New jail funding and land is secured

Unanimously, the Carlton County board of commissioners approved the sale of $10,000,000 worth of bonds to pay for early planning and early construction costs of the new jail/justice center to be built just south of Olsonville at Carlton Junction. In action at the regular session on Dec. 14, the board sold the bonds, which are scheduled to be paid off in 2043 at an average interest rate of almost 1.758 percent.

Auditor/Treasurer Kevin DeVriendt commented, “The funding package came in as expected, the true interest cost is a good rate, and this will save the taxpayer money.”

Northern Securities of Minneapolis provided the funding proposal which makes it possible for local banks to provide investment in major building efforts such as the possible $60,000,000-plus for the jail/justice center. This is made possible by the State of Minnesota Credit Enhancement Program, which has a ceiling of $10 million. The other bonding needed for construction will come from larger, national financial firms.

Net interest cost for the next 20 years will be $2,865,885 with an extra $636,181 paid by the bonding company up-front with the total bonding sum to drop the net interest cost to $2,229,704. In a complicated formula, an average interest rate over the 20 years will average the 1.75 percent figure.

In other jail/justice center news, Sheriff Kelly Lake announced that the annexation process of the jail/justice center site, also known as the Green Site, is completed and the City of Carlton now has annexed the property, which clears the way for construction to start.

In other county issues:

• Jenny Barta of Carlton County Health and Human Services, during an address to the commissioners, said the county has now been vaccinating citizens of Carlton County for one year. At this time, about two-thirds of the approximately 36,000 Carlton County population has some level of vaccination, with 63 percent having completed their vaccination regimen. All people attending the board meeting wore masks, as required under the county mask mandate.

• A plan to run the Extension program for the next three years was approved unanimously. The proposal had been forwarded for board action by the finance committee. Chair Tom Proulx posed numerous questions, questioning the cost of an agricultural technician and a 4-H coordinator. He asked if the program could be partnered with a neighboring county.

It was noted that there were 529 agricultural operations in Carlton County with 191 farms showing sales of more than $10,000. There has not been a 4-H coordinator hired for the county the last few months. Supervision has come from an Extension employee based in Brainerd. Even with this minimal effort, after-school 4-H programs have been running in several of the Cloquet schools and in Barnum. A long-term 4-H coordinator is needed to build a countywide program.

Commissioner Marv Bodie finally made a motion to accept the 3-year Extension proposal with an overview next fall. It passed unanimously for a program that has 2.6 staff positions, funded mostly by county property tax levy dollars.

• Land commissioner Greg Bernu announced that the yearly forest audit had been completed, and his department is in compliance with all mandates. With the cooperation of Aitkin County, a management plan has been created that provides guidelines to ensure the survival of three bat species that live in our area and still provides for the harvest of timber on county-managed lands.

• County highway engineer JinYeene Neumann announced that Carlton County has received a grant to help with the construction of an intersection at the junction of Highway 210 and CSAH Old Highway 61. A roundabout was dropped in favor of extending the turning lanes. The cost of the roundabout and heavy truck traffic there entered into the choice of the final proposal. The grant will pay for 70 percent of the cost and the county will pay 30 percent.

• The large national opioid settlement, county attorney Lauri Ketola said, will give Carlton County a 0.93 share, or $20,000 for 20 years, which will be rolled into the Health and Human Services budget.