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MINUTES OF THE ORONO COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 24, 1989 <br />• MAYOR'S REPORT - MISCELLANEOUS <br />Department and the City Administrator. Mr. Peterson distributed <br />a letter to the Council setting forth his concerns, in addition <br />to writing a letter to the editor. <br />Mr. Peterson said that he has asked specific questions of <br />the City and has not received a response. He said that he has <br />received responses from other residents who believe and expect <br />that the City will take care of them. Mr. Peterson said that he <br />was asking for some evidence of that. <br />Mayor Grabek asked Mr. Peterson if firing the City <br />Administrator and doing a comprehensive study on the Orono Police <br />Department and Administration was his idea of the City taking <br />care of him. Mr. Peterson said that he had asked for some feed <br />back from the City regarding the effectiveness of the Police <br />Department. Mayor Grabek questioned Chief Kilbo as to whether he <br />would be able to meet with Mr. Peterson to address his concerns. <br />Chief Kilbo replied that he would meet with Mr. Peterson at Mr. <br />Peterson's convenience. Mr. Peterson commented that it may not <br />be appropriate to receive the information he is requesting from <br />Chief Kilbo, but felt that was a good place to start. Mr. <br />Peterson stated that he had not received any information <br />regarding his request for the objectives of the Police Officers <br />and Police Department. Mayor Grabek stated that such information <br />• pertained to policy and management style and unless Mr. Peterson <br />was qualified in the area of Law Enforcement those policies would <br />not be discussed. Mr. Peterson said that he concurred that <br />management style was not any of his business, however, he felt <br />that he was entitled to an understanding of the objectives. Mr. <br />Peterson stated that the reason for requesting this information <br />was that it was his belief that writing tickets for traffic <br />violations was the main objective of the Police Department. If <br />there was no evidence that by doing so accidents were reduced, he <br />felt that the Citizens of Orono were being penalized. He <br />questioned whether the objective of writing traffic tickets was <br />disproportioned compared to other Police Department objectives. <br />Mayor Grabek asked Mr. Peterson why he felt that City <br />Administrator Bernhardson's contract should not be renewed. Mr. <br />Peterson said that he felt he was being ignored when he brought <br />his concerns to Mr. Bernhardson. Mayor Grabek said that it was <br />his opinion that Mr. Bernhardson had a great deal of integrity <br />and would not "sweep under the rug" a matter such as this. Mayor <br />Grabek told Mr. Peterson that it was inappropriate to make such <br />an accusation, especially since he had only spoke to Chief Kilbo <br />once. Mayor Grabek also disagreed with Mr. Peterson's assessment <br />that Mr. Bernhardson may not be knowledgeable or have an interest <br />in the activities 'going on around him. He said that making a <br />public degradation of Mr. Bernhardson's working record was an <br />injustice. Mr. Peterson said, in light of the Mayor's <br />• commendation and belief in Mr. Bernhardson's abilities, he would <br />apologize for his comments. He said his comments stemmed from <br />the frustration of being ignored. <br />11 <br />