February 2012 Gem Lake Newsletter

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Gem Lake News Page 4 of 6 BuBu Auditing Firm Selected CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP, formerly Larson Allen, LLP has been selected for the 2011 audit of the City of Gem Lake. The decision to hire the firm to do the audit was made at the City Council Meeting on January 17. The city agreed to pay an all inclusive price of $10,400 for the audit, which is in line with the year before, when the not to exceed price was $10,100. The city has been able to keep audit costs low by tightly coordinating the process with the finance staff, according to city treasurer Jessie Hart. Results are expected in the Spring. 2012 Fire Contract Accepted The City of Gem Lake has accepted the terms of the 2012 Fire Services Contract through the City of White Bear. White Bear will provide fire and inspection services for $17,552, which is a 4.09% increase over the year before. City Appointments to be Made at January Council Meeting As required by state statute, the City of Gem Lake formally appointed individuals and organizations to various city positions at the January City Council Meeting. Mayor Bob Uzpen is the Weed Commissioner and Jessie Hart is our City Treasurer. For a complete list of appointments, contact City Secretary Kiki Sonnen using the contact information on page 6. City of Dellwood Passes Wind Energ y Ordinance Like Gem Lake, the City of Dellwood recently passed an ordinance establishing regulations for the location, installation, operation and maintenance of wind energy conversion system, more commonly known as turbines. These wind conversion systems will be allowed only in the Farm/Estate District and the Private Club District, with a Conditional Use Permit. The ordinance deals with both large towered systems and smaller and roof mounted systems. X-Cel to Start Project on Big Fox Road Underground cable on Big Fox road will soon be replaced by x-Cel Energy with new cabling that works better and cuts down on outages. When the ground thaws, x-Cel will be replacing the City News Page transformers in that area. The utility company will be notifying customers in the immediate area when the work is being done, so they can prepare for possible short-term power outages. Citizen's Fire Academy Open to the Public The White Bear Fire Department invites citizens of White Bear Lake, The Township, Dellwood, Birchwood Village and Gem Lake to participate in the Citizen's Fire Academy. This eight week course runs Wednesday nights from February 22 to April 11 and is designed to teach people what emergency response really means. This free program will cover a variety of fire safety and fire fighting topics from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. each Wednesday during the academy. According to Fire Chief Vadnais of the White Bear Lake Fire Department, "We really want the Academy to be a fun experience, not an intimidating one, so participants can choose to opt out of any activities they are not comfortable trying. Topics will include things like home fire safety, fire extinguisher use, fire ground operations, auto extrication and a history of the fire department. If you are interested in participating, more information and an application can be found on the City's website at: www.WhiteBearLake,org. Annual Traffic Enforcement Report for Gem Lake (Continued from page 1) In addition to speeding violations, citations were issued for things like running stop signs, failing to buckle up and other types of driving offenses. These non-speed related incidents made up 15 of the 89 total traffic stops. The total number of Gem Lake traffic stops rose from 79 in 2010 to 89 in 2011. Some of the tickets issued throughout the seven contract cities come as a results of speed display equipment installations that are followed by the concentration of speed enforcement vehicles. In 2011, these speed displays were set up twice in Gem Lake. The first set up happened for eight days, starting July 14. The second happened for five days, starting on October 11.