A Quote for Mayor Walsh
How can a couple of council members and Mayor Walsh think spending millions to create an entirely new fire department makes any sense? Where is their responsibility to the Orono taxpayers who would have to fund this?
Over a million dollars has already been spent in buying used fire equipment for a possible start up of this duplicate department. These three fire trucks have been sitting in storage while this group on the city council tries to figure out where to house a temporary fire department. And more equipment will have to be purchased if they hope to begin servicing the Navarre area on July 1st, 2024.
In the future, millions have been mentioned in retrofitting the existing public works into a fire station. Fully paid firefighters will have to be brought onboard to staff the department as there are not enough paid on-call volunteers.
This is crazy fiscal planning not to mention a public safety risk with this haphazard thinking. Concerned Orono Citizens have spoken against the stand alone Orono Fire Department due to cost and safety concerns.
There have been no public town halls to find out if Orono citizens want to end their present fire service with Long Lake and if the citizens want millions of their tax dollars to go to this change. And to make matters worse, the appointed Orono council member’s spouse is part of this small group of firefighters who want their own department.
The solution is to sign a new contract with Long Lake Fire and continue the good public safety service we have now. We need to collaborate with our sister cities and stop wasting time and a lot of money on something this outrageous. Long Lake has been willing to work with Orono on a new contract. It is the majority on the Orono Council that want to end fire service with Long Lake and spend millions on a separate department idea that goes against national fire trends.
Citizens of Orono write or speak to our city council about keeping our fire service as it is. Ask them to work with Long Lake to create a new contract.
#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono
#dennywalsh #denniswalsh #dennywalshfororonomayor #orono #ofd #oronofiredepartment #spendydenny
