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A judge has held the city of Orono in contempt for the second time because it recruited firefighters from neighboring Long Lake to form its own fire department.
As part of the ongoing litigation between the two cities, Hennepin County District Judge Laurie Miller issued a contempt order on March 25, saying Orono violated a temporary restraining order. to prevent the city from recruiting members of the Long Lake Fire Department. Orono officials are moving to form the city’s own fire department and sever ties with the Long Lake department that has been serving both cities.
Long Lake sued Orono last summer, saying Orono’s efforts to create a fire department hindered its own fire department. Miller issued a contempt order against Orono in November, finding that the city had repeatedly violated an order for temporary injunctive relief.
According to the recent contempt order, Miller wrote that Orono “willfully violated” the injunction by exempting a class of applicants that included only members of the Long Lake Fire Department from standard physical and psychological examination requirements. She said the waivers are a “recruitment tool that directly targets LLFD firefighters as they are the only firefighters currently serving the City of Orono.”
The judge ordered Orono to stop providing exemptions to Long Lake firefighters and to pay the Long Lake Fire Department $1,000 for each of the two firefighters hired under its exemption policy. Miller agreed with Long Lake that Orono hindered the fire department’s efforts by employing a large percentage of on-call firefighters.
Paul Rufus, an attorney representing Orono, said in an email, “We are obviously disappointed with the court’s order and respectfully disagree with it.” Orono Mayor Dennis Walsh said Miller’s The order “is judicial activism at its core” and said it conflicts with state law on multiple fronts.
Long Lake officials did not return calls seeking comment.
Staff writer Josie Albertson-Grove contributed to this report.
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