03-21-2023 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING March 13, 2023 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 14 of 21 The second item that I was asked to cover, and the request came from Councilmember Benson and then I have had an opportunity to talk to Councilmember Seals, was there was a question about whether Councilmembers Seals has a conflict of interest as it relates to all items related to the fire department. And I would start by saying I assume the origin of the question is because Councilmember Seals is married to a volunteer firefighter with Long Lake. And so my answer to that is at this point in time, I do not feel that Councilmember Seals has a conflict of interest in the negotiations that you're doing for things like establishing a fire department, or hiring a fire chief or purchasing a fire truck. From my perspective they do not enhance or increase or create a conflict of interest for Councilmember Seals. The formation of a fire department in and of itself does not create any financial benefit for any conflict in any of those decisions. I did talk to Councilmember Seals that there are certain decisions that I would advise her to abstain from because I do think conflict can occur when it comes time to hiring. If her husband is one of those people that the City chooses to hire, I think she should abstain from that, and financial decisions like rates of pay or pension things, I would advise her to step away from those. But the generalized formation from my perspective, or creation of a fire department with the City is in many respects the same as if you chose to create a public works department. This is a core service for a City. I understand there's controversy and discussion about the fire department, but you're talking about creating the department. At this point in time, the high-level nature of the decisions and the discussions we've had, in my opinion, do not create a conflict of interest for Councilmember Seals, based on the fact that her husband is employed by a separate City. Benson said she brought it up only because it had been asked during public comment at the last meeting. Mattick continued, the third item I did want to touch on is I did attend the LMCD Board meeting last week. As you know, the City owns some property where an individual is trying to place a commercial dock. The City had directed staff to prepare a letter last August objecting to that application. Laura did write that letter, and we resubmitted it later in the fall or early winter. In February or January, I can't remember now, they had originally made a motion to direct staff to bring back findings denying the application. At their meeting last week, they did act on those proposed findings. They modified them a bit, but they did deny the application that was slotted to be on the City-owned land. I was prepared to present the City's position on that but LMCD really limited testimony to just the applicant and anything new. But they did vote to deny it, and so that is at least final for the moment. And then just a final thing: your regular meeting for March has been moved to next week, next Tuesday. I do have a conflict with another community. I will take a look at the agenda for next week and talk to Adam, but it may be someone else from my office at the meeting. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT REPORT Continued In general community development activity, Oakden reported they had been working on mailings for some septic properties. We send out reminders for compliance reports. Those are due every three years. We’re busy with permits, as Ron noted, so we're relatively busy with contractors. And then also just working on some reporting and citizen reports with code enforcement and permitting, as well as trying to update and streamline some of that information. Other than that, we've also participated in some DNR