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MINUTES OF THE
<br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING
<br />April 24, 2023
<br />6:00 o’clock p.m.
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<br />Page 7 of 10
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<br />when, the how, how much and more importantly, the why -- a lot of these questions have come my way
<br />recently, because he is a retired firefighter. Some of those, just to name a few, are the why. What's wrong
<br />currently with a Long Lake Fire Department? Eighty percent of the costs are covered by Orono, but 80
<br />percent of the calls are served by Orono. What's wrong with that? Does Orono have an oversight of the
<br />budget? And if so, have they ever looked into the budget? Has anyone ever been asked to increase the
<br />CIP? And if so, what was their response to that? And do they do it regularly? Why are the citizens paying
<br />for two Fire Chiefs? Right now you're paying 80% of Long Lake’s Fire Chief, and a Fire Chief that
<br />currently is being paid with no Fire Department. And on that note, he's doing a needs assessment with no
<br />Fire Department. So there's a need for a Fire Department. That's an easy assessment. You guys have made
<br />an offer to Long Lake to purchase their station, the rolling stock and equipment. But that's already been
<br />paid for by the public. So why should the public do that twice? Let me just move to a quote that I thought
<br />was really interesting. “I feel very strong about the need for more transparency of how, when and to what
<br />our taxpayer dollars are being spent. As a business owner and operator, I've always found it very
<br />important to have and ask a lot of the right question, so when you make a decision, it is a well-educated
<br />decision, resulting in a better success rate or a solution the first time. These types of dialogue sessions
<br />need to be well-documented at the City Council level so all have a better understanding of the specific
<br />votes that are being cast. When there are major projects to be done, we need more public open houses and
<br />more public input. When citizens come to the Council Members with questions. I feel they deserve a
<br />better answer than what is currently at the City Council. That way we all have a better understanding of
<br />where our tax dollars are being spent.” He really liked that quote and thinks it an awesome quote. And
<br />that was from you, Mr. Mayor.
<br />
<br />Chelsea Wetrick said she’s not disappointed that he had a nice quote to read. It was from your slave
<br />owner this time. Yeah, roll your eyes. She finds it funny that he says that people shouldn't swear or attack
<br />personally when you two are the ones that call people out from your podium. And then you call people
<br />out and then run away for months at a time. It's very interesting. As you can see, everybody wants you to
<br />figure this out. So, what is your game plan? Are you just going to sit and wait for it to end, because it's
<br />not going to end? You're going to need to do something to fix it. Pay attention here. You're going to have
<br />to fix it, your poison you spread. You find this funny to all these other people who listen to you and your
<br />poison and you with your January 6 stuff. And you know, it's just, it's bull. And you want to talk about
<br />not swearing? Give me a break. We need new people in the Council. Everybody wants you to answer this,
<br />to figure it out. Again, it's not gonna go away. Figure it out, man up.
<br />
<br />Brad Erickson, 2485 Independence Road, said he has got a proposal this evening. We'll get to that in a
<br />minute. He did a Freedom of Information Act request and has no less than five emails here that came in in
<br />December, 2020 regarding his links to the Proud Boys. Okay, so Victoria knew about it. You knew about
<br />it, of course you knew about it. You were there. And some other folks. And nothing was done. So, a lot of
<br />people up there knew and are sheltering this guy. So, my question is, who knew about the J6 stuff? And
<br />why isn't anyone coming forward and talking about that? His proposal this evening has to do with Mr.
<br />Walsh. This is his proposal -- 700 mayors across the country have spoken out against growing anti-
<br />semitism. He'll read some of the ones from Minnesota and he would challenge you guys to sign up on
<br />this. As a City, as a mayor, as an elected official, do the right thing for once. Blaine, Brooklyn Center,
<br />Burnsville, Edina, Golden Valley, Jordan, Mendota Heights, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Plymouth,
<br />Richfield, Rochester, St. Louis Park -- your alma mater, and St. Paul. We need to add Orono to this list.
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