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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />Monday, January 27, 2020 <br />6:00 o'clock p.m. <br />Johnson said he talked to the City of Excelsior Mayor about how the plowing of trails was going and if <br />they had any problems with it. The Mayor said there were no problems. Excelsior gets a grant from Three <br />Rivers which does not cover costs, but they think it is a worthwhile endeavor because the feedback is so <br />positive about having the trails open and how often they are used. <br />Council members discussed the LMCD. The City of Excelsior's LMCD representative is now Mark Kroll. <br />There are other cities that also have non-residents representing them on the LMCD board. Johnson said <br />there is some question if that will be the policy going forward. <br />Johnson asked Council members if they were familiar with having a scenic route labeled around Lake <br />Minnetonka and discussed other roads that were labeled as scenic in Minnesota. He said the Excelsior <br />Mayor indicted other cities had talked about doing that before but it kind of fizzled out. The Excelsior <br />Mayor may reach out to the City of Orono to look into that. <br />Walsh said his daughter's gymnastics season is underway and he will be traveling a lot the next few <br />months. <br />CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT <br />Rief stated the Long Lake Fire Department firefighters asked himself, Walsh, and maybe another Council <br />member to attend their meeting tonight and provided minutes from their January 13 Fire Department <br />meeting. He referenced the budget sheet and indicated those are the facts he will be providing to the <br />firefighters at their meeting and asked if anyone had questions. He noted since 2008 Orono has increased <br />their share of the budget allocations and the other two partners have decreased their share, generally <br />speaking. <br />Rief said the Presidential Nomination Primary early voting is going on now. As Super Tuesday <br />approaches, there will be an influx of people at City Hall. There are some challenges related to the <br />wording and privacy related to the ballots and how voter information can be given out. They are working <br />to help ease the concerns of anybody coming in on what is public/what is private, what is available to the <br />election staff, and also what is available to the party chair. City Staff will engage the attorney to ensure <br />the correct message is provided. <br />Walsh stated he thinks that issue is being discussed at the state capitol. <br />Rief said the language could be read two different ways and the concern is if some of the information is <br />provided to the party chair, the next line may supersede information that was considered private. For <br />example, a phone number is public but an email is private. It raises questions from voters because their <br />thought is: I just want to vote; I don't want people to call me and tell me who to vote for. <br />Walsh asked for an update at the first meeting in February. <br />Crosby commented it would be nice, someday, to have some voter ID laws. <br />Walsh said he thinks the issue is more about the sharing of information regarding who is voting and who <br />they are voting for. <br />Rief confirmed it was more about the privacy component. <br />Page 2 of 3 <br />