10-09-2023 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING September 25, 2023 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 of 13 12. HOPE CHEST FOR BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION Maureen Scallen Failor, Executive Director of the Hope Chest for Breast Cancer Foundation, gave a presentation to the City Council. She said she was the new director, having just passed six months. Prior to this position she worked with Chambers of Commerce for 15 years and she said she has a deep respect for City Council service. She came to put a face with the name and share about what is taking place over at the Foundation. She added she hoped they were all familiar with the retail store on Shoreline Drive. Hope Chest was funded under premise that no one should have to go through breast cancer alone. Funds are raised to help patients with basic necessities like gas and groceries, mortgage, car payments or rent. She said the Foundation’s grant recipients aren’t as lucky as she was when diagnosed with stage three lung cancer in 2001. She had great health insurance through her employer and time off from work. She explained the majority of their patients don’t have that as 78 percent are primary income earners; 73 percent have household incomes of less than $50,000; and 42 percent have incomes of less than $25,000. They have an average of four dependents. Hope Chest Foundation has been around since 2001, she said. Its founder, Barbara Hensley, felt very compelled to do something after losing two sisters to breast cancer in the 1990s when treatments were not what they are today. The first retail store was in the basement of Wayzata Community Church. Since its inception Hope Chest has made $2.5 million in patient grants and 5,700 individuals have received grants. Unfortunately, breast cancer is here to stay, she said, and the need is urgent and now. They feel very strongly about the importance of fundraising and the work done at retail store. Many organizations are seeking funding for a variety of needs and they can’t rest on their laurels, she said. Community outreach is important. They are seeing higher rates of cancer in women under 40 and it is important to promote mammograms. Early detection is the key. Of the patients served, 73 percent are from the metro area and the rest from outstate. She noted October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and they have a number of events coming up. 13. MEDIACOM UPDATE Therese Sunde, Director of Government Relations for Mediacom, told the Council she was with Mediacom when they negotiated the franchise agreement when Orono decided to leave Lake Minnetonka Cable Commission and go on own. The agreement is up for renewal at the end of the year and can be amended or the City can do a five-year extension. The agreement is on cable TV only although Mediacom does have broadband. Orono does not have a local access channel through Mediacom, she said. Zach Raskovich, Director of Operations, said he came to this market in 2015 right after the agreement with Orono was made. He said investments in infrastructure have never stopped with continuous building out of fiber and coax for longer extensions into more remote areas. Maintenance really kicked off with COVID, he said, as people went to work at home and they had to deeply invest to meet the need. The City is a five percent partner, he said. Mediacom knows that the number of video customers is declining. It is a national trend, he said, as people turn to other ways to get TV service. Many cities are asking about how that impacts their budget. He said the internet side of business is his focus. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT REPORT 11. LA23-000042, ALISON HOUSTON, 4731 NORTH SHORE DRIVE, VARIANCE – RESOLUTION NO. 7404