Why doesn't Council member Veach follow our laws?

Why is Maria Veach taking it upon herself to singly negotiate with the City of Long Lake?

According to Orono Municipal Code, Ms. Veach cannot be exercising control over the administration of the city in trying to seek concessions from the city of Long Lake. At the very least she should have had City Administrator Edwards with her and a majority vote of the council allowing her to approach Long Lake officials on city business.

The code states: Sec. 2-101. - General supervisory capacity.

“No member of the council shall in any manner interfere with or prevent the city administrator from exercising the administrator's own judgment in the administration of the city. Except for the purpose of inquiry, no member of the council shall deal with or exercise control over the administration of the city; and no member shall give orders to any department head or employee of the city, either publicly or privately, except through a majority vote of the council."

Instead Ms. Veach took it upon herself to meet individually with three separate Long Lake officials. This should be the job of Orono’s city administrator, not one person of the council. She is one council member of five and does not have the authority to act as a city administrator.

To make matters worse, Maria is lobbying on fire-related matters that are part of a lawsuit and her husband is a firefighter working for both Long Lake and Orono. This is both a legal concern and a conflict of interest concern.

Let’s ask City Administrator Adam Edwards and Mayor Walsh why Ms. Veach is allowed to meet with and negotiate with these parties on her own without city staff and the involvement of the entire council. And also it is up to Ms. Veach to become aware of the city code and the boundaries that she has to abide by as a council member.

#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono

Here is the link to the code https://library.municode.com/.../codes/code_of_ordinances...