Is Mayor Walsh creating a Circus at the Orono Golf Course?
Barbara Schmidt Barbara Schmidt

Is Mayor Walsh creating a Circus at the Orono Golf Course?

What a difference a year makes. Last year a golf league was fighting to keep Pickleball courts and a Hockey Rink out of the Orono Golf Course. Now, they are planning on building their own extra large private picnic shelter apparently for themselves. Is this a clever move by Mayor Walsh in order to push forward development in Orono on public land again?

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Is Year after Year Deficit Spending the new way in Orono?
Barbara Schmidt Barbara Schmidt

Is Year after Year Deficit Spending the new way in Orono?

2024: What happened to the Park Fund?

In the past six years, the Orono City Council has spent over $1.2 million on park capital projects creating a $500,000 deficit by the end of 2022. This deficit spending will have to be made up by levying additional money each year in order to get the fund back to zero in 2025.

What kind of fiscal management is this? Why can’t this Mayor and his majority on the council spend within the fund limits? Why do special interest groups get their park projects considered while the Orono taxpayers have to pony up each year to fund their ideas?

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Breaking News: Hackberry Grant to Eliminate T-Ball Fields is Denied
Barbara Schmidt Barbara Schmidt

Breaking News: Hackberry Grant to Eliminate T-Ball Fields is Denied

Breaking News

The 6th wealthiest city in Minnesota (Orono according to Forbes) was denied Hennepin County funding for the Hackberry Park project that meant losing two T-Ball Fields.

This is great news for baseball and T-ball enthusiasts because those two Hackberry fields are the only dedicated T-Ball fields in all of Orono. Mayor Walsh wanted them gone in lieu of another softball field, and multi use field we don't need or want.

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