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City of Gem Lake City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2024 2 | Page Property 1: Located on Goose Lake Road is in the process of being resolved by the courts for a large semi- trailer parked on the property. A court date is set for January 26 and the city is hoping to have a date for removal assigned at that hearing. If it is possible, the Mayor would like to have law enforcement present at the time of removal to ensure that everything goes smoothly. Without knowing what will be decided during this court session, the Council and neighboring residents are happy to see some progress being made to resolve this issue. Gem Lake’s city attorney will continue to talk with the property owner’s attorney regarding the issue to hopefully be able to handle this without a court order. Property 2: Located on Scheuneman Road has had many complaints brought to the city regarding the property. The property in question is a rental property and each complaint has been investigate by the City code Enforcement Officer. Many inspections have taken place. A recent rental property license renewal was issued contingent that the property pass a monthly grounds inspection. The tenants have been known to clean-up and get rid of all the potential code violation items before inspections and then bring them back on the property once the inspection has been completed. The Code Enforcement Officer is hoping that this required monthly inspection will help resolve the problem. The City of White Bear Lake has also expressed their frustration with this property and the vehicles that are being parked along Hoffman Road that have been getting towed recently for being parked on that road. The Ramsey County GIS system shows a clear trail from the back of the property leading to Hoffman Road where the vehicles are being parked. This trail also goes over the railroad tracks. Mayor Artig-Swomley has asked City Attorney Kevin Beck to reach out the railroad company and inform them of what is happening to see if they will get involved in this issue. The tenants have removed almost 100% of the backyard trees to create this trail which violated the city’s tree preservation ordinance. Councilmember Cacioppo thinks that the city clerk should keep track of how much time is being spent on this problem property and to seek reimbursement for that time, which is easier said than done. The Mayor suggested that language be added to the rental ordinance to include language on the number of police calls before revocation and to build in language for fees depending on the amount of inspections needed on a property over the year. New Business Metro-INET Acceptable Use Policy On page 8 of Metro-INETs Acceptable Use Policy it has a section on personal devices. The first paragraph states “Employees may choose to use their own equipment to read or compose email or other agency data as governed in this policy. Employees understand that by connecting their personal equipment to the Metro-INET resources, their personal devices could be searched during an e-discovery or other court- ordered scenarios and agree to grant access to their personal devices should such a situation arise.” This is pretty standard boiler plate language. Councilmember Cacioppo has two concerns with this. The first being, how long will they need to have access our personal equipment for if the situation arises? And the second being, what remedy is there for this situation? All Councilmembers are not given a device (laptop or phone) to use for city business, so personal devices are used to view and respond to emails. While there are no answers to those questions at this time, Councilmember Cacioppo suggested that “…and agree to grant access to their personal devices should such a situation arise.” be removed from the paragraph. Mayor Artig-Swomley volunteered to make the request to Metro-INET before signing the policy. Councilmember Lindner introduced a motion to have Mayor Artig-Swomley remove the last bit of language from the first paragraph regarding personal devices and submit it to Metro-INET for approval before agreeing and signing the policy, seconded by Councilmember Cacioppo. Voice vote taken, all voted yes, motion carried. Metro-INET Training Courses Some members of the Council are behind on the required training courses. Mayor Artig-Swomley will reach out to those that are behind and let them know which courses need to be completed ASAP.