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CJIS audit forces Isanti staff to weigh tinting, escorted access and holiday storage options
Summary
An audit of Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) requirements flagged visible windows and unescorted access; staff estimated window tinting costs and warned that routine tasks such as moving holiday lights may require escorted access or staged storage solutions.
City staff told the Committee of the Whole that a recent CJIS audit identified multiple compliance issues at city facilities and presented operational challenges for routine public-works tasks.
Kevin Merrick (named in the transcript) summarized the audit’s findings: floor-level windows that allow an exterior view into areas with CJIS access are noncompliant and will need to be tinted. "Our floor level windows are noncompliant because you can see in from the outside to the offices...so we're getting quotes on that. I think it's gonna be $200 a window ish," Merrick said.
The audit also requires that people who are not credentialed law-enforcement personnel be escorted and logged when they enter areas where criminal justice information is accessible. That raised practical questions about tasks such as moving holiday lighting into the police/garage area: public-works staff typically move decorations over several days and the work can require repeated, short visits that would trigger escort and logging requirements.
"They have to be escorted," Merrick said of non-law-enforcement visitors, describing the log and the post-audit concern that, if there were a breach, the log would identify who had escorted an individual. City staff said dedicating personnel to escort contractors for weeks-long tasks would be difficult and costly.
Council members and staff discussed short-term workarounds: fencing or staging material outside and moving it into secure space in limited windows; using locked fence panels or temporary gated areas; or exploring certification pathways in which specific contractors could be approved to perform work inside secured areas. Unidentified Speaker 6 suggested creatively using existing fencing panels to create an interior partition.
Staff also noted storage constraints for existing holiday-light inventory and the public-works department’s lack of spare indoor space. Ideas discussed included renting shipping containers, staging crates outside under tarps, parking lot agreements with nearby property owners, or selling/relocating the displays to other communities.
Council asked staff to obtain formal quotes for tinting and to explore staging or fencing solutions as short-term mitigations; the matter will be revisited before summer for longer-term facility planning.
