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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 28, 2015 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 7 of 27 6. APPEAL FENCE VIEWER DECISION, CONTINUED HEARING (continued) Nygard stated it is the Council’s duty to give him a fence viewing. Nygard stated it is a partition fence by where it is located; by where the people who put it there located it; by the function it serves, which is to separate the properties; and by the fact that the neighbor cannot maintain the fence on his side. Nygard stated the question is whether the Council is going to choose to follow state law as it has been presented to them or whether they are not going to choose to follow state law. Nygard stated the flyers that have been going around have something interesting in one of them, which is that City law cannot override state law. Nygard stated he has presented the City Council with state law and no one has presented anything different. Nygard stated if the Council chooses not to allow this fence viewing, they will be in violation of state law, and that choosing to violate state law would not be good for us as a city but will cause many complications down the road. McMillan noted a fence viewing was provided on July 6 and they determined it was not a partition fence. Nygard stated the Mayor apparently did not read the appeal he wrote, which said, due to the fact that the fence is falling over more since then that it needs another fence viewing. McMillan stated a partition fence is when two people get together and they decide to share a fence or share the costs of the fence. Nygard stated the Mayor is making that up. McMillan stated she has looked at all the law. Nygard asked the Mayor to show him where it says that. McMillan stated she is not going to get into an argument with him about it tonight and that fence viewers were provided by the City of Orono and they made a determination that it was not a partition fence. Nygard stated he was never provided a report. McMillan noted Mr. Nygard was on the property at the time of the fence viewing. Nygard stated he was denied a report and that in his opinion the fence viewing is not complete. McMillan stated Mr. Nygard is asking a lot from the City. Nygard questioned how asking the City to follow state law is asking a lot. McMillan noted the City did provide a fence viewing and that she is not going to get into an argument with him. Nygard asked where in the statute it says that two neighbors have to agree. Nygard noted the statute contains many references to when neighbors disagree.