Montgomery: Very different.
kubitz: ...because very often you get more information.
Chr is Polster : I know one of the things that Paul out at the historical
society would really 1 i keto do especially is develop a photo f lIe so if we
could do nothing more than put a callout to the families that have been
here for a long time and they have photos for i nstanceof Chanhasseni n
earlter decades, whether it be in 70's. St. Hubert's'does have a few that
I've seen a.nd they're aerial photos of the church the way it stood and it's
just a remar kable difference. My house where it stands right now is
situated on a place that used to be a farmfield only 10 years ago~
Montgomery: A lot of changes.
Chris Polster: Oh it's just incredible.
-
,Montgomery:, Selda has been collecting all the information about the senior
center starting with the task force asI understand it and has, r think you
have a scrapbook you're going to put those in.
Heinlein: Yeah.
Montgomery:
kind of fun.
somewhere.
So we'll have a history on when that got started and that's
But there may be lots of records like that that somebody has
Chris Polster: Well Russ tells me that Rose Pauly, his aunt that lives in
tnefarmhouse out there, has boxes full of photos and I personallY haven't
called on her yet. I don't know her and T don't know how far I should go
in trying td secure some of the ~tuff but' if perhaps the seniors themselves
you know calling on other seniors to do that kind of thing might work a
little better. ! don't know if she's a private person. I just don't want
to bother people I guess for my own personal interests.
Montgomery: Well Judy,do you think this, I mean I think you~hink this
sounds Ii ke a good idea for the center to be involved. in right? Is that
the direction we should go?
Colby: ,I certainly think it'd be one wing that would probably be...and I
think that there 'sa lot of the younger seniors too who would maybe come
i ntheevenings Hto compile thfs and I would be interested and m'aybethis
would be just the key .' to get them involved too. They'd be doing the
intefviewing of the older. Maybe the older seniors don't warit to do the
hands on work but would love to sit and, r mean who wouldn't love to sit
.and tell you about their whole life.
Senior Commission Meeting
May 15,1992 - Page 16
It
Montgomery: Well then you can keep in touch with 'Chris and see what the
next move. Maybe talk to the Advisory Board and see what\the next move
should. be and maybe get thi~ going. I think that sounds good.
Chris Polster: And also I'd really like ta encourag~ any of the seniors
that da like children enough to share their skills and their artistic
abili~ies, please come forward and work with us.
L~t'stalk~ What is this art fair on July.
Chris Polster: That's going to be August 8th. And what ~ehave is,
currentlywe~have about 40 artists th~t are coming in. We've got live
music. We're trying to develop this more than just an art/crafttype fair.
We're also making it a performing art~ so we'v~ got a pretty well known
band for instance comingi n to play in the parking lot down by Filly's
there. We'ie trying to develop a talent show for either kid~ or adults.
Anybody that might want to come in and have some fun doing their
performance.
Chris Polster: Yeah, the feeta have a booth is $85.00.
an
for
Montgomery: Is there an entrance fee?
-
Colby: To have a senior center booth.
Chris Polster: We wouldn't charge you for a booth. Unless if
artist or something and you wanted .to sell something, we would
that.
Colby: No, what I'm saying is as a center, could we have
presenting their wares at one booth and ha0e a variety?
Chris Polster: Sure and that's one of the things we were thinking of might
bea fun to do'up in the Heritage Square area because you've got the old
St. Hubert's church up there and we could tie a lot of things together.
Colby: The 40 artfsts,are they all local or is this coming from?
Chris Polster: Coming from allover the state. Although we're trying to
really encourage local artists. This is, actually it's grown a little bit;.
bigger than what we had originally envisioned. We wantedcitto be a very
localized type of thing and go out to local, because we do have quite a
numbefbf very well known artists lnthe community. What we don't have in'
our community is very much art instruction. In Chanhassen, if you look at
the Community Ed bulletIn, my children love art but unless they're taking
it at school , they have no place really to take it. $0 I've been out
looki ng for instructors .anel I've found a couple of.. people that are
interested now in giving it but it's that lost arts that I'm really
lnteresied in'myself. The kinds of things that used to be passed down from
generation to generation because they needed to knowhow to do that stuff
in order to live. They needed to know how to make their own clothing,;
e
Kubitz: The lost arts are lost .because peopl~ do not want to take the time
to do ft.
Senior Com~ission Meeting
15~1992,- Page 17
St. John: Some of them are coming back though.
I think they're comihg back.
(There was a'tape change at this point in the discussion~)
Chris Polster: ...for the arts association and once the boaid gets formed,
then the wheels really begin to turn quickly. And really one of the
missions, .one of thepr imary missions of this arts association, there's
two. I guess one is to promote the skills of the people themselves but the
other is to create training and teaching opportunities for children to
benef it '. from.
Who's involved in that?
Montgomery: How often do you meet and when and where?
Chris Polster: We haven't met onetime yet. We've got.
41
Chris Polster: .Right now me, a person named joe Scott is involved and he's
a performing artist. He plays ina band. Craig Westerman who owns
Westerman Art and Frame. Kitty Sitter who is pattof Yours, Mine and Ours
and Debbie Lazer who owns Yours, Mine and Ours. That's a little art
company if you' -ref ami liar with that. "It's a local company and what they
do is make greeting ca-rds.Hand made greeting cards and market them
'nationally. It's really a big company and nobody .knows about them ~ecause
she likes to kee~it low key I guess pretty much. A lady named Kim Grant
who Is an.excellent artist. A young woman. She'egoing to b. teaching
through Community Ed. It is ~way for people to earn some extra money
because. they can and will be paid to do this kind of thing through
Co~munitrEd. What we would do, the instructors charge a certain fee. A
certain ~mount goes to Community Ed to cover their administrative costs and
their ~ublicity costs and everything but ,the beauty of CommunitY Ed. is that
they handle everything. You don't have. to worry about anything except
showing up to class and teaching the course work. They're very much
interested. I~m onrthe Board of the Community 1112 and they're very
1 nterestedi n developi ng this type of relationship .
Montgomery: ! think I 'd be interested In that myself. I belong eo 'the
Child-ren's Book Illustrator's Guild and I've learned a lot froffigoing to
that. I imagine you would be bringing in other artists to talk about
different and about all sorts of different things that affect art and
artists.
Chris Polster: I wouldn't want to speak for the organization itself.
own personal vision is it would be somewhat of a social organization
obvious~y ahdwe would have our bus~ness meetings because we would~ave
business to transact. I would hope it would grow to be muchofa .ocial
organization. And again~a teachingppportunity.
Howard: There's a very well known wildlife artist that
his name again?
e/
Senior Commission Meeting
Ma~15, 1992 - Page 18
e
Chris Polster: Kevin Daniels. Yeah, that's Craig's, Craig Westerman's
brotheY-in~law. His wife's brother and he's very well known. Terry Redlin
doesn't live very farf~om here. He l!vesin Mound and he's a very well
known artist of course and there's a couple of others.
Montgomery: There are a lot of artists in the community.
Chris Polster: There are. It's amazing. Craig has a lot
into his shop to display art. It's the kind of thing, it starts .slowly and
it really doesn't, even teaching the lost arts as Jane mentioned. One of
the re~sonsit doesn't go is because people just aren't interested Yight
now. . I thinkan! nterest would have to be developed. It would have to be
promoted but I honestly believe that it would happen. I was just reading.
in the Villager yesterday. There's a lady in Chanhassenwho teaches sewIng
and I haven't talked toh~r yet. 1 just happened to read the article in
the ~aper but she does work professionally herself but she ~lsohas kids
coming in to take lessons and I think she's got 20 kids it said inithe
paper from ages6to13coming in taking sewing lessons.', I think when the
kids could see what the final produ~tswould look like.. Maybe If'.s ju~t a
pair of mittens that would be knitted at first or a scarf or a birthday
present for ,mom. It has to be done in away that it 6an't beahuge, long
project because kids wflllose interest in it but one of the ways the
schools have always been able to teach is short projects that develop the
skills'butthey 're finished soon enough that they kids keep an interest, iin
it. .
-
Howard:
j
Is there a 4H locally?
Chris Polster: There is. You know that's a Teally good thought. I hadn't
even thought of that.
Howard: Because they teach sewing and all these projects.
Chris Polster: That's ~nexcellent thought. I didn't think
know there is, they~re based out inWabonia but I know there
Chanhassen people that belong,to it.
,
Montgomery: Chris,if somebody wanted to contact you ~bout the arts fair,
~ould they call you or about the associ~tion, would they call
Chris Polster: That would be finetb do that too. Right now I guess the
contact person for that. We've been waiting to get about 10 to 12 people
to get aboard together just honestly because it's too muc~ work for, 1 or: 2
people to do all by themselves and.X didn't want to commit myself to doing
ever~thlng. So ~henwe have enough people so that we can have a board and
~e can divide th~ work load Gp alittl' bit.
What do...?
tit
Chris Polster: I have my own graphic design company sO I'm not the,artist
in ourco,mpany myself, a.'/.though r'm inclined. . Personally one of the
reasons I'm setti ngthis upis because I 'd like to take art lessons. I'd
like t~ think that! have a basic ability that's never been honed if you
will and I'm really interested in taking.classes. $0 it's a little bit
~enior Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 19
.
selfish but I know there's
they're craftsmen or.
people like me too.
Whether
Colby: Only that Jane mentioned when we were first meeti ngon the center
and classes and that. I agree with her that the patience factor isn~t
there with the kids but there are kids that want to do it and.they don't
have an option because Community Education, if they don't have enough to
fill it they won't do it. And Jane was talking about a ,one toone, more
casual 'so maybe 'not as earning money but just because she enjoys it and
they want to and a one to one would be wonderful.
Chris Polster: It would. It would be great for the kids. Just great for
the kids if we have that.
(Colby: I'll be sure to chat with ~ou about t~at. ,
Montgomery: Well thank you very much Chris. We just really appreciate you
coming. .
Chris Polster: Well the City knows me. Paul knows me.
city knows me if you want.
Montgomery: Yeah, I have your number here.
e
Chris Polster: oh okay. And I really appreciate the opportunitY,to speak
with you and also your achievements and accomplishments over the'past year,
two years or something~ we can all be pretty proud of here a~dtake a
lesson from as far as what you'vea.ceomplished.
Montgomery: Well, w~'ve had a lot of help, believe me.
Chris Polster: You've had to be pretty patient yourself haven't you over
the last couple of years so ,if we can pass that skill alone onto the kids.
Montgomery: I think something will develop. I really do.
,Chris polster: I' think so, yeah. And if you have any ideas on what we can
do with thatjai l, at that arts fair because one of the thi ngsSharroin is
talking to the Rid~ Share about is just having a little bus going ina ,
circle. Where they'd be dropping people off at different plaeessothere'd
be different things to do. Renee Gillespe who owns the dance studio down
there is going to have her kids doing some dabeing 'in some parts of ,the
city. I heard Paul Krauss was going to sing.
St. aohn: Serve coffee over there and
that are some of the old timers around
i
I
have airemininseneing with
there ~sking questions.
(
Krauss: Sure.
people
It
Montgomery: Allot of possibilities.
Chris Polster: Or food. 8ecauseone of the things we want to have'i~ the
arts,'food to me, food preparation is an art. A lost art if you will. We
have mierowavesnow but what the heck did the people do back in the old
Senior Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 20
days. They didn't'have microwaves. TheY didn't even have ovens did they?
They had fires or something. I don't know what they did.
,
st. John: Keep the heat regulated!n having wood and coal in
That was an art. Didn't have a switch to turn it to 350~
chris Polster:, So I'd love to have some fun with you anyway.
Montgomery: Well, thanks so much for coming. I really am glad you did and
we'll be in touch.
,
UPDATE ON SENIOR EXPO.
Chris Polster: Okay, thanks.
think most of you were there. Again,! said that I'll be talklng
communication factor as we go through all of these agenda items
because 1 was very dis~ppointedat~he poor turnout .from Chanhassen. 1 was
impressed. First I was nervous because I heard there was only SO people
~igned up and when I knew we put in ab6ut 10 of those, and I thought oh
good. But all the people that came up to our .table were residents of
Chaska or Watertown or outside of Chanhassen. I did not have one person
come up to me from Chanhassenand I felt very strongly about the fact that
it hadn't been advertised and I kept calling and saying I'm/not seeing it
advertised here. 'You know can we advertise it so we can get the people
over there. I think ,that was the biggest problem is that people just were
not aware that it was happening.
e
Montgomery: I guess we need to ,think about that.
association with ano,ther agency.
Colby~ And as'Sherol was saying, I think there's this, Chanhassenis kind
of out here you know. They don't think we.re part of CatverCounty or
somethin'g because they really oh, this is Chanhassen. Dh, this is
'Chanhassen. Even the people who went by kind of like. oh well that doesn't
have anything to do with me. I'd grab them with my hook and say, come
here. Let's talk.
Kubitz: JudYJ listen to the weather report. We have a storm here, a storm
here, and a storm here. It's Chasks and Minnetonka but Chanhassen isn't on
,', the map.
Krauss: We're getting the U.S. Weather Service stationed in Chanhassen so.
Heinlein: That happened the other day. It wa~ pouring Tain here. They
never said. They said Minnetonka and everything ~1se ,but they never say
Chanhassen. \
Kubitz: They goa11 the way around us.
Colby:' Here again I was able 'to meet the person that handled the pUblicity
at the meeting. It was a good meeting for me because I ~ade an awftillot
of contacts there that will help us in the future but that wasn't the point
of the Expo: I can do that without having that Expo but I told her ~hat I
e
Senier Cemmissien Meeting
May 15, 1992 -Page 21
was real disappeinted abeut that and she said that she'd make sure that
that was put dewnfer next'year. I think becavse it was the very fir~t
ene, I was real impressed the way it ran. I was impressed withth. greups
that were ~here. I'd likete put my twe cents in because they were talki~g
abeutwhe,they wanted fer next year and they were geingto get ether '
seurces that were sellingpeeple. Fer selling life insurance or fer
sellIng and I said I th.ink yeu sheuldn't have,'I'think itsheuldbe all
service 'Oriented. Because as seen asyeu get 'One 'Of these in,thatwill
take ever anditwen't be the infermatienthe seniers need te get s61 hepe
they listen te that and maybe next year yeu knew, 'One 'Of us can sit on that
planning committee se it deesn't turninte that. But I think it's a real
geed start. I met the mastergardner whe said he'llceme here and talk te
us fer 'Our grand 'Opening se there were seme geed things abeutit but I was
just disAppeinted fey Chanhassen sake.
Heinlein: There were twefr'Om theseniers greup that I knew ef'were there.
May Ernst and Helen Nielsen.
,
St. Jehn: Yeu had another.
Mentgemery:Well don't yeuthink when th~ center is 'Open, we'll~have
bette'raccess te publicity and te letting peepleknew. We'll have a.
pipeline.
.
Celby: Here he Is. I was Just geingte say, t~lking abeut'publicity.
Leek at, Tem leaves and what happens.
St . Jehn=, That Theatre 65 was ,there were qui te a few from Chanhassen that
were ever there.
UPDATE ON HOME PROGRAM.
Me~tgomery= I did talk to Betty Cebbs and I understand that yeu did and
there were twe more that signed up after she talked to yeu that I ceuld
'repert. I mean had asked fer services.. What did yeu thi nk? Hew did yeu
feel response had been?
e
,Celby: Well, I~ve got real mixed emetions about the HOME program. That is
aeenier cemmunityservices .pYegram. It's 'One that I think is important
for cur community. The reasenI've get mixedemeticns ie,aceupleof the
things that Betty mentioned and'Jey mentiened te me at the Expe were that
they've getten quite a few, calls. They've had peeple ge 'Out and give
estimates'er by the time they get there, a neighber had h~lped.Andthat
seems, yeuknew number ene, I den'tthink we've given it a chance because
it hasn't been ~ublicized enough. And I den't knew that that!s our
preblem. I think HOME needs te get 'Out and do semething abeut that fer.us.
But 'Once it startstebe utilized andothey seniors hearabeut it,what I
ask them te give me was the Eden PTairie histcry 'Of how it started. . What
numbers and Betty got a little bit defensive saying, well you knew they
have slew times tee. Yeu know sc I'm real anxieus te see hcw Eden prairie
bills because if we can see that, I think that will be what we'll.have here
and if ,it really dees beceme a substantial prcgram fer them butTttakes an
extra year 'Or semething,that's fine. My bretherwas ever, fer dinner the
last night and he sits en Medtrenics Fcundatien and I didn~t realize that.
Senior. Commission Meeting
May 15 1992 ~ Page 22~
e
I wish I would have realized that. He said~ he .found out because he told
me he was resigning because he's been transferred. He's going out to
Boston and he says he works with their community and 1 think it's silly to
'do it long distance and they haven't accepted the resignation so maybe
he'll still sit on it. But he was talking about it and they're trying to
establish i program that sound~d very similar to the HOME program that
Me.dtronics is funding to ,and they tal k .about a gentleman who's outsipeof
his house is just meticulous. I mean you .go by and it's a showplace. He
has been ~ had 1 ike3 or 4majorfl res inside his home. It's just .a death
trap inside his home and they said they're, going to .have to put him into a
home because he can'tcook~ He keeps starting fires. And you look ~t the
outside and you ,walk in. , Well, two' blocks down is a widow who's outside,
she~s been given tickets and tickets because it~s just a disa~ter and
" inside it wallS absolutely. So they're trying to develop a program to.get
those two people together. So then when Betty's .telling me that she's
getting these calls and all ofa sudden a neighbor helps, L'm wondering if
the Center can't have a program to get seniors helping seniors. .
Montgomery: I ,look back at the contract that we have with them and.I
noticed that what we're paying for is 6 hours of her time in particular and
it just seemed to me that one of the missing links here is that I don't
think people know how to use the pr.ogram. I don't think they understand
it~ I don~t think they know what's expected of them or what they can
expect of the HOME program.
e
Howard: 1 agree and when I have the man out~ one thing I was not. aware of,
at all. He,mentloned that most of us have an insurance either with the gas
company or Northern Statesto'repair appliances as they break and then
you're covered and you pay. I think I pay about $20.00 a morithso through
a year that mounts up and they do this repair. He said if you have
something break once a year, you've paid a lot of money for that on.
service call. And they do this sort of thing. A lot of people could drop
this insurance with the gas compahy. I.
Montgomery: I think they need more information for the consumer. BecaUse
I ~idn't really~ I still didn't know what it was all about, even ~hen I got
that little bulletin from them. I didn't reallY know how to do anything. I
called over there but Istil! wasn't sure what was going to happen~
Heinlein: I ran into a friend Saturday morning. Stopped for breakfast at
Lundsand I walked in and she was Just back from Filor ida. The first. thing
she said to me, she said oh 1. was so glad to find some information about
how I could get help around my home. She said this HOME project. And!
said, well I'll try and get more information for you if 1 can because she's
got quite a bignouse plus grounds. She's on Lake Susan and you may know
her, Shirley Robinson.
st. John: Yes.
e
Heinlein: Yeah, well she just got back from Florida and she
anymorether~I guess. It's getting a bit too much for ber.
looking forward to getting some of that help. So if 1 could
information, I'd sure pass it on to her.
can't do much
So.she's
more
e
Montgomery: Well what they do, they do come out and they have allt-his
information that they need from you before they do the job. And, then also,
it's on a sliding scale. If you want to, get some, a lower rate, then all
you do'is just tell them what your income is and they have a set chart for
each of thei rdepartments.. And then they look right there and t.ell you
e~actlY,what it would cost. '
Seni6rcommission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 23
,
I thought that it was based on their income.
Montgomery: Yeah, and unless you faIl under that ceiling, of course you
pay their top rate but that is lower in general than you can get somewhere'
else~
mentioned it to my,son and he says, well that's not going to
Montgomery: Well, but apparently one oft.he real pluses Is that they have
screened these people. They know they're okay. They!re not going to walk
in and rip off ~ll the stuff in your house or you know, that is a ,real
worry for seniors I think and for me that's an important part of it~ r
don't wantt.o Just call somebody and let t.hem go anywhere irithe house. So
I think it is valuable but I just think we need to know more, have ,more
information so somebody!'s more 'comfortable I n call I ng them.
Colby: Wha~ kind of information other than the phone number
__ askthem? What ,would make a person'?
Montgomery: Well, maybe talking about the fact that they are screened and
all of this stuff or maybe/reIterating. Maybe they've al'ready said that:
but maybe we need to say it some more.
Krauss: Once the senIor center is open though too, it may be ~seful,
somebody's got questions, to be able to go into the office over there
Judy or with the volunteer and put through the call and process the
paperwork together . '
, Montgomery: That's a good poi nt Paul. I thi nk agal n it's the acces,s
kno~. That's what we trip over all the time. I just think we need to make
it easy because ~eopleare a little scared of how to do ~tuff. What~s
involved., I think where their housekeeping service lsconcerned,there's
something there too about a needsasses;sment that's Involved~ Whether you
really need this and I'm not just clear about that either. Thatmightbe
another question to answer. Well maybe we can get a little ~ore '"
informationtogether'and have a few more answers. Maybe for your friend
Selda, we'll find out more about it.
e
Krauss: I'm sorry we didn't get this out to YOU in your packet but I had a
si<::k, son last week and I was at a conference in Washington so I..., I think
you're aware, we have some money sitting around for our senior study.
Housing s,tudy and I've been talking to Larry Blackstadat Hennepin County.
By th* w~y, he's got another $3,000.00 for us. .
Senior Co~mission Meetin~
May 15, 1992 - Page 24
e
~ Montgomery: That was what we needed ~asn't it?
Krauss: Well actually we probably need more than that. If you recall, we
staited out thinking that this was Qoing to cost us abou~ $20,000.00 and
,then we took some of that money and we paid for the architect for the
senibr cent~r. What we dId is we laid 'out our Block Grant allocation and
we worked backwards and when we ,were all done I think we had $11,000.00.
Yeah I think, I forgot where we ended up.
Krauss: We were about $11,500.001 think and I had agreement from out
Housing and Redevelopment Authori~y to make up thedifference~ Well,
through the ~lock Grant program several years ago we gave money to some low
income househoi'ds to do home rennovations,. If they sell their home before
5 years or 8, years passess,. they have to give us back a por~ion of the
money. Well that's wheTethe $3,000.00 came from. So Larry called me up
and said, what do you want to do withi t? I saId ,well here's what we want
to do with it. So now ~e're back up to, ha~ingclose to $14,000.00 or
$15,000.00. Anyway, what I did isI drafted up wha't'scalled an RfPOT
Request for Proposals. What this'does is we send this, we're obligated to
do a competitive bid to use block grant dollars. , And what this does is it I
tells the perspective consultant what exactly we're looking for and how
they should return th~ proposal to us. In what kind of a form ,and I
guess I can talk you through It real quickly. ,What I've doneisI~ve
broiken it i ntotwQ phases. The f i rstone being phase 1, determine the size
and nature of the existing p~oject and the market for senior housing in'
Chanhassen. We've all gone around thinking that there 1s a market for
senlorhousl ng in Chanhassen. I think there probably is but the first
thing we have to do' is prove it and if there's not, or if it's not going to
be around foy 5 or 10 years , then X think we ought to not waste our. money
and say fine. We've demonstrated it's not appropriate to do it now. Let's
stop and put the money someplace else. But we have to make that ,
determination .first and I thought that that should give us in~ormationon
the size of the market. How big is it? How quickly is it going to
develop? There's a lot of senior projects, housing projects that got in
trouble because they look at numbers and numbers say there's 400 households
with head of households over\ the age-of 55. And developer's kind of wring
theIr hands and say ah, that's a lot of folks that are going to Just,move
in. The nature of the housi ngbusi ness , especially senior' housing ,is that
people don't make snap decisions to give up their home or move out of
wherever they are into a new place. 1 mean t;hey'11 do it over a per lod of
time. So we nave to be clear on how big a project. Do you want t.ostart
out with one that 's 20 units? Ultimately for 40 luni ts. All thosethi ngs
have to be decided. So phase 1 will decide if there's a market. Phase2
is if there's a viable mar kat ,then we've got to defi newhere.thesenior
housing project should be. How big it should be. , I think a scHematic
design has to be developed so we can. get some ballpark estimates on cost
and .see .ifthat fits the site. Basically have enough and I even get. into
define ownership. Is the city going to own it? Are we going to contract
out management services? What's the best way of doing it? And the la.st
thing I said is develop a preliminary cost flow and cash model and that's
information our Housing and Redevelopment Authority needs. It should be
information that a consul tant working with us can develop. And with that
we should have all' the information ~t.Je need to decide if the. project is
-
Senior Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 25
needed. Where should it be? How big should it be? When should it be?
How much is it/going to cost and where's it going to go? At that point we
have enough information to go back to the City Council and the HRA. Back
to the public and start trying to get support for the project. "This
doesn't mean that the city's going ,to build it. I mean there's still not a'
cornmitme,ntto build it but you went through a similar pr6cesswiththe
senioi center. You've proven pretty tough to stop once you get going. So
anyway, "this Is what I've come up with thus far. "Ii've also got a copy of
it on the city Manager's deskb~cause 1 wanted his feedback before we sent
it out. There's about 5 or 6 firms r was thinking of sending it to: Judy
Harshik is one of them but there's 4 otherfai I' ly good ones in talki ngto
Larrythatl think should also get this . Weare not planning on tell il1g
them how much money we have. Really we want them to tell us what they
think it costs and for them to know, that it's a competitive process and I
don't think we're going to be constrained to give it to the low bidder
necessarily. We Want the firm that responds best to our needs and '
hopefully, then one who responds best at the lowest price. So if you're
comfortable with this process, I'll get the ball rolling and because 1 just
sprung this on you too, if you'll take a look at,this if you hav~ any
questions about it. If you give me a call in the next week, I'm probably
not going to get it out until the end of ~ext wee~ anyway.
Paul, ~ould thi~ be on an hourly basis or on a project basis?
Project.
e
Montgomery: Good.
Krauss: Yeah, it's the best way to do it and then if" whattheyusual1y do
is they'll write a contract up that says here's what we'll give you.' We'll
give you this kind of documentation. We'll attend so m'any me,etingsand
then if it goes beyond that, we have to re""'negotiate'or we have t<:;> do it
an hourly basis. .
Montgomery: Does anybody have anymore questions for Paul or
that we can make a recommendation on this based on what he's
,
How big of a project do you thi nk this will be? I mean 'what are
for? How many apartments?
Kubl tz : That's what the' survey 'sfor.
,
Krauss: I could tell you, I guess it's geing to be 40 units or less in all
probability.. One of the things that this 'will show you and show me. I
mean we have to learn ~ur way through it is,you prebably want to starteUt
'with the small~st possible realistic project that you can expand over time
so you're not throwing that much capital into it and you're going to have
empty uhits sitting around.for 4 years like some of these projects have. On
\ the other hand, you~re going to needene big enough that supports the on"'"
site management and services that we think we need. Wedoh'teven know how
I
to target~his. Selda, yeu'reliving in one of the apartments in tewn here
that doesn't offer any support services at all and that may be fine. Maybe
that's the kinclof project we need.. On the other hand, maybe we need one
that offers some uni ts in that category and some uni ts, you know should
, '
e
e'
Senior Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 26
they be handicapped accessible? Should there be somebody on call so that
if somebody needs assistance they can ring a buzzer. Somebody
, around.
That's almost, I think one important factor...
a tape change at this point in the disdussion.)
Montgomery: ,.~.be able to~reach her either but I unde~standthat she's
doing it. She',s working on it and we'll get back to her soon and I'm sorry
that didn't work out. Sharmin has been really incapacitated and worrying
about it. So we'll just get on thatt.Jhen wecal1. Does anybody else have
any comments about something? ,HoW about the #112 Advisory Board. Did you
want to s'ay anything more about ,that? Or 'about the other meeting or about
the SAIL? ' ,
/
Howard: Well the6ther meeting, the first meeting of that County Advisory
thing will be this coming Thursday afternoon and 8etty's not able to make
itio~ know. Sol will go to it and I want to talk to you about the
com~entsto make. I have an agenda here. The Community Education, I read
their agenda and nei therBetty o,r.I went. That was Wednesday evening.
There<wasn'tathing on thereabout seniors and that's what's s.o amazing
and then this senio. su.vey Comes out and we weren't awan:~ of it . I have
not seen that Chris who said he was on it. r have not seen him there . ,One
night there were 14 people there and perhaps he was at that meeting so
apparently there area lot of them like Betty. '
, ,
Montgomery: Well maybe you need to talk to Chris and all go en
try'to get some seniors.
Howard: Well they've been made aware of the feelings that we're interested
intheseniot part of it . And time after time when we do go, they' talk
ab6ut preschool and senr~(s are not mentioned.
'MontgomerY: Well keep trying. I guess that's what we're here for right?
Howard: Yeah. If there's ahythingon the agenda that sounds like
uS,we'll go.
Montgomery: Okay. Maybe in the meantime you could send bulletins saying
you'd like to be ~n the agenda.
Howard: Well that was mentioned one time. Everything seems to
care ofbehind\the scenes and I'm not sure who does it~ I mean
this survey which Wasn't mentioned.
Colby: For?
Montgomery: Maybe you can talk to Gala and figure out what the pipeline.
bere. Okay? Do we have anybody else' who wants to say something? Any
other comments?
.
, ' I
Heinlein: I noticed that my name wasn't down for anyone of
I supposed to be there for Thursdays?
Senior Commiss~on Meeting
May 15,1992' - Page 27
e Montgomer-y: For- what ,was this for-?
St.J.ohn: Were you talking to me?
Heinlein: For- the days somebody is they-e?
Montgomer-y: You mean at the senior- center- or what?
, .
Heinlein: Is thatwha( you~ere refer-r-ing to?
Montgomery: I'm not aure what you mean.
Heinlein: She was r-efer-r-ing to it. She said she was on one day.
St.John: Are you talking to me? The only ones i know about are Jane is
doing a sewing circle Friday afternoons and I will , with some help from a
fr-iend, be doing the bingo on Tuesday afternoons. And those are the only
times I know about.
, '
Kubitz: Those ar-e the only ones signed up because Judy hasn't
volunteer-s yet.
St. John: We're still in the process of doing this. If you'r-e willing to
dd something for the mdney, 6ne morning or after-noon?
e
Heinlein:
Well I' have to be thereon Thursdays.
Every Thursday anyway.
8i11ison: v6u can be the one to do the cards.
St. John: WellMarion~here's too on Thursday aft.rnoon.
Maybe this will all get settled. Talk to Judy apd see.how the
going:
To man it the money of July'will be a problem. We have to get
I thj.nk some of us, I for one would be willing to do more fol" the
month of July than I wouldb.e doing in the future month after month. Just
to $let started.
Colby: I thi nk that's wh~re w,e're goi ng to run into a pr-oblem 1sbecause
they"d like to be,; the Advisory Board would like, to be open 10:00 to 4:00
everyday and I think we have to have somebody there. You just can't have
it, s~ I think, that's where we're going to run into o~~ problem~ Having
that many hours to have people ther-e.
e
Montgomery: Maybe you can't do it. Maybe you can't star-t that way.
think you have to be realistic about .1. t and' just do the best you can
don't kill yourself. Because,people bUTn out if they have to do too
Colby: We have about 15 people coml ngon Monday that Mary and) are going
to be meeting with and' most of those 1,5 want, to be greeters but if you take
151n a month, I wouldn't think people, would want to do that mor-e than once
a month and I don' t think th~y'd want to be. there from 10 :,()O to 4:00.r
would thinkthey'd want maybe a morning or an afternoon.
Seni6r Commission Meeting
May is , .1992 -Page 28
e
St. John: After the opening month we can see which days
may not be open 5 days a week.
Montgomery: I think you just have to play it by €laY' and
gradually add hours as you're able. But I just don't, I
everybody burnout the first. month. You needt.o.
colby: It sounded like a lot but it isn't going to be, I mean the events
are gol ng to be pretty low key. There's somethi ng always happeni ngbut the
feelin90f a drop by. Sosomethingiwould be happening there but you
wouldn't have to participate in it.
And we're not planning ~ny evening activity.
I just really congratulate you. I Just think YOu have Just
done a great job of organizing all this'stuff. It's really ;hardand I
think get.ti ngsomethi I1g off the ground , it is guess work. You don't know.
Cofby: A~d as soon as .omeone says in our 9roUp, well areyau sure 5 days.
I al~ays go, no I'm riot sure because I,am concerned.
Montgomery: We don't know you know.' We'll find ouh.
We hope we can find out in July and very early in July so we can.
-
..
Moritgomery: Well maybe we won't.
we',Te trying.
t1aybe it will take longer.
You know
St. John: When we were starting South Shore, it was hard.
sometimes there'd be a receptionist there and there wasn't
anything all day. It's slow starting out.
I
Colby: That's what bothers me about having the 5 days is maybe if it were
less, it would force a flow a little bit more on those days. And July and
August also aren't going to bayour busiest months.
Montgomery: Maybe ~hen you can develop some project
working on while they're there.
Kubitz: A greeter and another volunteer so you have somebody to talk
to. Because If you go up there for 4 hours or whatever, or, 10:00. to
12:00...isn't that bad if you have'the time and have somebody to visit
with. But if you're going to sit here all by yourself.
St. John: Judy, do you have mystery trip blanks?
Colby: Yes I do.
St.John: I would ~ppreciateacouple.
-
Montgomery: I .wouldliketo say that I just think we owe a Tom a great
vote of thanks for all his help and encouragement that he 'sgiven us. It's
just b~eti invaluable and we do appreciate it very much and we wish you
Senior~Commission Meeting
May 15, 1992 - Page 29
e.
well.
think.
I think you've done a great job of coverage and it was significant!
It made a difference.
It reall~ was. We're all concerned now.
What are you doing? First,what are you
Tom Lapic: I,~'working for the general manager...and
for Senator Paul Wellstone...
Colby: Congratulations. Who dol contact?
Tom Lapic: The. new editor's name is Dean Trippler
person. He was a news ed! tor-of the Eden prairie News and got promoted up
here...but we have to be sensitive that he's got to create his own. projects
so the bestappr9achmight be just a realinvi ting approach. Not an .
expectation but an inviting . We invite yoU to come and be with us.. .
Colby: Okay ,'thank,You for that.
Montgomery: Well if we are finished,
Heinlein moved, Billison seconded to adjourn the meeting.
favor and the motion carried. The meeting was adjourned.
Submitted by Paul Krauss
__ PlannIng Director
Prepared by Nann Opheim
e
/