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The mural on the MN HomeGuys building in downtown North Branch was created by Taylor Shaw.  He has dozens of murals for public and private clients across the U.S. including one in the City of Lindstrom on the municipal liquor store wall.  The East Central Regional Arts Council helped make this possible, awarding a grant of $20,000 to the county HRA/EDA who partnered on the project. The next cycle of public art funding from MN Arts & Culture Heritage fund appropriations is available through the arts council— with applications due by October.  See ecrac.org. A MN HomeGuys spokesperson Anna Havemeier said the project was initiated to inspire other public art works and to also embody the company philosophy to invest in space.  Local students participated in a day where they could ask the artists questions and paint a small section themselves.  Special aspects of Minnesota are included in the mural images, and  Bigfoot is just a nod to a fun legend.  A public completion ceremony is planned for July 18.

Are automated license plate readers a nefarious tool that makes it easy to abuse private information — or should ALPRs be embraced by law enforcement especially when seeking out bad actors?

North Branch recently entered into a contract to get automated license plate readers installed at four busy roadways in locations entering and exiting the main urban area. The ALPRs can reference a listing of license plate numbers that are entered in the system for infractions; such as driving after being revoked, plates attached to a stolen vehicle and Amber Alert situations. The electronic devices will match a number and alert authorized agencies of a match when a vehicle carrying a sought-after license plate passes the device.

Policy adopted by agencies that are using ALPR contain wording on who gets to use the data, much like the drone footage policies that multiple area law enforcement agencies also have in place.

In North Branch though, several citizens attended last week’s council meeting reciting all kinds of internet allegations of misuse.  One person’s website source was devoted to only ALPR violations.  

Residents were asking city leaders to take another look at authorizing the cameras.

City Administrator Matthew Hill reported the city’s contract with the Flock device company that provides the system has been signed and a down payment has been made. He’d need to look into options or penalties if the city decides to cancel.

North Branch held multiple meetings to consider using this equipment before voting a few meetings ago 3-2 to go ahead.

The consensus was that the readers are valuable as another set of eyes in the city. The reader is much more cost effective compared to hiring an officer, funding a squad car and associated benefits.

The ALPR system has proved to be very useful in agency jurisdictions in Chisago County and surrounding areas.  

The camera data is accessible to dozens of users, from Minnesota state patrol to Wisconsin law enforcement, making communication and tracking of offenders more efficient.

Citizens however, were convinced the information collected can be used to harass and stalk innocent people.  None who spoke at the North Branch city council meeting had read through the North Branch data access policy.  

The incidents they cited to cast doubt on the integrity of the system were originating elsewhere, and not in Chisago County.

Mayor Kevin Schieber asked about county Flock ALPRs which rim the North Branch area and are monitored through a county contract for county uses.  In addition, cities of Rush City, Wyoming, Chisago, Lindstrom and St, Croix Falls also have activated their own ALPR systems.  

Do citizens want to have a meeting and discuss all the ALPR units or just the ones in North Branch, the council wondered.

This open microphone portion of the one hour meeting was 40 minutes long and time sensitive business was on the agenda; so council advised the audience to watch for a future meeting date, presumably where questions can be asked and answered.

In other matters,  council advised the audience the city leaf pick-up service (with the vacuum truck) is being eyed for elimination.  Budget line items are under review about this time of year for the coming fiscal cycle.

There will be a meeting with Old Town area property owners regarding the street improvements projects. Revised plans and Elm Street options will be discussed July 14.

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