Police department continues to ramp up force

Since taking over as interim, and then appointed, police chief two years ago, Cloquet police chief Derek Randall has been slowly building the police department back up to full strength, after a flood of retirements and disability claims reduced the department by close to 30 percent in 2019.

On Tuesday, the department held a public celebration of sorts, swearing in every officer hired since the pandemic began. There were seven of them, which brings the department just shy of its budgeted total of 24 licensed full-time police officers, detectives and command staff.

Recently retired Sixth District Carlton County Judge Robert Macaulay officiated, donning his black robe for his first official function since he retired at the end of August.

Macaulay talked about his 37 years of working with the Cloquet Police Department, first as an assistant county attorney, then as a judge.

"I can tell you how much respect I have for the traditions of the department, that I witnessed day in and day out for many decades," Macaulay said. "Tonight that tradition continues. You have in front of you seven very fine officers that are going to affirm their posts tonight."

Chief Randall introduced each officer, sharing their education and work experience, along with hobbies and thoughts on working in Cloquet.

The officers included:

• Kevin Holshouser, who grew up in Esko and got his law enforcement degree from Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in 2011 before taking a job with the Minnesota Department of Corrections and going on to get a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice. He was hired as a patrol officer by the Fond du Lac police department where he gained experience as an investigator, supervisor and trainer before taking the job with Cloquet in April 2020. Holshouser is currently working on the investigations team.

• Brody Nordquist graduated from Proctor High School in 2014. He then worked as a plumber and laborer for five years before getting his associate's degree in law enforcement from FDLTCC.

• Elijah Haglund was raised in Buffalo, Minnesota and was part of the Wright County Sheriff's Office Explorers program during high school. He graduated from Mankato State with a bachelor of science degree in law enforcement and a minor in nonprofit leadership. He completed skills training at Hibbing Community College.

• Travis Magdzas was born in Duluth and graduated from Denfeld High School. He got his associate's degree in law enforcement from FDLTCC and a bachelor's degree from University of Minnesota Crookston. After college, he worked for the Crookston Police Department for 18 months, then the Moose Lake PD before taking the job with Cloquet.

• Ronald Timmons came to Cloquet from Port Clinton, Ohio, where he worked as a patrol officer for two years before becoming a detective in 2014. He has many different police certifications, including as a drone pilot, master evidence technician and cell phone forensic analyst, among others. The former Marine fell in love with northern Minnesota on a trip to the Boundary Waters.

• Megan Conley was raised in Marinette, Wisconsin and attended Winona State University, where she got her bachelor's degree in criminal justice with a double minor in child advocacy and ethnic conflict studies. She completed her skills at Hibbing Community College and interned with the police department there.

• Trevor Kaldor grew up in Duluth. As a young man he moved to Northern Ireland, where he did outreach work at a Belfast Church. He also worked with adults with developmental disabilities for 10 years and continued to work while getting his associate's degree in law enforcement from FDLTCC. After graduation he worked as a patrol officer in Duluth, completing his bachelor's degree at University of Wisconsin-Superior, graduating with honors and several awards. He then took a job as a police officer at the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse police department, before moving back to northern Minnesota to be closer to family. He is the new school resource officer for the Cloquet school district.

"I feel very fortunate that you will now protect and serve me, along with all the other residents of Cloquet, as a private citizen," Macaulay said.

More on the agenda

Before Monday's formal meeting, the council held an hourlong work session regarding the ongoing debate about the city's project labor agreement. The work session format allowed for a less formal discussion of ideas with Dan Olson and Andrew Campeau, secretary and treasurer, respectively, of the Duluth Building and Construction Trades Council as well as Cloquet resident and retiree Lee Anderson, who has been the most outspoken critic of the PLA. No active non-union contractors have been part of the latest round of public PLA discussions in Cloquet.

Olson and councilors covered the same two points as previous meetings did: raising the threshold amount of city money that triggers the PLA agreement, and/or adding language that would require non-union employers to provide prevailing wage - which includes money that could be spent by the employee on insurance and/or retirement funds - rather than paying into union funds for pension and healthcare that may never be accessible to those employees.

A third option came up that councilors seemed to approve of: simply removing the PLA requirement for private projects and keeping it for publicly funded projects. As it stands now, the Cloquet PLA requires public as well as private projects with more than $175,000 in direct city funds to abide by the terms of the PLA. Cloquet was the first city in the Northland to require private contractors to abide by a PLA if they accessed city funds, including loans, grants, tax increment financing (TIF) and abatement. The council asked city administrator Tim Peterson to meet with Duluth Building and Construction Trades Council president Craig Olson about the possible changes next. Craig Olson was not at Tuesday's meeting, but more than a dozen union members were present in the Council Chambers.

In other matters Monday:

• The council unanimously approved the agreement with the Cloquet school district for use of the hockey arenas.

• Public works director Caleb Peterson updated the council on the state of the city's water and sewer utilities. Since implementing a more regular schedule of rate increases, the sewer fund is in the black for the foreseeable future, he said. The water fund is not as healthy, in part because of debt payments, the bulk of those due to the construction of the water treatment plant.

Peterson said rates for water will increase by 35 cents per 1,000 gallons in 2022, and 30 cents per 1,000 gallons for sewer, for an estimated average increase of $3.35 a month for residential customers.