09-14-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Thursday, August 24, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 12 of 13 Walsh noted regarding Mediacom, two weeks ago his internet was out for a week, and said while Mediacom was fixing someone else down the road, they came and cut his cables. He called the company and they said no, they wouldn’t do something like that. A week later someone came out to his home because it’s attached to his fire system and the guy said “it looks like we cut your wires.” Seals said speaking of fire, she didn’t know if the Councilmembers saw Saturday’s edition that Long Lake got a massive award of $152,000 to replace their breathing apparatus. Walsh noted Orono has gotten a number of grants over time. Seals said this is a big grant and she knows they need their equipment replaced and asked how the City of Long Lake is helping Long Lake Fire to make these things happen. Crosby noted they have to ask and request the grant. Walsh noted the question is if anybody is paying attention. Seals said she looks at Bederwood and their grants and Big Island and noted the money is out there, and it seems silly to leave it on the table, but they should at least ask. Rief stated he thinks they did apply for that same grant with the SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) and he said the only difference in the detail that he noticed, and he hasn’t talked to Greg Peterson, but Long Lake’s SCBA gear was 17 years old and Orono’s is 15 years old. He said everything expires at 15 years so Long Lake’s would have been expired and therefore a higher priority, noting perhaps that is why they received the grant versus Orono. He said he has not received an official notification that Orono did not get the grant, but he will check this week. Johnson asked if the City made progress on the land they were looking at. Rief said he has been in communication with one of the Attorneys from Soren Mattick’s firm, he is working through that process and should have some information soon. Johnson said Taylor just passed her real estate license down in Florida if anyone is looking to buy a place down there. Drew has moved from Washington to the free state of Texas. Walsh noted he mentioned the many birthdays in his house at the last meeting and said the girls don’t just get one birthday so it’s like four birthday parties rather than two. He said he had family over on the weekend and spent a lot of time on the water. He noted they have a three week break between this meeting and the September 14, 2020 meeting and told everyone to enjoy the weather and get out on the water and use the blower on their boats. CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT Rief noted that Togo Road has been under construction and they’ve made progress on East Long Lake Trail to get the pilings in. Their assumption was around 20-some feet but instead it was 48 feet to get stable ground for the pilings. He just received a draft from Attorney Mattick of what he has labeled as “Orono Cares For Schools Grant,” on how they would help distribute the CARES money and how they can divide the money out to the two largest school districts to help them with some of their expenses. He