Divided We Fall
Why is there so much division in Orono? Because there hasn’t been a scientific third party survey of citizens since 2008. It’s a big problem when there isn’t general consensus, and therein lies a lot of the angst. Right now there are three key issues we need to pay close attention to:
1) Duplicating Fire Services:
Against national trend, and apparent fiscal responsibility, the City of Orono is conducting what looks like a hostile takeover of the Long Lake Fire Department without public input.
Sounds like for over a year, Orono Council member Victoria Seals has been lobbying fire fighters to allow the takeover even though it appears it’s going to cost multiple millions of dollars for what amounts to a name change.
Adding to the negotiations is the apparent conflict of interest for Ms. Seals due to her spouse's employment for the Long Lake Fire Department.
Hundreds of citizens continue to be upset, and that number will grow as they were kept in the dark as to the true budget and apparent misdirection of the outcome.
2) Public Land Giveaway:
Public Land in Orono appears up for grabs. A fire lane on Stubbs Bay with lakeshore access was given to Orono Planning Commissioner Bob Erickson for his own wealth portfolio for the paltry sum of $100k.
Other public right of way land with lakeshore access was given to Orono City Council member Matt Johnson in the Wildhurst neighborhood for his own wealth portfolio for FREE!
Summit Beach Park was slated to have land leased to a private entity for a boat club even though thousands of citizens said no to any development. And now there's going to be a $300k structure built against continued citizen opinions.
Several other developments have been started and placed on hold including the parks of Lowry Woods Nature Conservation Area, Bederwood Park, the Orono Golf Course (Park) and Hackberry Park.
3) Inappropriate use of the Orono city brand:
It appears that Council member Richard Crosby has raised money for a right wing extremist group using a photo of himself standing at the council dials with the Orono city logo behind him. This sends a strange message to the citizens of Orono. Could this social media post been approved by the Mayor or City Council?
And then there’s the new fund named “Orono Parks Legacy” that is fundraising for city activities without city staff involvement, and appears to be set up as a slush fund for the council members and their friends to use as they see fit.
Do we want this council using city land as targets for donated money to drive development projects that the citizens of Orono do not want?
And then the taxpayers of Orono will have to foot the bill of maintaining these new developments while the donors can write off their donations as a tax deduction. Seems like the Orono taxpayers may be used to finance wishes of wealthy donors.
All this begs the question as to how did we get here? It appears that several City Council members ran on a platform with words like “transparency,” “balancing budgets,” “listening to our constituents,” “protecting our lakeshore,” etc. So basically this looks like an 180 degree turn around and a disingenuous one at that.
Only the Orono Citizens can hold them accountable. Please come to a meeting and have your voices heard!