Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-13-2023 CC MinutesMINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING November 13, 2023 6:00 o'clock p.m. IZ�] 111[K1 The Orono City Council met on the above -mentioned date with the following members present: Mayor Dennis Walsh, City Council Members Matt Johnson, Richard Crosby III, and Maria Veach. Council Member Alisa Benson was absent. Representing staff were City Attorney Soren Mattick, City Administrator/Engineer Adam Edwards, Public Works Superintendent DJ Goman, Finance Director Ron Olson, and Fire Chief James Van Eyll, Mayor Walsh called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. He invited any veterans in the audience to come up to help lead the pledge. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved by consensus. CONSENT AGENDA 1. CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF OCTOBER 23, 2023 2. COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES OF OCTOBER 23, 2023 3. CLAIMS/BILLS 4. CAPITAL LEASE AGREEMENT —RESOLUTION NO. 7427 5. APPROVAL OF NEXT WORK SESSION AGENDA 6. APPROVAL OF RENTAL LICENSES 7. ACCEPT DONATION FROM GEAR WEST SKI &BIKE, INC. —RESOLUTION NO. 7420 8. ACCEPT DONATION FROM GLORIA RICH —RESOLUTION NO.7421 9. AUTHORIZATION TO HIRE PART-TIME FIRE FIGHTER This item was remo>>ed, fi•orn the consent agenda, 10. AUTHORIZATION TO HIRE CSO 11. APPROVAL TO PURCHASE UTILITY TRUCK 12. REAPPROVAL TO PURCHASE TRUCK CHASSIS 13. REAPPROVAL TO PURCHASE WATER SOFTENER VALVES FOR SOUTH WATER PLANT 14. 2022 STREET DEPARTMENT PROJECT CLOSE-OUT 15. APPROVAL TO RECRUIT FULLTIME BUILDING MAINTENANCE/CUSTODIAN 16. APPROVAL OF TREE LIGHTING EVENT FUNDING Page 1 of 6 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING November 13, 2023 6*00 o'clock p.m. 17. APPROVAL OF FIREWORKS DISPLAY PERMIT 18. LA23-000050, LUCID BUILDERS, 3359 CRYSTAL BAY ROAD, VARIANCES — RESOLUTION NO.7422 19. LA23-000053, Pillar Homes Partner, Inc., 3765 Watertown Road, Variance Resolution No. 7423 20. LA23-000059 PEBL DESIGN, 980 TONKAWA ROAD, VARIANCE —RESOLUTION NO. 7424 21. LA23-000058, ROBERT "TRIPP" SNYDER, 1513 BAY RIDGE RD, ATF VARIANCE RESOLUTION NO.7426 22. LA22-000059, TOM RYAN, 2245 WATERTOWN RD, PRELIMINARY PLAT & REQUEST FOR MATERIALS — RESOLUTION NO. 7425 23. FINANCE DIRECTOR RESIGNATION AND RECRUITMENT 24. LA23-000051, KEPLINGER & KERANEN BUILDERS O/B/O ERIK & MARISSA WINEGARDEN, 2795 SHADYWOOD RD, VARIANCES & CUP — RESOLUTION NO. 7417 25. LA23-000054, TEXT AMENDMENT —ORDINANCE 284 28. RECODIFICATION OF TITLE I (CHAPTERS 1-10) AND TITLE V CHAPTER 46 — RESOLUTION 7428 Crosby moved, Johnson seconded, to approve the Consent Agenda with Item 9 removed and Items 249 25 and 28 added. VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. 9. AUTHORIZATION TO HIRE PART-TIME FIRE FIGHTER Chief Van Eyll said this position is for apart -time fire fighter for weekday daytime duty crew starting July 1, 2024. He recommended the hiring of Jake Martin subject to passing the psychological and physical exams and EMT and fire fighter training and beginning Nov. 14, 2023 for administrative duties and to allow time for training as Martin is new to community services. As it was a community member who asked to have the item pulled from the consent agenda, Veach asked if the Council might want to find out why the individual requested pulling it. Walsh said the item was not a public hearing. Walsh moved, Johnson seconded, to approve offering a conditional contract to Jake Martin as a part-time fire fighter beginning Nov. 14, 2023. VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT REPORT Page 2 of 6 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING November 139 2023 6*00 o'clock p.m. 24. LA23-000051, KEPLINGER & KERANEN BUILDERS O/B/O ERIK & MARISSA WINEGARDEN, 2795 SHADYWOOD RD, VARIANCES & CUP — RESOLUTION NO. 7417 This item �-vas adopted as part of the Consent Agenda 25. LA23-000054, TEXT AMENDMENT —ORDINANCE 284 This item was adopted as part of the Consent Agenda FINANCE DIRECTOR REPORT 26. THIRD QUARTER FINANCIAL UPDATE Finance Director Oison presented the third quarter financial report through Sept. 30, 2023. He noted it is non -adjusted. The City is in good shape for revenue, he said. Licenses, permits and governmental services are over budget for revenues. The majority of governmental services funding is pass -through finds. The City receives tax revenues in June and December so still does not show the second half revenue. Fines are also trending on budget, and interest will be higher than in recent years. Overall the City expects to be slightly overt 100 percent of budget in revenue. The months of April, July and October were higher than expected for building permit revenue. Expenditures are overall at 75 percent for the year so Orono is in good shape there, he said. Mayor and Council is a bit over budget due to training and a line item change which means there is savings elsewhere in the budget. The City has made a lot more use of the attorney in recent months with lawsuits and data requests, he said, so that is driving that line item over budget. Central Services and Public Works Spring Park are also trending over budget but the latter is offset by payments from Spring Park. Already at 100 percent are fire services, engineering and special services. Most of the fire department expenditure is the overage from Long Lake for the previous year, he said, with a small amount such as chief training being for Orono Fire. In general 75 percent is where they would like to be so the City should end the year at budget, he said.. As far as investments, the City was able to open a CD at 5 percent interest. In the fall the City has high cash needs so in the spring will be looking to do more investing, he said. The City has received more than $282,000 in interest for the year which is more than the interest being paid on bonds. CITY ATTORNEY REPORT Attorney Mattick had nothing to report. CITY ADMINISTRATOR/ENGINEER REPORT 27. AUTHORIZATION FOR DESIGN OF TEMPORARY FIRE FACILITY City Administrator Edwards said several meetings ago the Council authorized looking at the current public works building as a temporary fire facility in the Navarre area. The architect has proceeded with the preliminary phase of that project. Staff is now looking for authorization to proceed into the detail design phase. Quotes for architectural services were received and on the public works remodel they Page 3 of 6 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING November 13, 2023 6600 o'clock P.M. seemed high, but additional information has been received from the State that reduces some of the requirements for the building which may reduce architectural costs, he said. The scope would include looking at adding two bays to the existing Navarre Fire Department. Walsh moved, Crosby seconded, to authorize the design development and construction document phase of the design process. VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. On the personnel side, Edwards said the new City Clerk had started work that day and Finance Director Ron Olson's resignation is effective in December. It will be necessary to advertise the position. He said Olson has agreed to stay on part-time as needed for a transition period with the new Finance Director. 28. RECODIFICATION OF TITLE I (CHAPTERS 1-10) AND TITLE V CHAPTER 46 — RESOLUTION 7428 This item was adopted as part of the Consent Agenda COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPORTS 29. FUTURE Frur, SERVICES COMMITTEE UPDATE Veach reported the group continues to seek State funding. Edwards added the Future Fire Services Group, which represents neighboring communities, has focused on engaging with the State Legislature and asking the State to sponsor a task force to look at funding fire districts throughout the State. PUBLIC COMMENTS Cheryl Kulseth, 725 Stonebay Drive, talked about trust accounts. She said you make deposits to that account and trust increases, you make too many withdrawals from that account and trust decreases. She said in her life she gives trust freely. Her family moved from Maple Grove to Independence in 1989 looking for a smaller community and school district and the Orono School District was a great fit, she said. After her husband died in 2016 she wanted to stay in the community and built her townhouse in Orono. She said she assumed incorrectly that the City had a good working relationships with the communities that comprise the school district. Over the past year the trust she freely gave in 2018 as a new resident has been wiped out, she said, and she no longer trusts the majority of the Council to make the best decision for the City. She pointed to the divisiveness that plays out for all to see at Council meetings and in the newspaper. She asked if the public can trust the Council members when they say they can design and construct a temporary fire station in six months, when they say taxes will not go sky high, or that Orono is participating in court -ordered mediation in good faith. She urged the Council to engage in a town hall concerning the fire department and said that could be the first deposit in rebuilding the trust account. Kelly Grady, Long Lake, gave an update on court proceedings she attended the previous week in the City of Long Lake vs. City of Orono regarding contempt for violating the July 2023 injunctive order. She said the proceedings included Judge Miller's extreme disappointment that mediation did not result in any productive resolution. She said the judge scolded Orono for Lack of communication, pointing out the Fire Page 4 of 6 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING November 13, 2023 6*00 o'clock p.m. Chief contacting and having meetings with Long Lake fire fighteis and inviting them to recruiting events is crossing the line. Although the judge did not make an order, Grady said, she made it clear she expected mediation to continue and would be looking for a report. Grady said she is concerned Orono is not entering court -ordered mediation in good faith when the Mayor was on camera a few days ago stating that plans for an Orono Fire Department were pretty well locked down. She said it blows her mind that they could think they were heading into mediation in good faith when making that kind of concrete statement. Brad Erickson, Corcoran, read from minutes of the August 28 Orono City Council meeting quoting Crosby's statements about him, Erickson. He quoted Crosby in the minutes as talking about the "crooked" Department of Justice and accusing President Joe Biden of laundering money; saying Erickson's free speech is "slander, degradation, put-downs and threats" and accusing Erickson of turning into a Nazi himself. Then at the next meeting, Crosby said he didn't say that, according to Erickson, but it is in the permanent record. He pointed to the Franklin, Tennessee mayoral election where the candidate who was fraternizing with the Proud Boys lost with less than 20 percent of the vote after refusing to denounce these hate groups. He wondered if Crosby would denounce hate groups in the next election. He added he believes Cody Farley. Krista Berbig, Long Lake, said she has issues with the decision made by the Council that evening to approve plans for fire stations one and two when judge specifically asked in court if the City has plans and Orono's lawyer said they do not. The City clearly has 21 pages of plans, she said, and is beginning something on Monday. She added the lack of communication is befuddling to the court, it's befuddling to the public and it's befuddling to the fire department. She said the City may think the Long Lake lawsuit is frivolous but that doesn't make the judge's orders frivolous and the judge will likely be offended. She said Orono has to be a good neighbor to Long Lake and it has not been.. The City can't tell anybody it is going into median in good faith while making a decision Long Lake knows nothing about. She said and Orono has made these plans without a single iota of working with Long Lake. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT Veach said trust is super -important to her as well and she feels a lot of people have felt unheard. She said she doesn't think if you disagree you still can't be good partners. She said sire has reached out to every person who has wanted to talk to her and would welcome conversation with anyone who wants to meet. Public safety is an investment and everything that the Council has done has been for the needs of the Fire Department that need to be addressed and she doesn't feel that what they have done means they can't be a good partner. She said there is a Fire Advisory meeting coming up this week. The last one went very well and that is difficult to do when there is a lawsuit. She said the recording of the meeting failed and no one was taking notes but later meeting notes were posted without any opportunity to review. She requested and received assurance the notes could be discussed at the next meeting which indicates trust. She still believes amicable solutions can be found. She said she continues to look for long-term solutions. Change comes and it's needed, she thinks they have the right leadership in place, indicating Adam Edwards. Johnson thanked the veterans for their service. Crosby said he would also like to start out by thanking the veterans, adding that most veterans are humble and don't app�•eciate what they do for us. He said that he appreciated Veach's comments. Regarding the fire discussions he believes Orono has negotiated in good faith hying to get positive things done. It's been a financial situation and it's Orono's money that's on the table and the Council is responsible for the citizens of Orono's dollars. For that reason, the Council made a decision to not renew the contract with Page 5 of 6 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING November 13, 2023 6:00 o'clock p.m. Long Lake and move forward with its own Fire Department. He said he thinks that's the right decision. It would have been wonderful if something could have been worked out but without having a controlling interest, Long Lake wasn't interested in anything that was being proposed, he said. He can't comment on mediation but this Council is dedicated to making sure our citizens are well -protected and served. He said he served on the Long Lake Fire Department for 10 years and having this divide is no joy for him. He would still like to come to an agreement with Long Lake, but it takes two parities to do that. He said it was concerning to him that the Long Lake Fire Chief has not come to talk to the Orono Council when the City pays 85 percent of his salary. He said Orono has a great staff, noting the work of Edwards and Olson. Walsh said he concurs with comments on the Fire Department. He said last week was signing day and five Orono student athletes were recognized for signing with their respective colleges, including his daughter. At Coffee with the Mayor the previous week there were about 10 people and he had already received a complimentary letter from one of the attendees. He wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and ended his comments with three Thanksgiving quotes. ADJOURNMENT Walsh moved, Crosby and Johnson seconded, to adjourn the meeting at 6:53 p.m. VOTE: Ayes 4 Nays 0. Dennis Walsh, Mayor Page 6 of 6