County board moves to proceed with new jail

After several studies and countless meetings, the Carlton County board of commissioners voted to proceed with final plans for a new jail construction. The size of the jail, the total cost of the project, the location of the building, and the means of funding it are still to be determined.

The vote of 4-1 (commissioner Tom Proulx voting “nay”) came after a presentation by sheriff Kelly Lake, BKV Group architect/consultant Bruce Schwartzman, county attorney Lauri Ketola, county deputy Paul Coughlin and county coordinator Dennis Genereau.

Lake gave a lengthy presentation, noting that the Carlton County Jail — built in 1979 — is the oldest jail in Northeastern Minnesota. She stated that remodeling and repairs to the current jail could not meet the current Department of Corrections regulations for space and current programming needs, adding that many of the recommendations from the jail study are being implemented and have made an impact in multiple incarcerations by the same offender.

But it isn’t enough, she said.

“Lack of space hampers us daily,” Lake said. “We can wait no longer. The DOC can move at any time to limit our use of the facility. Female inmates and the long-term population — about 80 percent of our current jail population — would have to be boarded out to other jails. A second move by the DOC could sunset our facility. Mahnomen County is in this predicament currently.”

As for location, Schwartzman said they are looking at the area directly north of the courthouse (the current parking lot) to adhere to the recommendation that the jail be adjacent to the courthouse for easily moving the jail population back and forth to the courtrooms. Existing garages around the parking lot will have to be removed and the parking lot expanded if that were to happen, he said.

The consultant shared some numbers with the commissioners and others.

“Currently the jail uses 68 beds but has gone as high as 79 beds,” he said. “This population is housed in the Jail, boarded out to other county jails, or have extended stays at NERC (Northeast Regional Corrections in St. Louis County). Making improvement in judicial processing and onsite programming has resulted in an estimate that an 80- to 100 bed facility is needed.”

Schwartzman said BKV will make a recommendation at the county’s committee of the whole meeting May 7, adding that there were 1,790 bookings in 2017.

At the end of the jail study update, Sheriff Lake asked the county board for a vote to proceed for making plans for a new jail.

Commissioner Proulx asked how much the proposal will cost. Lake responded that the present jail is not working and that a new jail was needed.

“We can estimate a cost, but we need to know how much you are willing to spend,” Genereau interjected.

In other county board news, Enbridge has requested using Chub Lake to draw water for dust control during Line 3 construction and installed pipe testing. The Chub Lake Association has lobbied against the proposal because of the threat of spreading Eurasian milfoil to other lakes. The DNR is asking for public input for granting the request but has suggested the pipeline company use the St. Louis River for drawing water.

The county board has been asked by Enbridge for approval of the use of Chub Lake because of the county park on the lake. The county board went on record to not support Enbridge’s proposal to use Chub Lake waters.