High water wrecks roads

After two days of heavy rains brought more than 6 inches of water to southern Carlton County, the Carlton County board of commissioners met and declared a state of emergency Tuesday. Heaviest hit was southeastern Carlton County in the Nemadji watershed, with parts of Highway 23 damaged.

Road repair costs are estimated at $115,000. Some townships lost roadbed gravel after culvert washouts closed roads temporarily, and water was running over sections of road in several areas.

Even with the smaller damage totals compared to the 2012 and 2016 floods, state funding will cover part of the loss now that an emergency has been declared. Commissioners Dick Brenner, Marv Bodie and Mark Thell voted in favor of the declaration with commissioners Gary Peterson and Tom Proulx absent.

Any local losses due to the flooding should be reported to the emergency preparedness group in the county sheriff's office.

Better jail visits

At the committee of the whole meeting that followed, Donna Lekander and Stephanie Upton gave a presentation on the results of the Family Friendly Jail Initiative after its first year at the Carlton County jail. Lekander said the program was started by available staff using spare time they could arrange.

The initiative has been used to build bonds between incarcerated parents and their children through the use of parent education sessions and family-friendly visits, which numbered 25. There were with 49 parents in the classes.

Child-friendly visiting hours eliminated the potential for children to be exposed to inappropriate interaction from other visitors. Multiple children can visit, which keeps the family intact. Children's furniture, artwork and books were added to the waiting area.

"This program shows promise to help the incarcerated with children bond, so that a parent does not want to be a repeater in the jail system," Sheriff Kelly Lake said. "We hope to make this program stronger in the new jail facility. Schools have reported better child behavior after participation."

Pay progress

County coordinator Dennis Genereau reported that progress is being made to file timesheets and pay employees electronically through the PayCom service. The goal is to have everything in place by Jan. 3, when the first checks will go out, using the new electronic filing system.