Why did Orono create a Legal Subcommittee?
At the last Orono City Council work session, Mayor Walsh defended his desire to continue having a “legal” subcommittee. This subcommittee, composed of Walsh and another council member, is designed to discuss legal issues without the full council present. The staff did not recommend this idea and no other cities have such a subcommittee.
So why does the City of Orono have such a committee and especially with the Orono City Administrator Adam Edwards concerned about how this subcommittee operates?
Listen to Mayor Walsh talk about phone discussions with Orono Legal Council Soren Mattick regarding legal issues that arise. How is this appropriate? This subcommittee concentrates legal decision-making in the hands of the minority of the council. How can legal strategy be made without a quorum of the council members deciding what is best for the city?
What stops this subcommittee from talking about individual citizens that could be facing prosecution or defending themselves? What could stop these two council members from directing the city’s legal team to lobby for people or organizations that these two council members favor or want to see prosecuted?
This legal subcommittee operates in the dark and does not have to record its proceedings. Not having the city follow proper protocol regarding legal matters has the potential for the City to be exposed to liability for improper procedures. This is not how the government is supposed to run.
Other cities do not have a legal subcommittee and please don’t let your city continue this heavy-handed power grab thereby concentrating council power in the hands of two people - #MayorDennisWalsh and #MattJohnson.
Orono’s council is a group of five people that are all supposed to have the same voting power and need to each be able to discuss and vote equally.
Ask Orono to operate fairly and transparently - isn’t that what they promised when they were elected?
