10-10-2022 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING September 26, 2022 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 8 of 13 number as last year they would receive 35% more money. Obviously the City does not need to change that number and he is asking them to consider the amount of money they are spending as it is input/output. He asked them to try to keep the City’s portion of taxes down and to work collectively very hard to see what they can do about the other part of the pie to keep it low, as well. Mayor Walsh noted if someone’s house was $500,000 6 years ago and did not go up in value and it is still $500,000 next year, they are not paying anything more. The only difference is the incremental value that it has gone up. He noted people in the City have to be paid, utilities go up, but otherwise the tax rate has not changed. Mayor Walsh stated this City Council committed 6 years ago to keep that tax rate no higher than it was and that is what they have done, all while funding parks, roads, water/sewer, and everything within that. Johnson moved, Crosby seconded, to adopt Resolution #7291, 2023 Preliminary Tax Levy. VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. 10. NOTICE OF INTENT TO ESTABLISH A FIRE DEPARTMENT – RESOLUTION NO. 7293 Kim Carswell, 261 Cygnet Place, asked to understand the problem this is trying to solve. She hears neighbors talking about the duplication and asked what is the problem and what is the impact if they have two fire departments fairly close to each other? Mayor Walsh noted the “why” is a long discussion which the City has been having for three years. Regarding the notice of intent, the City has committed that they want to have control of their fire department and regardless of whether they are partnered with Long Lake or not, Orono needs to establish their own fire department with the State and must file paperwork to do that. Johnson clarified right now they are just dealing with some of the things they will need to do if they do not have an agreement with Long Lake. He noted they can stop this later on and dissolve it if they come to a resolution with Long Lake. Johnson moved, Crosby seconded, to adopt Resolution #7293, and authorize the Mayor to sign a letter (Exhibit B). VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. 13. PUBLIC WORKS FACILITY (21-039) – AWARD Edwards shared the City has been working on designing a new Public Works Facility and bonded for that facility the previous December. Bids for construction came in above what the City thought prudent to move forward with so they took it back to the design team and asked to divide the scope of the project into different phases. Edwards clarified the project was then rebid and the City received a number of bids, the lowest being Ebert Construction for $16,067,000. Mayor Walsh gave history noting the current 28,000 square foot public works building is surrounded by swamp and as Orono has grown they now need 60,000 feet. The department services other communities and eight years ago the City Council began paying down debt from roads. Then in December they bonded for the Public Works Facility and Fire Department all at the same time for $16,000,000 at 1.9% which would be triple that percentage today. Gabriel Jabbour, 985 Tonkawa Road, noted if they do an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) or EAW (Environmental Assessment Worksheet) one option they must do is to study doing nothing. He does not totally disagree that Orono has grown and noted they were at 7,800 people when he was around and now