09-26-2022 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING September 12, 2022 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 7 of 9 podium for a couple minutes and nothing ever showed up in the Star Tribune. He noted good stuff does not get published and all the bad stuff does. About three weeks ago Mr. Petzke called the City of Minnetrista and said he was not complaining but they must do something about North Arm Road as he cannot drive his truck on the road because parts, fittings, and tools fall out and it takes him half an hour to reorganize the truck and put it all back together. He has driven on gravel roads that are better than North Arm Road near Burl Oaks Golf Course. The person at the City understood but said Mr. Petzke does not know what it takes to get it done. He noted here in Orono everything gets fixed and is in good running order. He wants to say thanks. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT Seals really appreciates the public coming up and saying the things they did because, to be honest it is hard to be up here and to be abused, where even if you say nothing you are wrong. She said when they knocked on doors the biggest things they heard were that the roads are bad and if they can fix them, do it. The City has kept their Administrator and Public Works very busy since she has been on Council. The other thing she hears is that people do not want the City to raise tax rates and she gets that house values have gone up so people are paying more taxes, Seals does not control what Hennepin County does and she thinks it sucks. She would prefer they didn’t raise the value of her house at all. The City Council is trying to work within the number they are given and trying to focus on what they hear from the public. Over the weekend Seals had people at her house from Medina, Long Lake, and Orono. She spent most of her time unraveling what they had read in the newspaper which is so unfortunate they are wasting their time on portions of stories that do not tell the whole thing. She had another call today from a coworker at her company that did not know Seals lived in Orono and said he did not know what Seals was going to tell him but made a statement that the past mayors complaining about this is a whole lot of nothing. She thanked the public again for saying those things and the silent majority are the people who want to live in their house, live in their City, and have things taken care of such as roads, a safe community with police and fire to show up when needed. Seals noted they may not always agree but the City Council will listen and hear them. She appreciates them coming to the podium and appreciates them not sitting on the podium as apparently that is a new thing. Seals spoke about parks and noted Summit Beach has also been a hot topic in the Star Tribune and regarding the Long Lake Rowing Club (LLRC) there was an open house and neither she nor Park Commission Chair Roath went because they were told by residents they did not trust them. There is a second one on September 17 from 2:00-5:00 p.m. at Summit Beach and both Seals and Chair Roath will be there and would love to hear the feedback, and for the silent majority to also come because the loudest does not always represent everyone. There will be a third open house that will take the feedback from the two open houses and the survey, anyone can speak and share their thoughts and she appreciates hearing all the sides. Printup shared this Wednesday is a Fire District meeting. A few weeks ago they talked about some bullet points on a letter that was presented and asked Seals and Johnson if there are any updates. Johnson shared they have met since that time and the Long Lake City Council had their meeting. The big sticking point is that their City Council is unanimous that if they are going to move forward with a partnership with Orono they want the Board to have the control, meaning the Chief reports to the Board and is not an Orono employee. Long Lake would like to see central control and if Orono is paying 85% of the bill, Long Lake would like to see Orono not use how much they contribute to the budget as their voting leverage but would like to see a format that does not give Orono veto power.