Jail planning shifts into high gear

With an end-of-year clock ticking, county officials are digging into the details of what a new Carlton County jail building plan will look like. The county's building committee, court system, finance committee, and the jail steering committee have focused on the project. Now a special Committee of the Whole meets at 2 p.m. on the third Monday of each month to study issues related to a new or expanded jail. The state has set a deadline of July 2023 for the county to have a new facility in place.

In order to call for bids on construction in early spring 2022, the Carlton County Board of Commissioners must make a decision on the size and cost of the facility by the end of the year. At the moment there are still lots of questions.

So far, the board has commissioned three studies by consultants to evaluate the current programming of the jail, specify needed improvements, and then develop possible responses to future needs. At the same time, building proposals have been studied, many of them in operation in other counties. Ballpark cost estimates range from $25 million to more than $50 million.

"This has been a long process," sheriff Kelly Lake said this week. "The exploration of all possible choices started in earnest in 2012 when Paul Coughlin was hired as the jailer at our current facility. His overall knowledge and expertise has been invaluable in this journey."

Final approval for financing the jail complex through an additional half-percent sales tax countywide has been included in the Minnesota House of Representatives tax bill, but the Minnesota Senate has been slow to address the bill. It failed to get a vote in last year's session.

If permission is given by the legislature, the residents of Carlton County will have to vote in November 2022 to approve the sales tax. If the sales tax isn't approved, the county would likely have to levy more property taxes to pay off the bonds to finance the project.

A screening committee has given the go-ahead on a pre-design and budget analysis for a new jail complex and a design firm will put together a final plan.

At Monday's special Committee of the Whole meeting, architect Scott McCarthy fielded a number of questions concerning the type of building to construct and whether the existing site or an area on the 264 acres of county-owned land next to the Transportation Building would be the best place to build. McCarthy, who specializes in jails and court buildings, has been recommended by the screening committee to create a pre-design and budget analysis for the proposed jail complex. The county board will officially sign off on the selection of Klein McCarthy at its April 26 meeting.

County coordinator Dennis Genereau said that the Sixth District Court system has made it clear that two full courtrooms are needed at the Carlton site, with one additional small courtroom for hearings. To accomplish this, a courtroom would have to be built above the new jail in the existing north parking lot with offices for support staff. With this option, costly remodeling would have to be done in the current courthouse.

Putting a jail complex on the current north parking lot means that the foundation of the old county garage would have to be removed, the soil excavated - it may be contaminated and need to be mitigated - and a large WLSSD sewage pipeline which services part of the city of Carlton would cost $650,000 to $725,000 to relocate.

Little room is left for construction equipment and materials at that site and would impact the use of the current courthouse and jail. A large rock outcropping on the north side of the parking lot would have to be removed. The cost of that is unknown. Expansion on the Carlton campus is hampered by limited space. Parking would be reduced with construction on the north parking lot. Use of the current adjacent Carlton High School site remains in limbo.

The acreage near the Transportation Building had not been considered because of a dearth of water and sewage service. Now, a waterline will be constructed over the next two years from Carlton to Twin Lakes Township. The site has plenty of room for whatever jail complex is finally agreed upon and has plenty of room for parking and future expansion. Several county jail complexes have been moved and built outside of cities.

Construction costs continue to escalate and a choice of site, size of the building and program needs is limited by those costs. The goal is to make the best decisions with the least amount of money to make that happen.

Besides building the jail complex, some jail staffing and an unknown number of maintenance staff will be needed. One report said the current jail costs $4 million to operate annually.

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FYI

Find more information, including all three reports and other informational links, go to co.carlton.mn.us and click on "Carlton County Jail."