County drills down in new jail discussion

The question is not if there will be a new county jail, but what that new building would include, and how Carlton County would make the annual loan payments on such a massive mortgage.

Voters are being asked to weigh in on the "how to pay" question in November, when the county will ask for approval of a new half-percent sales tax versus simply raising property taxes to make the annual bond payments.

In the meantime, the Carlton County board of commissioners and the county jail executive committee are working to figure out the answer to the question of what exactly a new building would include beyond its furnishings - its programming - and how that would affect other departments and buildings within the county.

Step by step, they are narrowing down their options.

On Monday, the board voted 4-0 to pay BKV Group, the firm handling the architectural and engineering design for the proposed new Carlton County jail, $28,500 for additional analysis regarding the jail. Commissioner Tom Proulx didn't vote "yay" or "nay" Monday, he said, because he's worried about the large tax burden. He also didn't abstain - he simply remained silent during the vote.

"I haven't heard any estimates as far as prices," Proulx said. "There's a lot of information still missing."

The county jail executive committee is working with BKV before the board presentation in early August.

BKV will further develop the following three options currently under consideration by the board:

Option 1

• New jail building north of the current government center site, currently housed in the Carlton County Courthouse.

• New government service center built at the transportation building on Highway 61 or the Carlton high school site, if that becomes available.

• Present courthouse remodeled for justice services (courts, county attorney, probation, public defender, etc.)

• Remodeling and reuse of the current jail/law enforcement center to be reviewed for best utilization.

Option 2

• New jail building north of the current government center site, built to allow for new justice service areas to be added above the new jail.

• Build out new justice services area

• Remodel the existing courthouse for county government services and possibly some justice services space

• Remodeling and reuse of the current jail/law enforcement center to be reviewed for best utilization.

Option 3

• New justice center built at the transportation site

• Remodel existing courthouse for government functions

• Remodeling and reuse of the current jail/law enforcement center to be reviewed for best utilization.

The Carlton school district has not made a decision about the current high school campus but county board officials did meet with the school district facilities committee earlier this month. County board chair Dick Brenner previously told the Pine Knot News that the school district asked the county for a drop-dead date for a decision.

"We're hoping to have our consultants look at the building," Brenner said. "We told them we'd give a date within 45 days - a date when we would want to get started. It's not anytime soon. We're looking out to 2021 at this point."

Costs and impact on all county programs will be detailed in August by BKV, when it will also present its top recommendation at that time.

"Why study Option 3 when currently there is not enough water and sewer capacity at the transportation site?" commissioner Gary Peterson asked. "Does that add cost to BKV services?"

"We will have one plan by August and that would all be covered by the current cost ($28,500)," county attorney Lauri Ketola responded.

In further action on the unfolding jail proposal, the county board unanimously approved looking for an attorney specializing in bond financing and to find a public financing service, in order to obtain independent advice on possible bonding efforts.

The current county plan is to sell bonds to finance both the jail (estimated costs between $25-$30 million) and the Barnum garage (at an estimated $10 million).

Two public financial services have been interviewed at this time.

In other board

business from Monday:

• The board heard from a representative of the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust, a pool of Minnesota counties that pool their insurance coverage, who reported that Carlton County will receive a dividend of $185,842 for this last year's coverage. Overall, insurance costs have gradually continued to go down.

• The city of Cloquet requested, and the county board agreed, to have the Cloquet November polling site in the old city hall council chambers, now owned by the county.

"Will we have the room available then?" commissioner Tom Proulx asked. He was assured that remodeling in the old city hall will not yet impact that particular room in the complex.

• Ed Barkos came out of retirement for the summer to work 340 hours as a restorative justice social worker to fill a position until a new social worker is hired. Barkos was hired as an independent contractor and will help train the new hire.

• Sheriff Lake was given the authority to hire a replacement deputy and will use the list of applicants as an eligibility list for another possible retirement in the fall.

Pine Knot News editor Jana Peterson contributed to this story.