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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, March 12, 2007 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ PAGE 19 (Ferndale Road and Fox Street Bridge Replacement Plans, Continued) Kellogg inquired whether the Fox Street Bridge except for the railing is okay the way it is proposed. Murphy stated it is but that he would like to see the railing changed. Moorse recommended approving the plans and specifications subject to the railing being changed. Kellogg stated the bid opening could be delayed a week or two and that the awarding of the bid could be rescheduled to the first meeting in May. Kellogg stated he would like the plans and specifications to include the new railing. Murphy moved, McMillan seconded, to approve the plans and specifications for the Ferndale Road Bridge and Fox Street Bridge replacement projects and to authorize the advertisement for bids for the two projects, subject to the railing being modified and the new dates for bid opening and awarding of the bid being changed. VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT, CONTINUED White stated the editorial that was in last week’s Sun Sailor concerning the vacancy on the Orono City Council was not totally accurate. White noted he did submit the following letter to the editor of the Sun Sailor: To the Editor: I am writing to correct misperceptions created by your editorial of March 7, in which you state the Orono City Council has delayed selecting a replacement for a vacant Council seat and is doing its voters a disservice. The editor writer goes so far as to also suggest the replacement process used by Wayzata could have been used in Orono to fill the seat at the first meeting in January, if we had been willing to challenge ourselves and work on the matter over the holidays. The editorial didn’t tell the whole story. It’s baffling why the writer didn’t do some basic reporting and contact city administrator Ron Moorse, or one of the sitting Council Members or me and ask what we were doing to fill the open council seat. The writer would have been told that after the November election our Council discussed openly at its meeting the process it would use in this situation. We decided the City would be best served by not starting the replacement process until newly elected Council member Cynthia Bremer was seated and could participate in the process officially; insuring, therefore, that all discussions on the selection would be in public meetings, not back rooms. The Council adopted a resolution declaring a vacancy at its January 8 meeting. Notice of the vacancy was then published in our official newspaper, the Sun Sailor, and posted on the City website, with applications closing on February 1. At our February 12 Council meeting, the Council scheduled the candidate interviews for February 26 and 27. The interview for one applicant was rescheduled to March 12 when he was not available on the 26th. The Sun Sailor, to my disappointment, chose to give our Item #03 - CC Agenda - 03/26/07 Approval of Council Minutes 03/12/07 [Page 16 of 19]