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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />Monday, February 23, 2015 <br />7:00 o’clock p.m. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________________ <br />  <br />Page 14 of 19  <br />  <br />MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT (continued) <br /> <br />Levang stated the newsletter has a lot of information in it and that they will be starting on the June one <br />probably in the next couple of weeks. <br /> <br />Printup stated it is likely he has secured a donation of a table, bike rack or bench for Crystal Bay Park. <br /> <br />Levang stated a couple of the picnic tables at that park are not in good shape and that it would be nice to <br />be able to upgrade to new equipment. Levang noted the City’s donation policy is now online as well. <br /> <br />Cornick indicated he attended the Highway 112 turnback meeting with Mayor McMillan and that the <br />committee should be talking about Orono’s portion of the project in the near future. <br /> <br />Walsh stated he attended the February Planning Commission meeting and that he heard a good discussion <br />on the retaining walls. <br /> <br />McMillan stated she attended the kickoff for the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District comprehensive <br />plan and that over 120 people were in attendance. McMillan stated comment cards were passed out at the <br />meeting and that she would like the City to consider submitting some comments as part of that process. <br />McMillan stated in her view it will likely be an 18-month process and that the Watershed District is <br />focusing on developing partnerships and project flexibility in order to be able to take advantage of <br />opportunities as they come up as well as having their normal long-term projects that are scheduled. <br /> <br />McMillan stated she would like the City Council to come up with some ideas in the next year that can be <br />submitted to the Watershed District since Orono does have a fair number of wetlands and the taxpayers <br />contribute approximately a half million dollars to the Watershed’s levy each year. <br /> <br />CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT <br /> <br />9. VIDEOTAPING PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGS <br /> <br />City Administrator Loftus noted Staff has provided to the City Council some costs and staffing needs for <br />videotaping the Planning Commission meetings and that the City Council should discuss whether they <br />would like to go forward with this. <br /> <br />Printup stated he is a proponent of this. Printup stated with the City now having their own in-house <br />system and having experienced success with that from a community standpoint, the City now has the <br />opportunity to expand that. Printup stated from the standpoint of transparency, videotaping the Planning <br />Commission meetings would help people learn the process and engage the community. <br /> <br />Printup stated he understands there has been some talk about privacy issues and the fact that people may <br />be uncomfortable. Printup stated to address that, perhaps the cameras would not need to be focused on <br />the residents as they address the Planning Commission but that in his view it is an important step to <br />opening up City Hall to the residents. Printup noted it is a public hearing and public documents.