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From:Jim Lindner To:Gretchen Artig-Swomley; Melissa Lawrence Subject:MS4 audit meeting results Date:Friday, January 5, 2024 1:00:22 PM Emily, Justin, and I met with the MPCA this morning, for about two hours (yes, it was a sleeper) reviewing Gem Lake’s MS4 program. Of the 76 items they wanted us to submit information about, only 12 raised questions. Technically these are considered violations for lack of a better term, but Gem Lake will need to respond back to clear these up. Many of the so-called violations revolve around documentation of training for both SEH staff and township staff that work in Gem Lake. I will need to reach out to White Bear Township’s MS4 contact, whomever that might be, to get copies of training documentation for submittal to MPCA. Kevin Strauss from MPCA will email me a list of our violations and the township’s MS4 contact. One thing that we can provide direct is any kind of snow policy we might have. Is there a policy that states when do our streets get plowed? Is there a minimum snow requirement, such as 1 or 2 inch thresholds? Is there language in our agreement with the township that says they will use “smart salting” practices? These are the kinds of questions Kevin asked in our meeting and I told him I’d work to get answers. SEH will provide the bulk of the responses, but I’ll need to have a chat with the township, probably in the form of a Zoom meeting that Emily wants to attend so she can get answers to some of her questions as well. One other item involves training on illicit discharge identification and any subsequent follow-up or enforcement. There are free videos from MPCA and VLAWMO that meet this requirement. I’m planning to watch a couple of these videos, and provided I’m still awake upon completion, I’ll document that I watched the video. Anyone else can watch these as well. Melissa, I was thinking you might want to watch them so you at least have an awareness level of illicit discharge situations for when you issue building permits. I’ll also see if these are something Mike Johnson is familiar with. Maybe he’ll agree to watch them, too. They are not meant for engineers, but rather people like us, who may have some involvement in the overall project process. Joshua and the planning commission might also benefit. I’ll watch them and let you know how effective (or boring) they might be and get back to you. I’ll forward the MPCA list of things we’ll need to provide them as a result of our audit. I can only guess what a city like Minneapolis would go through when they get their audit. Fortunately, there’s nothing the city council will need to do in terms of ordinances or other official actions, other than probably accept the audit results and authorize me to meet with the township MS4 person. I’ll be in touch. It’s been a boring morning Jim Lindner Gem Lake City Council