Jail site in Twin Lakes saves nearly $4 million

The information is in. Architects and engineers have told Carlton County that moving the new justice center, consisting of the jail and courtrooms, to the “green site” located northeast of the transportation building on Old Highway 61 will save sitework costs of $3.5 to $3.9 million.

The current courthouse parking lot is plagued with costly remedies: not enough space, bedrock outcroppings, wetland areas, a sewer line, and lack of staging area for a major construction project.

The green site is aptly named for the evergreen forest that covers it. The building footprint is calculated at 19 acres and has a relatively level sand and gravel base.

“Groups meeting on the different aspects of the jail proposal have agreed that the green site is the logical, preferred site,” county attorney Lauri Ketola said. “The only reason that the county would not build at this site is if the City of Carlton and Twin Lakes Township would not agree to the annexation of the 19 acres.”

Diane Felde-Finke of the Twin Lakes Township board said that it would help if the county board came out in favor of the friendly annexation of the green site.

Commissioner Dick Brenner assured her that at the next board meeting an approval of the green site as the preferred site would become a reality if the Carlton and Twin Lakes officials express desire to support the annexation.

City, township and county officials have met this summer and all seemed agreeable to an annexation of the site.

More work is to be done. The county surveyor needs to survey the property to prepare a complete legal description for the annexation process.

The Carlton City Council and the Twin Lakes Township supervisors have the authority to approve the annexation. Hearings must be held to get citizen approval, but elected officials have the final say.

In other justice center news, jail administrator Paul Coughlin noted at the jail study group meeting that 2021 has seen a 10-percent increase in the price of construction materials. According to the current schedule, bids for the project will not come until spring 2022.

A semi brought two sample jail cell configurations to the transportation building parking lot for the jail study group to tour. They were of 2003 vintage and brought there by Cornerstone Construction, Service and Supply of Alabama. Cornerstone makes jail cell units from polymer-coated steel, which would be lifted by crane and positioned and secured inside the new building.

Study group members were able to walk into these prefab cells. Minnesota state specifications call for an individual cell to be at least 7 by 10 feet. Great care was taken in planning the construction to keep inmates from harming themselves. Of the overall building costs, 25 to 30 percent is for the installation of the cells.

This is only one type of cell that can be purchased for the new jail. There are other brands. Coughlin said the durability, and not just the cost, of the materials will be taken into consideration. The goal is to build the jail so that it will be usable for 40 years or longer.