08-28-2023 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING August 14, 2023 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 4 of 6 comments. He has said he won’t respond to insults or craziness, she said, but it is not an insult when he is being asked to clarify their questions. She said in October, Crosby stated he was not a member of the Proud Boys. That was the only meeting he attended in October, according to Wetrick, and he talked about going door knocking with Eddie Rice. She said if he really wants to work something out they can chat after the meeting. Brad Erickson 2485 Independence Road, Independence, mentioned that he is one of the people who has a lawsuit against the City and the Mayor and certain Council Members. He said all the Mayor would have to do is apologize and he would forgive him. He said he brought the Mayor a copy of the Diary of Ann Frank as a gift, adding this 14-year-old girl lived a half hour away from his grandparents and was taken from her hiding place and murdered by the Nazis. Now the Mayor has tried to bring this into the Council chamber and this community, he said, adding that this is not going to go away and it’s not going to stop. Erickson said it doesn’t matter where he lives, he is down there front and center every day in a godforsaken town that's run by idiots and imbeciles. He added the Mayor and Crosby are lucky they live in a civilized society but like Trump, who has also started comparing the charges against him to the holocaust, they will not be reelected. Claire Barrett, 1085 Brown Road South, said residents of Orono have been putting up with this far too long. She cited a definition of disorderly conduct and said that has been happening over many, many Council meetings. Barrett said she is all for public discourse, agreeing to disagree and civil conduct. What happens here is not civil conduct, she said. It's abusive to the process. It's abusive to the elected officials, to the City staff and to anyone else in the room. She said she would continue to attend Council meetings but if the two non-residents who come up and participate in disorderly conduct come back she will leave the meeting in order to deprive them of their audience and she encouraged others to do the same. She said she continues to be proud of Orono’s elected officials and appointed officials and City employees. COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPORTS 19. LLFD ADVISORY BOARD Veach reported on a recent meeting of the Fire Department Advisory Board. She said the Long Lake Fire Department was not represented as the chief had a last-minute emergency, so there are no updates. There was some talk of duty crews but the other cities present agreed more information is needed before making a budget or talking any more about that subject. An amended budget was presented but it was felt they needed to wait until the Long Lake Chief can be present. There was information needed for the budget that could only be provided by Long Lake. Crosby said there was some discussion of the fact that Long Lake Fire Department salaries are beginning to fall short of the metro average. He is proposing an increase in the hourly pay that is slightly more than Long Lake was proposing. Crosby said pay isn’t the reason most fire fighters serve but that the department should be more competitive. He called it a productive meeting. Benson asked about minutes of those meetings. City Administrator Edwards said the City receives them and they can be provided to the Council.