Is Orono hiding niche development because the Citizens don't want it?

City of Orono - where is our Public Information?

Lack of transparency, and suppression of information helpful to the citizens continues to plague this city council. One example is how the city council minutes have now been restructured to leave out public statements and other pertinent details that occurred during the meeting. Orono citizens are being actively suppressed from making their own determination on how their city is being run.

Another recent example is the 2/6/24 Park Commission meeting that was supposed to be broadcast and recorded. It has now disappeared entirely from the public record as of this posting.

During this unrecorded Parks meeting many items are being proposed that will cost $$$ and fill up the city’s parks with hardcover for private niche activities.

A “Lean-to” picnic shelter is being proposed to be built but not maintained? There is no formal drawing of this structure nor any details on the types of materials to be used. Also adding to confusion is that during the 1/2/24 Park Commission Work Session, Chair #BrianRoath said that the Orono Golf Course Lean-To was primarily for the use of an Orono Golf League (at around minute mark 9): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pShl3g_u_A

A huge Pickleball complex with 9-12 courts is being proposed without a public hearing. There isn’t a noise study nor is there any formal drawing outlining how these courts will affect the Donation Garden.

The bottom line is that the Citizens in Orono need to watch these meetings for what is said and the actions taken afterward. Who really knows what happened during the unrecorded meeting? And can the City Council even check on what was said and how it was determined? Or is that the point so that there is lockstep voting?

Is this how we want our government run? The City of Orono is in a truly sad state of affairs. Hopefully City Administrator Adam Edwards comes out with an apology to the Citizens. He should explain why the City of Orono is making it so hard to be transparent and clearly communicate with our community. #togetherwearebetter Friends of Orono