ORONO, Minn. — Orono is on track to replace four of their current five leaders next year, including their mayor. Challenger Bob Tunheim beat incumbent Denny Walsh with two-thirds of the votes this election. Tunheim has a background as an attorney and previously served as a school board chair during the pandemic.
His top priorities? Rebuilding trust with residents and mending the relationship with neighboring city Long Lake.
"I am eager to begin rebuilding trust and am confident that we can find a practical solution that benefits all parties while fully addressing Orono's public safety needs," Tunheim said.
Two new city council members were elected in Orono, too. Just last week, one city council member that wasn't up for re-election resigned.
"I think people are interested in being sleepy little Orono in the western suburbs again," councilmember elect Steve Persian jokingly said.
Persian, who was once a fire chief of Long Lake, feels the residents have spoken and it's time to move forward with more civility in the city. One of his goals is to re-unite the Orono Fire Department with Long Lake. Something the previous administration was against.
In 2021, Orono Mayor Denny Walsh began taking steps to sever ties with Long Lake and build their own fire department. The two cities have shared a fire department together for 100 years. Walsh said at the time, Orono owned 85% of the service area and owned the majority of the equipment which led to them wanting to have control over their own department.
The division not only was highly scrutinized by residents but led to a lawsuit filed by Long Lake.
"We had to get an injunction, the City of Orono was held in contempt, twice. It's been a lot of stress on our fire fighters most importantly," Long Lake Mayor Charlie Miner.
Miner says the current fire contract between the cities expires in 2025. He says the city of Long Lake is delaying their trial date with hopes the cities can reach an amicable agreement.