Orono Mayor Dennis Walsh

Dennis Sabourin Walsh Left to right: Orono City Council Meeting Monday, August 22, 2022 the Mayor as featured in the Star Tribune front page article August 23, 2022 https://www.startribune.com/bitter-disputes-in-orono-as-unhappy-residents-confront-mayor-and-council/600200643/#4; Orono Mayor Dennis Walsh as featured on the City of Orono website https://www.ci.orono.mn.us/; Mr. Denny Walsh from a campaign photo featured in an article October 9, 2017 https://www.startribune.com/panel-rules-that-orono-mayor-used-illegal-campaign-material/450101433/?refresh=true . https://www.facebook.com/DennisWalshforMayor https://nextdoor.com/profile/01cCZcgZpr7yxwjDC/?init_source=search&is=search&query=dennis%20walsh%20saga%20hill

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So now your Lions Clubs International Donations are about making revenue for the wealthiest per capita City in Minnesota? Orono?

Tell the Orono Lions to do the right thing - Give $40k to the needy and not to the For Profit Golf Course that doesn't need it.

#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono

#dennywalsh #denniswalsh #oronogolfcourse #pavilion

Hey Everyone - if you’ve been wondering what the budget is for Orono Fire - Mayor Denny has posted his phone number below - give him a call and ask him! How much is the Orono Fire Department going to cost? $35 Million? $42 Million or even more?

@denniswalshforononomayor #dennywalsh #denniswalsh #orono #oronofire #ofd

Breaking News: Wealthy Orono leverages Charitable Org

to design/build structure in For Profit Golf Course

Orono Mayor Denny Walsh has coordinated behind the scenes to have a structure built on the Orono Golf Course. What is odd about this is that he is asking the Charitable Organization @Lionsclub to do it.

Currently, Walsh is spending tens of millions on other Orono projects so why rope in a charity to build something for - dare we say - a sport for the wealthy? Is it because he has run out of park funding right now in Orono? Is it because he wants this built for another special interest group?

Are the citizens in Orono needy? Forbes.com lists Orono as the sixth richest city in Minnesota.

https://www.forbes.com/.../the-richest-cities-in.../... Another article lists Orono as one of richest cities in America. So why are the Lions Club building something for the wealthy?

Checking into the Lions Club, it appears that they are charitable. Their website https://lions5m5.org/ shows a mission statement “To empower Lions clubs, volunteers, and partners to improve health and well-being, strengthen communities, and support those in need through humanitarian services and grants that impact lives globally, and encourage peace and international understanding.”

The Lions Club global causes are stated as childhood cancer, diabetes, disaster relief, environment, humanitarian, hunger, vision, youth. See here: https://www.lionsclubs.org/.../our-service/ways-we-serve So does a structure on a for profit golf course meet those causes? Seems not.

Tell Mayor Walsh and those at the district level of the Lions Club that something should be stopped here in Orono. The Lions Club should be focused on helping those in need, not building structures for our Mayor and his friends because as we all know, they can afford to do it themselves.

Tell Mayor Walsh to stop competing with other more needy causes. Make your voices heard on the public record for all Citizens at the next Park Commission and City Council meetings.

#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono

Orono’s Mayor Walsh breaks Open Meeting Law 4/29/24

Authors Uncivil comments to Citizen

Once again, we see the flagrant disregard for process and procedure by Mayor Walsh. He decided to blast an email to the entire City Council in response to a very kind request from a Citizen. By sending an email to more than one council member, Mayor Walsh is in effect creating a quorum, and therefore subject to a violation of the Open Meeting Law according to MN Statute 13D.015.

Even more distressing is the manner in which Walsh answered honest questions about the mystery “lean-to” (the Mayor’s term) that is proposed to be constructed at Orono Public Golf Course. Walsh’s terse and abrupt tone does not show respect for a Citizen seeking answers to the city’s process.

Was Walsh’s objective to show the other council members that they need to shut down any further discussion or detailed information sharing with the citizens?

Was this a way for him to control the other council members by working around the open meeting law?

Please see the Mayor’s response on our website here: https://www.friendsoforono.org/oronopublicgolfcourse

WHAT YOU CAN DO!

Please send an email message to Orono City Administrator Adam Edwards here: aedwards@oronomn.gov by 5/2/24 regarding the lack of Pavilion information and the rights of the Citizens to participate in their own public asset development.

This will ensure your comments appear on the public record.

And as always please attend Park Commission and City Council meetings.

#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono

Oh no, Mayor Walsh is employing more Citizen Suppression City of Orono, Minnesota Government He's removed the Citizen Comments from the recorded public minutes and not even announced the change to Citizens.

Now Public Comments will be shared on Social Media for easy viewing. Tell Mayor Walsh he was not elected #EmperorofOrono and remind him he is supposed to listen to constituents.

Let's make sure our legislators know about this development.

Representative Andrew Myers

Kelly Morrison for Congress

#togetherwearebetter Friends of Orono

Is Mayor Walsh employing Confusion? Control? Why is he reposting Orono City business posts with his own comments? Why not do that on the Orono City Facebook page? Or the Orono Fire page? As a public official is he misusing social media?

Is this further Citizen Suppression that Mayor Walsh seems to have a track record of implementing?

Remember when he changed Citizen comments from 5 minutes to 3 minutes? (contrary to #matthewjohnson's recent comments this move was due to Citizen unrest)

And then placed the Citizen comments at the very end of the meeting?

And in spite, he often schedules a 5 minute recess before the comment period so citizens have to wait that much longer?

Remember our City meeting minutes had the topic of the Citizen's comments included?

And now they don’t?

Remember Mayor Walsh saying not to consider social media a source of information?

And now the City of Orono has multiple sites on Facebook alone?

Why and what is Mayor Walsh hiding in his own Facebook messaging? Why is he blocking citizen's comments? Why are there multiple sites for the City of Orono? Is Mayor Walsh trying to confuse our Citizens?

It is clear Mayor Walsh has not made good on his promises to be a transparent leader when he ran for mayor. His lack of contempt for the citizens mirrors his lack of contempt for the court. Orono citizens desire better.

#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono

https://www.facebook.com/DennisWalshforMayor

Orono Mayor Appears to Flip Flop on Citizen Input: Two Faces: Orono’s Denny Walsh

Two Faces: Orono’s Denny Walsh

Back in 2015, then council member Denny Walsh stated “the public expects that they have input and it there is an agenda item this may be the only time that they have a chance to say anything they want about it”.

Now that he is mayor, he can do anything he wants even going against his own ideas about the importance of allowing the public to speak.

Why the 180? How can Council member Dennis Walsh advocate - even fight for - the very Citizen input he now shuts down in public meetings?

Let’s rewind the tape for Mr. Walsh shall we? Did he actually lobby to put in a sentence on the public agenda that allows Citizens to speak on any agenda item in 2015? Yes, and he was leading the charge.

Fast forward to 2024 and Mayor Walsh is blocking Citizens from speaking during City Council meetings. Why? Perhaps he doesn’t like what they are going to say? As our city leader, why can’t he set a good example and uphold what he felt 9 years ago was good policy for the Orono citizens?

Citizens need to attend city council meetings and demand our right to speak and comment on agenda items. Point out to Mayor Walsh that he once upheld our right to comment on items before the city council.

#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono

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Mayor Dennis Walsh 5/9/23 Speaking with residents at Hackberry Park.

Let’s go point by point through this discussion with Mayor Walsh at the Hackberry Listening Session held Tuesday May 9, 2023:

When has Orono City Council including Mayor Walsh told us exactly why we NEED to spend multi millions on a new Fire Department? Everyone, including former Long Lake Fire Chief Mr. Van Eyll, says there have been no complaints? Is this new Fire Department a Want or a need? Go-it-alone Fire Service makes no fiscal sense and national data points to the opposite solution - collaboration with other cities.

Who is Your biggest client Mayor Walsh? The Citizens of Orono. Why aren’t you asking us what we want and treating us with respect? We've asked for citizen survey that we are due according to our CIP. This is the way forward.

Who broke the relationship with Long Lake Mr. Walsh? You, Victoria Seals, and Matt Johnson must garner at least 50% of the burden. Mr. Walsh said in the 5/9/23 Coffee with the Mayor meeting that he will not meet with Long Lake until June or July. This will indeed help continue apparent outrage in our two communities.

Why would anyone want to speak to Mr. Walsh when he treats citizens just like he did in this video and at the Coffee with Mayor meeting on 5/9/23? (see recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/RpMy-Jq9yio?feature=share )This seemingly angry tone, combative and accusatory manner, means that the Orono City Council is not building relationships with citizens nor their sister cities. Instead, citizens will gather together within neighborhoods, across communities to share their voices together.

Mr. Walsh says Orono has more resources than Long Lake? Just a reminder that those are the citizens’ resources and the taxpayers’ funding. The taxpayers do not want to spend millions more to take Orono further into debt. We already have more debt than this city has ever seen.

Saying that Long Lake and Station 2 don’t do “jack s—” is disparaging the firefighters. And honestly, many citizens feel that the City of Orono has placed the firefighters in a very uncomfortable position. They should not be stuck in the middle, nor should their hard work be called out like this.

No, Mr. Walsh has not had 15 public meetings open to citizen comments and we’ve received very little information to make an informed opinion about our mystery multimillion dollar expenditures. To date, the Orono City Council has not given citizens clear and concise information, nor a budget, nor an overall plan regarding Fire Service. The Orono City Council has not met with citizens in an open format, nor met with residents and the Firefighters together. How many times did Orono City Council cover Fire issues during the Mayor Council Report or on Consent Agendas to quell comments before voting? Several at least.

Just keep in mind that Mayor Walsh says he’s been planning this Duplicate Fire Service for at least 3 years. That’s how long the Orono Council and City Staff have been keeping taxpayers in the dark.

It’s time to meet each other and share opinions about how we can work together. If you’d like to hear the City of Long Lake’s perspective, join us Thursday, May 18, 2023 at Calvin Presbyterian Church at 177 Glendale Drive in Long Lake. Everyone is welcome and there will be an open forum of information.

For more information about Fire Service, please see the City of Long Lake’s website https://www.longlakemn.gov

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