01-12-2015 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, January 12, 2015 7:00 o'clock p.m. (MAYOR/COUNCH, REPORT continued) Walsh stated the third item relates to a city policy issue that is more of a wait and see approach from a zoning perspective regarding waiting for people to complain before the City takes action, such as having too many signs out. Walsh stated in his view he does not feel that is a good policy from a long-term perspective and that he would like the City to be more proactive in situations where they know there are issues. Walsh stated he is aware of citizens that have made complaints on neighbors and that those neighbors are then told who complained on them, which has a chilling effect. Walsh stated if those things do not get resolved, it gives the impression that the City does not care about those policies and it tends to have a ripple effect throughout the City. Walsh stated his last item deals with public comments at the meeting. Walsh noted the City Council's agenda has language stating that people can talk about items not on the agenda, which inherently says that when an agenda item comes up, that the person will have an opportunity to talk about that item. Walsh noted he has spoken with Mayor McMillan about this before and that the Mayor indicated she does not think she has an obligation to ask for public comment. Walsh stated the biggest problem with that is the public expects they can have input on an application and that the public comment section is the only time they can do that. Walsh stated in his view the Mayor should ask for public comment before any motion or vote is taken. Walsh stated while that might make the meeting longer, the Council Members are here acting as public servants and they need to make sure the public has their say. Walsh indicated he would like to talk about this at the next work session or next City Council agenda and amend Section 2-40, Subsection B where it says that the City has adopted Robert's Rules of Order. Walsh stated the only problem with that is that Robert's Rules relate more to parliamentary procedure and not to a small city government, but that the City Council owes it to the citizens of Orono to have that in there. Levang reported she attended the Highway 12 turn back meeting held several weeks ago. Representatives of Long Lake and Orono were there as well as representatives from MN/DOT. The group mainly talked about the streetlights and eventually came to an agreement about the style of the lights. Levang stated the design chosen for the streetlights will be the same as what Orono installed in Navarre. The group also talked about potential road closings and how to handle that from a safety perspective. Levang noted Jim Cornick will now be the representative on that committee and that Mr. Edwards and Jessica Loftus are on the committee as well. Levang stated she attended the demonstration project from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and that in her view it was a very good meeting. Levang stated the City received a number of good ideas as well as some good press on that. Levang indicated she will put the next meeting on her calendar. Levang reported the communications committee met in December and that they are in the process of preparing the next newsletter. Levang stated as it relates to the donation garden, she received a very nice letter from WeCan thanking the volunteers for all their hard work. (MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT continued) Page 15 of 19