06-12-2023 City Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 12,2023 6:00 o'clock p.m. Council was looking for or the decision making process. She noted the selection of a candidate who appears to have the same conflict of interest and who was not here for the rest of the candidates to hear the interview,made the hours that were spent that evening feel inconsequential and moot. She added the new rubber stamp voting process with the Mayor looking to the two Council Members to his left for a motion and a second makes it seem they are not even trying to appear to be considering the issues or collaborate with the full Council. She said Orono has a fractured community which no longer trusts its Mayor and City Council leadership. The obvious rubber stamp process between the three Council Members on major decisions is further damaging community relations, she said,and the City is in a PR crisis. She said it appears the majority of the Council does not want to hear from constituents and will disparage and disrespect other Council Members and she was incredibly disappointed in those three Council Members. Leonard Freeman, 190 Signet Place, Orono, also said he was disappointed.He said he has lived in the community for about 25 years and has been active as an election judge and the former rector of St. Martin's by the Lake.He said although he had grown up on the east coast in several large cities,he had rarely seen something like what is now going on in Orono.He said residents have come to distrust the Council's judgment about what's going on with the fire department because the decision seems to be a kind of a fait accompli with the Council taking steps like hiring people before the discussion almost got started.He said he had read the letter from the four previous Orono mayors and is concerned about the issues they raised regarding finances. He said the only option they were leaving citizens is to vote them out of office.He added the Council is heading for serious trouble and is putting all Orono residents in serious trouble. Claire Barrett, 1085 Brown Road South,Orono, said she had been a resident of Orono for approximately 27 years and pointed out that the City Council was elected by the people who had voted for them. She said she is quite proud of all of them and will be proud of Ms. Veach as well when she joins the Council. Things don't always go the way you want with every decision,she said,but that's why we have elections. She applauded everyone who applied to fill the vacant City Council position and said there is a process that the Council has followed to appoint that person and they could have appointed without interviewing anyone,so the process was quite generous,inclusive and transparent. Barrett said she was frustrated by the level of discord by several noisy people who do not represent all of Orono and don't necessarily even live in the City. If things aren't going the way that the majority wants, she said,then there's another election. But, right now,these people were elected by citizens to do their job and the community has to let them do their job. Chelsea Wetrick,Independence,said it seems the City Council can do whatever they want. She said it appears there was discussion on the new member for the City Council but that Benson wasn't involved. The other three had their own discussion concerning who would follow them best,she said. She added she thinks the people should be voting on the new Council Member. After a period of shouting between the speaker,the Mayor and Council, and other audience members,the Mayor called for adjournment. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT Page 8 of 9