A Grand Opening without a Public Hearing Ever Held?
The Orono Duplicate Fire Department has been a huge debacle. First Walsh blames Long Lake whose Fire Chief was Van Eyll and then hires the same Fire Chief for the Orono Fire Department. Has anyone mentioned it’s the same guy? Or that maybe the same issues will travel with him? Or that this move alone split the department?
Then Walsh says he’s running “the budget on his intuition” presumably because he doesn’t want the Citizens to know it’s going to cost tens of millions for what will be unproven and possibly unsafe service.
The only people behind him on this are those that he’s hired. No one else thinks this is a good idea including our State Legislators, the Fire Marshal and the surrounding cities. Instead of cutting his losses, Walsh doubles down and breaks the contract with Long Lake which pulls the City of Orono into yet another lawsuit.
Walsh then goes against a Judge’s order to stop recruiting Long Lake Fire Fighters thereby incurring fees the Citizens of Orono have to pay. The next hearing is 2/1/24. Walsh shows no sign of negotiating and continues to berate Long Lake and everyone else that doesn’t agree with his Fire Folly.
The most serious point of all of this is that apparently Walsh cannot hire enough Firefighters to train and staff the new Navarre Station. Those residents are at risk and need to speak up now. How much is the new temporary fire department going to cost? Why did Walsh go ahead to lease equipment? Because he’s run out of funds?
