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 12 of 15 MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT – Continued Crosby stated if there are illegal burns, they can call 911. The member of the public said it is at 4:30 a.m. Mayor Walsh said that is about all they can do – call 911 to get the police to file a report and then they have documentation. The member of the public said the officer could see they were burning garbage and the stench was irrefutable, but because there was no flame the police could not tell them it was a violation. Crosby asked if the fire department showed up. The member of the public replied no, it was two Orono officers. Crosby said if the fire department does come, the Chief can issue a summons on an illegal burn. The member of the public said they should basically call 911. Mayor Walsh and Crosby answered yes. Mayor Walsh said the sad part is that they cannot control bad behavior; all they can do is work with the legal system as much as they can. That is what the Council did tonight to get to the next step – to bring it through as much as possible for these members of the public. Johnson said it is not a fast process. Shanna Conklin, one of the City Attorneys, said she is not one of the Attorneys who is normally at these meetings and does not have as much familiarity with that particular situation. She would let the members of the public know that it is important to document anything they are seeing, even if it is in a notebook or photos and then provide any of that to the City so they can take action appropriately as they pursue the matter further. Johnson asked if the members of the public have used the City’s online complaint system. The members of the public replied that Barnhart knew who she was and she thought it was an anonymous website. Rief clarified that Barnhart does know who they are as he is in charge of the system, but nobody outside of the system – so Staff would know who they are so they can communicate with the complainant specifically – and if they emailed one of the Councilmembers directly. In a complaint situation, the complainant is not public information, so they do protect that information from the outside. The member of the public asked if there is a portion of the litigation where someone can physically go into the house and see how nasty it is.