06-28-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, June 14, 2021 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 3 of 13 PUBLIC COMMENTS – Continued Mayor Walsh would defer that to Mr. Hillegass’ own counsel. Mr. Hillegass noted he is representing himself. He is ready to talk anytime anyone wants to talk. Amy Antilla of Minnetrista, is present somewhat representing the Orono and West Tonka Mountain Bike Teams. Mayor Walsh clarified it is an agenda item and they will discuss it later on. PRESENTATION 17. COMMISSIONER CHRIS LATONDRESSE UPDATE Mr. LaTondresse is the newly elected Commissioner for Hennepin County District 6 and gave a short update to build on the practice of his predecessor Jan Callison, who once a year tried to make it to each of the 16 cities in District 6 for a short County update. He is committed to ensuring the partnership between Hennepin County and the City of Orono remains strong for years to come. He is proud of the ways they have met the moment, combatting the Covid-19 virus directly through testing and vaccination, providing extra help to residents and small businesses who have needed it, and to rethink how they serve people. He noted emergency rental assistance programs of over $16,000,000 and another allocation of $31,000,000 from the federal government to help with this assistance through the end of the eviction moratorium and out the other side. The single biggest thing Hennepin County has spent money on during the pandemic is small business grants, investing more than $69,000,000 to small businesses. He is advocating for another allocation of dollars to go to small businesses to help them through some of the economic impacts. He spoke about public safety and mental health, including posting a full-time social worker at 911 dispatch to better understand those mental health calls. Commissioner LaTondresse highlighted infrastructure projects and the climate action plan which is a roadmap to mitigate the impacts of climate change. His top priorities as Commissioner include housing, public safety, and economic inclusion. Mayor Walsh congratulated Mr. LaTondresse on his election and noted Ms. Callison was stalwart in helping out Orono for a long time. He noted his top priorities include the relationship with roads to make sure they are upgraded and brought up to par, and making sure the Sherriff’s patrol is adequately funded because they manage everything on the lake and he wants to make sure they are funded correctly. Seals noted Orono has 24 parks and Ms. Callison was a good partner in making sure when Orono was trying to do improvements that they partnered with Hennepin County. Making all of that accessible to more people would be a priority for her. Partnering on grants and keeping their parks fresh is important. Johnson said regarding landlords, some of the help they need is to get the eviction courts back open; he thinks the tremendous financial risks that landlords take for their own investment is forgotten. Many landlords have been left behind and as mentioned there are some programs to help with payment which takes some cooperation out of a tenant. With those eviction courts being closed it has taken away a tool for the tenant to secure their financial interest; if there is an area that can help landlords it would help to get that balance of power back to an even place with two people under contract that have equal rights under the law.