For a second time, a judge has found the city of Orono in contempt of court for recruiting firefighters from neighboring Long Lake to form its own fire department.
The contempt order, issued March 25 by Hennepin County District Judge Laurie Miller as part of an ongoing lawsuit between the two cities, says Orono violated a temporary injunction to prevent the city from targeting Long Lake Fire Department members for recruitment. Orono officials are moving to form the city's own fire department and sever ties with the Long Lake department, which has been serving both cities.
Long Lake sued Orono last summer, arguing Orono's work to create a fire department was hampering its own fire department. Miller issued a contempt order against Orono in November, ruling that the city had violated an order for temporary injunctive relief multiple times.
According to the most recent contempt order, Miller wrote that Orono "willfully disobeyed" the injunction by waiving the standard physical and psychological exam requirements for a class of applicants that included only Long Lake Fire Department members. She said the waivers were a "recruitment tool aimed directly at LLFD firefighters, as they are the only firefighters currently serving the city of Orono."
The judge ordered Orono to stop providing waivers to Long Lake firefighters and to pay Long Lake $1,000 for each of the two hires made under its waiver policy. Miller agreed with Long Lake's claim that its fire department was hindered by Orono hiring a significant percentage of its paid on-call firefighters.
Attorney Paul Reuvers, who is representing Orono, said in an email that "we are obviously disappointed with the court's order and respectfully disagree with it." Orono Mayor Dennis Walsh called Miller's order "judicial activism at its core" and said it conflicted with state law in multiple ways.
Long Lake city officials did not return a call seeking comment.
Staff writer Josie Albertson-Grove contributed to this report.
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