03-13-2023 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING February 27, 2023 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 13 of 22 communication with a list of things I'd like to hear about. I did send an email to Mayor Walsh and to all members of the Council. But I'm just here tonight to quickly say that again, I request that the City of Orono hold a public hearing to provide citizens with detailed information as to how and why the decision to withdraw from the current fire services contract with Long Lake was made, as well as detailed information regarding all the options currently under consideration for providing fire service to Orono residents. I request that detailed information as to expenses already accrued by Orono be provided, as well as estimates of expenses likely to accrue related to all the fire service options currently under consideration by Council. And I just wanted to deliver this in a hard copy so that you all know what I've asked for and are clear about what I hope that we will get in a public hearing for the citizens of Orono. Kevin Reilly, 3405 High Lane, Orono, said I have lived here for over 33 years. I speak to address my concern about the behavior I have observed at every Council meeting that I've attended over the past few months. I believe this behavior adversely affects the ability of the Council to function in the best interest of the citizens of Orono. At every meeting that I have attended, Mr. Erickson stands up during the three- minute public address period to express his complaints directed at certain Council members while sometimes using inappropriate language. The response that I have witnessed from those Council members has been to raise up an open newspaper blocking the view of Mr. Erickson or to tell Mr. Erickson that he is making a fool of himself. And on several occasions, as again tonight, one Council member has walked out of the Council meeting before adjournment, presumably to avoid Mr. Erickson's remarks. I believe this repeated and continuing conflict is disrespectful to the citizens of Orono and that it interferes with the proper functioning of the Orono City Council meeting. The time has come where the issue that is creating this conflict needs to be addressed and hopefully resolved outside the regular business of the Orono City Council. Please find a way to resolve this conflict as soon as possible and avoid the public displays of rancor and hostility. Jahn Dyvik 1780 Martha Lane, Long Lake and also a Long Lake Council member. It's been exactly one month since our counteroffer for the fire department and with no formal response, I wanted to give a refresher for everybody. Our counteroffer consisted of two options. Option A was to return to the negotiating table where we were last summer to work towards the fire department being owned and operated under an independent fire board. Councilmember Seals supported that at that time. Councilmember Johnson was a little bit more hesitant, but said at that time with Council support, he would support that. So that's our first option is to continue those discussions with the partnership of the fire department being operated under an independent fire board. If that's not an option for Orono, then we had Option B as a counteroffer to your offer. Your offer was roughly $1.6 million, taking Long Lake’s half of Station 1 and owning that and then also paying for the $1.5 million of deferred maintenance. Our counter to that was $2 million, and Long Lake taking Orono’s half of Station 1 and then Long Lake paying for the $1.5 million dollars of deferred maintenance. And then we would lease that back to Orono at about three and a half dollars per square foot which would match then the fire service costs to Long Lake and would give Orono full ownership of the fire chief, the firefighters, the rolling stock, the capital equipment, all the donated equipment, oversight of the relief fund which includes the pension for the firefighters and full control of the budgets and operations and capital improvement planning. Then Long Lake would maintain ownership of Station 1 which would give us an asset that perhaps we could use in a future fire district if that ever materialized. The benefits to Orono would be having a fully-functioning and highly-trained fire department from day one with no transition and would save significant cost. It's