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City of Gem Lake City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 2021 6 | P a g e process can accommodate including the form attached to the CPA request. Mayor Artig-Swomley asked for any comments from those on the Council and some concerns that were brought up are:  Traffic flow  Overall residential density  Light pollution Mayor Artig-Swomley volunteered to construct a letter to send to Vadnais Heights regarding the Councils concerns. Councilmember Lindner made a motion to authorize Mayor Artig-Swomley to construct a letter regarding their concerns of the development, seconded by Councilmember Cacioppo. Voice vote taken, all voted yes, motion passes, Mayor Artig-Swomley has the authority to construct the letter on behalf of the City Council. Discussion of “Highest and Best Use” of City Land – Patrick Kelly City Attorney Patrick Kelly gave a review of the Highest and Best Use practices in terms of property taxes. Councilmember Cacioppo asked in regards to the Hy-Vee lot that is currently sitting vacant and being taxed at a lower rate if the City is able to tax them at a higher rate as if they had built something, such as a penalty for not building yet. Mr. Kelly looked at California’s proposition 13 which indicates that real estate tax on a parcel of property is limited to 1% of its assessed value and that it may be increased only by a maximum of 2% per year, until and unless the property has a change of ownership. At this time the City does not have any justification to charge them more. However, the City could keep that in mind when granting future Conditional Use Permits by adding a sunset clause after two (2) years. Mr. Kelly also recommended that the City work with the County on this issue. Discussion Regarding Zoning Administrator Retirement Planning and Zoning Tom Riedesels last day with White Bear Township is Friday July 23, 2021. At this time White Bear Township does not have a replacement for his position which leaves both the Township and the City of Gem Lake without a planning and zoning administrator. The City can reach out to the firm that the Township uses or to SEH or the City can leave it vacant for now. The Mayor is not required to take over and it is recommended that the Mayor does not become the Zoning Administrator. White Bear Township and Bay Town Township use TKDA Engineering and the contact is Evan Monson. Public Data Discussion – Patrick Kelly City Attorney is a Data Practices Officer. Due to questions from the Council and residents he discussed what is considered public data regarding the sheets that were sent out to all Gem Lake Residents to voluntarily fill out and send back to Heritage Hall. Mr. Kelly is going to look into what the City can send over to the White Bear Lake Police regarding emergency situations. At this time the only thing listed on the form that is considered public data is the name of the resident. Mayor Artig-Swomley suggested that the City save the emergency information to the cloud and grant the police and fire a code if they would ever need access to it. At this time, the City Attorney wants to research the best way to convey the information. Proposed Ordinance for Collection of Overdue Bills – Patrick Kelly City Attorney Patrick Kelly gave an overview of our Ordinance No. 129 Municipal Water and Sanitary Sewer System and the section that pertains to delinquent payments. Mr. Kelly stated that the Ordinance is good and that the only change the City needs to make was to the section regarding Discontinuance of Water Service subsection 3 adding the word “not” to the end to have it say “is not paid”. Business Cards and Email Addresses for Council Members – Update At this time only one (1) Councilmember has ensured that their City email account it working properly. Once the City Clerk has heard that everyone is able to access their City email the business cards will be ordered.