02-08-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, January 5, 2021 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 4 of 11 12. HENNEPIN COUNTY SHERIFF UPDATE – Continued Crosby stated they cannot defund the police and a lot of what happened in Minneapolis was because it was already defunded. They need to add funding, they need to help with training, support, and that is the way they get there. However, it is never going to be 100% perfect – police are human beings just like the Councilmembers are. Sheriff Hutchinson always tells people that the police are just like everyone else and 98% or more wake up and do their jobs to make their communities better. He noted every day he tries to do something to make this agency better for when that time is over. This is an honorable profession, most of them are out there to do good, they want to help people, and sometimes they get a little jaded with politics and some media. However, the majority of men and women who serve in these uniforms – he especially thinks the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office is the best agency – but the rest, no matter what the naysayers say, 95% of people support them. It is the 5% that are loud mouths and those 5% eventually quiet down and the police and Sheriff will always win because they are the good guys. No matter what people say, they will always be the good guys. Seals is very excited that he just drew the line in the sand today and said “we’re not going to let that happen” because she thinks it was really hard to watch Minneapolis burn and wonder when is it going to come here next. She appreciates that and said this Council and the City supports the Sheriff’s Department, the Orono Police Chief and department. Seals has been able to listen to the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District (LMCD) calls and said Sheriff Hutchinson has great, practical, pragmatic advice and she appreciates that. She noted they had some crazy ideas on there and the Sheriff was able to reel them back in to reality, for example, it is a lake and they cannot have kayaking from 2-4 on Mondays and think that they can actually monitor that in a logical way. Seals said as a boat owner, one thing that drives her nuts is that she sees a lot of families towing their little kids under Arcola with their towables. She said it only takes one slip and that kid is off and someone has run over them. Coming from a family that has had a child get run over – one of her cousins – it is not good. She does not know what it looks like to educate the community because every time she has talked to someone, they are completely clueless saying “what do you mean we can’t tow this through that channel?” Seals tries to explain the rationale and then people agree that makes sense. She stated people have no control and then they have a six-year-old on it; if they fall off and there is someone who is drinking in the boat next to them, and they run over the child…what are they going to do? Sheriff Hutchinson stated that is important and they cannot be everywhere so people like Seals should speak out – hopefully it is not confrontational – but if people see something they should say “hey, that is not safe” and more than likely those people do not live on the lake. Seals said no, most of them do not and they just don’t know. Crosby noted sometimes they get the Jersey salute and asked if they know what that means. Seals noted education it is a huge thing. Sheriff Hutchinson introduced Jim who does their relations, puts all this together, and said if the Councilmembers have any issues or complaints politically, they can always email him.