City OKs police position

Ward 3 Cloquet city councilor Chris Swanson took the oath of office for the second time in seven months Tuesday, this time as a duly elected representative following his appointment in July.

The council meeting Tuesday was a quick one, with no public hearings, no presentations and no comments from the public.

Changes at the Cloquet police department dominated much of the short meeting, as acting police chief Derek Randall recommended the council approve the appointment of Eric Baker to the position of detective, effective that same day.

The department is still under its maximum staff of 24, with 14 patrol officers, two administrators and one (Baker) officer assigned to investigative functions. Only five years ago, the department employed three full-time detectives, the Randall said, and he was one of them. When Randall became a commander in 2015, the police chief and commanders elected to make the third detective job a temporary rotating “employee enrichment” position for officers, so they could learn investigative skills to take back to the street. Baker was the second officer to fill the rotating position.

Things got challenging for the detective unit in 2019, when the department lost both its permanent detectives: Scott Holman was dismissed by the council in June and Darrin Berg is still on long-term leave.

Randall said four candidates submitted resumes and interviewed for the position with both CPD administrators, the city administrator and HR director, an investigator with the Sheriff’s office, a Citizen’s Advisory Board member and the chief deputy of the county attorney’s office. Candidates were also given a crime scene scenario and had 10 minutes to decide and then explain how they would handle the situation.

The interim chief said Baker was the unanimous first choice for the position, but said that the panelists praised all the candidates.

“That’s good news and nice to see,” he said.

Baker has been with the CPD for 18 years, and has served on the Consolidated Emergency Response Team and as a patrol sergeant. Prior to his Cloquet job, he worked for the Department of Justice. He has a bachelor’s degree in criminology.

“The detective position is critical to the overall success of the department,” Randall noted in his staff report, outlining a long list of job duties fulfilled by the detective position.

One detective is not enough, but for now Randall has reassigned some of the lower level investigations to patrol officers.

In other matters, Randall reported that the department has made changes to the scheduling and payroll software that streamlined the work of police administration and the city finance office to complete payroll, and also gave officers and sergeants more ownership in the process.

“I’d like to add that the department was lucky enough to escort the girls hockey team as they left for State today,” Randall added. “It was a fun five minutes for the department.”

The council also approved the police department’s continued work with the Human Trafficking Investigators Task Force, passing a joint powers agreement with the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as part of the consent agenda. The goal of the task force is to identify and work together to investigate and prosecute human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. There is no financial cost to the city and the CPD is eligible for reimbursement for funds spent on human trafficking investigations as part of the task force.

In other matters Tuesday, the council:

• Tabled a recommendation by staff to increase the payment by the city from its budgeted $9,000 to $20,000 annually to pay the Cloquet Area Chamber of Commerce for its part in organizing the July Fourth celebration in Cloquet. For a number of years, part-time Chamber employee Alyson Leno has been paid to coordinate both the July Fourth festivities and the Santa’s Home for the Holidays celebration (both with volunteer committees). Leno told the council in November that she wanted to step down from the position.

The city staff report noted that in meetings since November, Chamber staff said they were willing to continue to coordinate the July Fourth event for $20,000 a year, but did not want to lead the Home for the Holidays event, suggesting that the city and chamber meet with other local groups to find a new “sponsor” for the event. In 2019, the city paid $11,300 for Leno to coordinate both events.

“I firmly believe somebody needs to be the coordinator for this,” city administrator Tim Peterson said.

Councilors questioned the increase in costs for less work, and where the additional funds would come from. Ward 4 Councilor Kerry Kolodge asked if there was room to negotiate. At-large councilor Lara Wilkinson suggested they ask for a breakdown in hours and expenses. Ward 2 councilor Sheila Lamb wondered if the city should talk to one of the veterans groups about taking over the annual event.

Peterson also suggested that the city might consider rolling back some of the lodging taxes that currently go to the Chamber (and tourism bureau) to pay for someone to coordinate the July Fourth event in the future.

• Appointed Elizabeth “Lyz” Jaakola to serve on the Cable TV Commission. The appointment fills the last Cloquet vacancy on the commission. Jaakola was part of building the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College’s audio and video production studio starting in 2011.

City and college administration are exploring ways the cable access channel and FDLTCC can work together to improve offerings and efficiencies at both the college and CAT-7.

The CAT-7 coordinator position reverted to a part-time position earlier this month.