08-08-2022 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, July 25, 2022 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 4 of 8 sent to Mr. Erickson was filth, vile, vulgar, dark, depraved, not funny at all and Mr. Erickson said 80 years is too soon for stuff like that. Not only should it have not been sent to anyone, it certainly should not have been sent to Mr. Erickson. He asked Mr. Printup to do the right thing and stated someone needs to make a motion for censure, although it does not have to be tonight as he respects the City’s legal position. Barbara Peterson, 1261 Arbor Street, read a piece of correspondence signed by four former Mayors of Long Lake (Tim Hultmann, Janet Schaefer, Marty Schneider, Donny Chillstrom) and four former Mayors of the City of Orono (Lili McMillan, Gabriel Jabbour, Jim White, and Barbara Peterson) that was dropped off to the City the previous week and the local newspaper. She wants it to be added to the official record and read: Dear Orono Citizens, as former Mayors of Long Lake and Orono, we want to have the best fire services for our Cities. Orono and Long Lake have been in a cooperative fire agreement since 2002. This partnership came about when the Highway 12 bypass location required the removal of Long Lake’s existing fire house. At that time the two cities worked together to find a replacement site and designed a modern building with the two communities sharing fire services. Orono worked jointly with Long Lake to secure sufficient funds from MnDOT and the Willow Station site was chosen as a response location to serve both cities. A new station was built and a Fire Advisory Board represented by both cities meets throughout the year to work on the budget and provide guidance on fire operations. This has served both communities well for 20 years. With the contract coming up for renewal there would have been opportunities for any changes in the contract to be discussed. Instead, last year with no public input and no supporting rationale, the Orono City Council notified Long Lake it will be terminating the fire services agreement in 2025. Orono claims the reason it wants sole ownership and control of Long Lake Fire is because Orono pays over 80% of the annual budget. Orono, under any agreement, would pay more for fire services than Long Lake, it is 15 times larger than Long Lake and has 5 times its population. Instead of opening negotiations with Long Lake about contract changes, Orono has threatened to use taxpayer dollars either to buy out Long Lake’s stake in the Willow building or build a brand new fire station from scratch. Mayor Walsh noted the three minute time limit had elapsed. Tim Hultmann, 280 Lakeview, Long Lake, said now is not the time to create a new fire department. The future of fire-fighting is heading towards consolidating services not dividing resources. Orono’s quest to try and start its own fire department contains many risks including escalating costs to build and equip the new facility. There are unknowns regarding training and recruitment of volunteer fire fighters and potential increased response times due to station location changes. It is an expensive way to tamper with the public safety that is not broken. Most importantly, this began to create an environment of mistrust and ill-will between the two neighboring communities. Mr. Hultmann said this is unfortunate for our two cities are intertwined, share infrastructure, fire services, shoreline, commercial blocks, interconnecting trials, and retail amenities that the citizens like to use. It is important for Orono to maintain open and honest communication with Long Lake to work on these issues. Long Lake has offered to start negotiations on a new contract and they are sincerely hoping the Orono City Council represents those talks in earnest. Mr. Hultmann said they specifically want Orono represented to set up a series of public meetings to negotiate contract renewal. The taxpayers of our cities need full and transparent public