01-11-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, December 7, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 11 of 15 27. Authorize Text Amendment Related to Special Lot Combinations – Continued Mayor Walsh noted they would just table the issue at this point. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT Seals had nothing to report. Johnson had nothing to report. Crosby asked to shout out on December 7, 2020 to Pearl Harbor Day, to think about their Veterans and a moment in history that many Americans will never forget. He will never forget it, as their Veterans’ sacrifices need to be recognized as often as possible. Mayor Walsh told everyone Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, have great Holidays and a safe New Year. There is rain and slush coming so he reminded everyone to drive slowly. A member of the public spoke up and asked about 3895 North Shore Drive. Mayor Walsh clarified they had passed that at the very beginning of the meeting. The member of the public asked if they could explain an overview of what the City Attorney does regarding a nuisance. Rief said he can explain and noted typically Orono handles nuisances by going through the prosecution side for criminal-type offenses. They were advised by the City prosecuting Attorney that he does not have enough teeth in the way he was going to do it, and to be successful at accomplishing the goals of getting compliance on this property, they came back to the City Council to go through the civil route and go through civil litigation process. That is how they are trying to handle mitigating the issues at the property. The member of the public asked if it just to get them to clean up the property. Rief answered yes, to get everything back into compliance. Mayor Walsh said part of the problem was the house went into foreclosure, was owned by a bank, and to sue a bank criminally there is no one to show up for that, so they could not really do that. He noted the City lost their leverage because of that whole process so had to move it over. Mayor Walsh said they took the best route they could to get it to work and get it cleaned up. The member of the public asked if there is anything else, they can produce to get the Attorneys that are litigating this. Rief said not unless there are new offenses that are showing up. The member of the public asked about the burning of garbage that has been going on in the middle of the night for the last 10 days, noting there is all kind of night-time activity.