County jail consultant will cost $75 an hour

The cost of hiring a consultant to help with ongoing jail issues and future plans was on the minds of Carlton County Board of Commissioners members Monday.

The cost of hiring retired Tony Mancuso as a general consultant for maximizing space use in current Carlton County facilities and to assist with hiring a construction manager and architect/engineer for a new jail complex came in at $75 an hour.

County coordinator Dennis Genereau thought the hire would be worth the money.

“I am pleased that Mancuso — who has helped build or remodel three jail facilities in St. Louis County — is available to provide a fresh perspective for a goal to maximize the use of our current buildings,” Genereau said. “We need help to make changes for critical space. I am at my wits’ end.”

He said planning for the Barnum garage offered a lesson. “A general consultant that looks after the county’s interests can avoid some of the problems we have faced during the garage construction,” Genereau said. “We both strongly support an experienced consultant to advise us when hiring a construction manager and architect/engineer for the new jail.”

Commissioner Tom Proulx was leery of the hire and said he has never received copies of the minutes for both the building committee and the jail study steering committee.

“To this point I have received none although I personally asked for them,” he said.

Genereau denied withholding any information, noting that he had explained to commissioners that all minutes of the building committee and the jail steering committee can be found on the county’s intranet site. “No one is out of the loop,” he said.

During the commissioner comment portion at the end of the meeting, chairman Marv Bodie said both committees have done little while they wait for the state legislature to act. He rattled off a list of local projects that are on hold while the legislature fails to reach agreement on several issues.

“The bonding bill with monies for a female jail program development sits without approval,” Bodie said. “No movement has come from the legislature to give us the authority to ask our Carlton County residents to support the half-percent sales tax funding mechanism rather than use a property tax levy [for the jail]. This is very painful for us to wait and take no action.”

The board voted to hire Mancuso as a general consultant with a $10,000 cap. Proulx voted against the hire.

In other county news:

• The county held a public

hearing Monday regarding ordinances on rules for the Soo Pits dirt bike and ATV trails, just north of Moose Lake. They would resemble the regulations for the Soo Line Trail. Several homeowners near the Soo Pits area attended. Gail Lundgren said the noise gets louder and louder each year, extends into the night hours, and most of the noise is created by a small number of dirt bikes that race out of control and whose riders can be quite rude.

Gary Kovanen said that enforcement is the key. Most trail users are respectful and cause few problems, he said. Land Commissioner Greg Bernu suggested that the ordinance should not penalize the 95 percent that behave themselves when the few make it miserable.

• The board approved a one-year trial reorganization of staffing in the transportation department. County engineer JinYeene Neumann proposed cutting a clerk/typist and a right of way/permit agent and — by reassigning duties — creating a seasonal working foreperson. County employee Will Bomier would assume the duties of both ROW/Permit agent and assistant maintenance superintendent. Bomier will also be the liaison to handle township concerns. Salary changes will save $100,000 with a $50,000 savings in health insurance coverage.

• The Carlton County drug court a few years ago requested a machine to test someone for a chemical substances without the use of a urine sample. It was purchased for $40,000 and is now being stored in the basement of the jail. The board asked Genereau to explore why it is no longer used and if it can be sold.

• The Sixth District Carlton County courts are scheduled to open July 6. Renovation work is being done on the fourth floor courtroom. The jury box area will be removed to provide space for social distancing.