08-26-1991 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE REGULAR ORONO COUNCIL MEETING — ,AUGUST 26, 1991 MAYOR'S REPORT — C p� MAYOR'S REPORT s C80 , He noted that the 1992 contract is under scrutiny. Negotiations have started some time ago, but since they do not have any clue as to what they are trying to negotiate or idea of where they have started from, it is hard. Long Lake seems to be negotiating from the newspaper: 1) they have decided they might cancel the contract, 2) they have empowered their attorney to cancel the contract if they wanted to do so, 3) they have directed their City attorney to cancel the contract, and 4) that they themselves have canceled the contract. Long Lake has suggested that if Orono stops talking about canceling the contract and be more polite to them at meetings, all would be well. Also, the Mayor of Long Lake has stated that they intend to have their police department, and even if they didn't.plan to, they could get the service much cheaper.elsewhere. 2. Fire Department Contract — Callahan noted that fire service has been very good from Long Lake. Currently the Long Lake Mayor has reduced their fire budget by $13,000. The City of Orono pays four times as much to the budget as Long Lake does, so this would reduce our portion, by 4 times as much for a total reduction of $69,000. The Mayor of Long Lake has also threatened to use fees for services by the fire department such as burning down houses, exclusively for the Long Lake General Fund. Callahan felt that by reducing the fire budget this much, the citizens of Orono may not receive good service. 3. Sewer Leaks — Callahan mentioned that the papers have indicated that Long Lake feels we are flushing our toilets too much and using up the capacity of Long Lake sewers, contrary to the agreements we have with Long Lake and contrary to the agreement with Metropolitan Waste Control. Callahan noted that the cause of these comments appears to be from.the fact that they are having leaks.in their pipes, a °nd• some people think th -is does nat relate to Orono's use.. Through all testing done to remedy this problem, none have shown this to be Orono's fault. Callahan felt that we are spending much money and time to make them happy without a purpose of our own. Callahan explained that it appears that in both the areas of police and fire service, some action should be taken. He directed the City Attorney to supply the City with a report on the status of the police contract negotiations. He also directed Barrett to concentrate his efforts on only the terms of the contract and violations or not violations thereof and not on the desires of Long Lake's philosophical discussion of the inner workings of the department., Callahan said that serious consideration should be given to simply terminating the respective police contract and not negotiating with them any more. 10