07-13-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, June 22, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 4 of 13 LMCD, that is a ball of twine with a lot of knots in it. He told Mr. Anderson that he is doing a great job in making sure the LMCD understands who is doing the work and who is getting stuff done. Mr. Anderson indicated that is why he presented the information the way he did, because he sends emails out, but it’s on-camera here and other people might take interest. If you think about it, the LMCD is non- existent with LIDs. Seals asked Mr. Anderson what he needed from the Council. Mr. Anderson said he did not know but wanted to give the presentation. He is charging forward with the help of Mr. Jabbour and the head of the LMA, Eric Evenson. Mr. Gabriel Jabbour, 985 Tonkawa Road, said Mr. Anderson is doing an unbelievable job and he is very lonely up there because the Board is having a hard time listening to him. He said 100% of the product LMCD produced was done by Dick Osgood, him, and other agencies. The only thing the LMCD did is gather it and put it in a binder. They only hear about an incremental increase of the budget, which is 2%. They are hoarding money and have always hoarded money. He was told by a Board member that they needed the upcoming $75,000 study to back them up as far as stopping harvesting. He noted if people want to have cocktail parties and get patted on the back, you don’t run for election and you don’t get appointed; you go to the clubhouse and have a good time. When you get to be behind the bench, you are going to have to work hard and make difficult decisions. Regarding the Special Deputy, that started almost 25 years ago, where the private sector decided they wanted an incremental increase to the service the County provided. He noted it couldn’t be more important than this year, because the volunteers are not there. There used to be 54 volunteers; it is down to 20, they can’t work because of the virus, and most of them are retiring. They had six gun-holders, now there are 16, but nobody is here because of the riots downtown. They thought if they had a car with a sunroof and power steering, they would buy that incremental increase. They did not want the taxpayers to pay for it, so they thought they would pay for it themselves or they’d have Save the Lake pay for it. He said your quality of life is affected by law and order, which is no more clearer than today. That is why he was extremely against Mark; he had 54 pages of police reports and nuisance calls and was pulling people from fires to respond to garbage complaints. His feeling on the matter is that the LMCD neither has the expertise nor the setup in order to implement anything. He noted when he came in to complain to the Council, by fluke both he and Mr. Anderson attended the same meeting. Now it is 2-3 years later, there is no harvesting, and 100% of the business model has changed. Now when they tell the Council something could be done better, they are showing the Council it could be done better. He discussed who was helping take care of the lake such as the Mayor’s wife, a former Planning Commissioner/Council Member, Mr. Anderson, and himself. They are not bragging; they are saying what is wrong and what is right. As elected officials, they have to decide how they are going to handle the agencies. He noted there is not one single project the Metro Council had that they didn’t like, and that if someone comes in with a $2 million project, they will say it should be a $25 million project. Because he and Mr. Anderson are saying the LMCD is not doing things right, the LMCD has spent $25,000 promoting themselves, which totals $100,000 on a $350,000 levy. It would be like the City Council spending $100,000 out of $350,000 on parties. Walsh stated the problem is there is no accountability. Mr. Jabbour stated the LMCD spent two years on Facebook and their website telling people that what they are doing is right, to find out that what they are doing is wrong. All the data they need already exists. The DNR told the LMCD they would like to go back to the 2012 documents which he/LMA/DNR