09-14-2020 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 14,2020 6:00 o'clock p.m. Crosby said anything to help them would be good and he thinks they should impress upon their citizens to contact legislators and start barking, because these lockdowns can't last... Walsh said they need to start barking at the Governor as the legislators don't get any say. Crosby agreed. Seals wondered if the Governor will listen,though, because he tends to make up his own rules. She noted she can't go visit her kid at school to bring him anything but the Governor can roam freely in schools no big deal and it doesn't make any sense. Crosby said yes,there's no logic to it. Seals said in summary,whatever they can do to support the businesses,she'd like to think creatively, even about winter and figure it out. She noted it may not be easy but she wants to let businesses know the City is on board to help them. She said it makes her sad when businesses shut down. Crosby stated there must be a point during these lockdowns where the good people just say"Enough. I'm done with this, I'm going back to my life and we're going to live normally." Printup noted Friday was a somber day as it was 9/11 and in Mound they have a really neat granite sculpture and he and his daughter have gone out there for the last 10-11 years to remember. He asked people to be careful with all of the small kids running around with school and buses. Walsh said he's very glad his kids are back in school and the kids are happy too, noting they want to be there more and don't like some of the restrictions like lunch at their desk and not seeing friends. He said for the residents he had an odd situation during a dog walk and saw a little baby golden lab puppy out in a neighbor's yard and they always see the dog and it has a collar on so it can't leave the yard. He noted a car stopped and they watched for about a minute as the person got out and went into the yard to pet the dog and were looking at its collar. He said it was going to be a dog snatch and they just sat and stared at the lady as the people weren't home. He said they didn't have phones with them an couldn't take a picture but he wants the public to be aware as it's not the first time he's seen people driving slowly around expensive young dogs. Johnson received a call from one of the residents of Stone Bay regarding the water bill and had a very interesting conversation. He noted there is some sort of rumor that the City is using water to pay for other things than water. When Johnson explained to the person that what they've done is provide visibility of the actual cost of water, and that the City has been supplementing through the General Fund,he said this is the first time people are seeing it and capturing all the costs related to water and what water really costs. He said he stood behind the decision then and he still thinks it's the right decision,otherwise it would be going into the General Fund and the resident's taxes would be going up to pay for water. He said it's going to come one way or the other and this is the first time people are seeing the real cost of water. Walsh had a conversation with another resident about all of the things the City is doing and reminded the person in the last six years the City has paid$7 million dollars of debt off and did all of it without raising any taxes. Page 22 of 26