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 5 of 11 12. HENNEPIN COUNTY SHERIFF UPDATE – Continued Printup thanked the Sheriff for what he has done, and noted he mentioned the stress and trauma, which is wildly important and has been for many years but is now getting a spotlight. He stated the feedback he has heard from officers, both in corrections which is Printup’s field, and law enforcement it is very positive. Sheriff Hutchinson said that was one of his top 3 goals coming in; he noted his predecessor did a good job but they are just a little different as far as leadership tactics. He went in and asked “what can we do to make you comfortable? What direction do you need from us?” He noted a lot of the time from the Sheriff down to the detention deputies there are 50 people giving different advice, so they went in and talked; they need more comfortable uniforms, they got more uniforms, if they need help, they can go to a therapist and call her on the phone 24/7, they can go work out if they need to. Sheriff Hutchinson said if they had better deputies and better CO’s most people will be less likely to have insurance claims, heart problems, etcetera, but the main thing is when they deal with someone in the public, in prison, or in jail, the deputies will treat them better because they are taken care of. He stated if they treat their staff like “crap” they will perform like that. Again, they are not perfect at it but they are getting better and it is important to him because he has lost a lot of his friends in law enforcement to suicide. He started the peer support at his other agency with another sergeant and just the peer-to-peer support makes their day. If someone is a rookie up to a 20-year vet, sometimes people have different life skills and it either helps the old-timer or helps the young cop have a good career. He said they need to start treating their people better. Johnson thanked the Sheriff for coming and congratulated Captain Magnuson on the promotion and said he also follows the LMCD and he is doing a great job there. He noted they are expanding Big Island so they will have a couple bathrooms and a trail out there and he does not know who enforces that. Mayor Walsh thinks the only complaint at Big Island is that there is a dock out there and is supposed to be for drop-off and pick-ups only but people have been parking there all day long and no one else can get on the Island. He noted that just needs to be patrolled more now that it will be opened up with new trails and bathrooms, etcetera. Johnson said the idea behind that change is that is owned by Orono and if they are going to have it out there, they want to allow more people to use it, not just tying it up, but to have some use in the park and trials. He noted they are ADA compliant and let the Sheriff know that is in the works. The Sheriff said that is a good job for the special deputies to sit in the area and shoo them out. Johnson stated Tanager Bridge will start soon and the first task is to remove the biggest mound of dirt in the area which will be a huge job. He understands that bridge will be a little taller, also, as he knows there have been some issues with getting water patrol through there. That will be good as there have been some problems getting response into Tanager because of the height of the bridge. Sheriff Hutchinson noted their new boats are low on the top half. Captain Magnuson said they will hopefully have less bridge issues as they have a different style of boat coming so they will be able to get into all of those places.