Cutting Service? Understaffed? Temp Firehouses? Are they Serious?
Are Orono residents getting the whole fire service story?
Orono’s new fire chief Van Eyll never hired one other paid on-call firefighter during their recruitment campaign other than those from the Long Lake Fire Department (LLFD).
Why is that? Because other departments and cities know about working with Mayor Walsh? Or was it because Walsh was trying to take over the LLFD? Or did outside firefighters not want to work with Van Eyll?
What is known now is that recruiting Firefighters is difficult because there just aren’t enough Firefighters out there.
Van Eyll says he needs 18, but is willing to run the operation with 12 firefighters? Will the proposed Orono Fire Department be short-handed? And what does that do for the citizens' concern about public safety? Do they have enough trained and qualified Firefighters?
And why is the actual Firefighter count in so much flux? One paid on-call firefighter supposedly resigned due to “health reasons” according to Van Eyll. But that same Firefighter is still working with LLFD? Apparently the Firefighter’s “health reasons” didn’t disqualify him from service all together? And why did it take nearly two months to tell the Citizens about this resignation?
Why is Van Eyll talking about hiring recruits on public City Council agendas and then there aren’t public agenda items for their resignations? Is Van Eyll hiding the actual low count of the Fire fighters? Or doesn’t he want to admit that recruits are already leaving? Doesn’t this cause a safety concern for Orono residents?
Did Van Eyll say that Orono isn’t buying a boat? And that they may not cover Big Island at all, “if ever”? Isn’t Orono the “Lakeshore City”? What about any other emergencies around the lakeshore in Orono? Is Van Eyll actually leaving those calls to short staffed Hennepin County Water Patrol? Has this been brought up to Orono residents?
There are a whole lot of questions; and not firm plans, nor a detailed budget that has been shared with Orono Citizens. What kind of leadership throws together emergency services, houses them in quick fix firehouses and then doesn’t even share the budget with taxpayers? The answer: four Orono City Council members, three of which are up for reelection.
Time to make your voices heard! Please attend City Council meetings and share your views on social media and in written form to the Lake Pioneer.
#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono
