County expands search for jail funding

Carlton County commissioners are hoping the state will come through with close to 10 times the amount of bonding money previously allocated for the new justice center/jail during the new legislative session, as lawmakers decide what to do with a $7.7 billion surplus.

Carlton County will ask the state for $22.5 million for the new justice center/jail, with the county promising to match the request. The cost of the construction is now estimated at $60 to $70 million.

With many of the plans made, the county is now trying to put together a funding package to help pay for the cost of the new facility.

Legislative action in 2020 provided $2 million for designing a correctional facility that will provide a statewide demonstration project for equal service for female offenders. Additionally, during the 2021 session, legislators gave the county permission to ask voters to approve a half-percent sales tax in the election this November to go toward the project.

The $22.5 million ask would help cover extra costs and reduce the burden on local taxpayers, especially if the sales tax fails to pass.

“Thousands of hours of committee work and engineering/architectural planning on the project have occurred,” county economic development director Mary Finnegan told the board members at their regular meeting Tuesday, Feb. 8. “A building plan and the program needed for that building are close to completion. It is a costly proposal and our request for over $22 million of bonding money is realistic to do it right.”

Sen. Jason Rarick and Rep. Mike Sundin will submit the legislation for consideration. Finnegan said that the decision on which projects to back will be made in committee. She added that the proposal has merit in its impact to help solve a regional issue, primarily the needs of regional female offenders for in-depth programming while they are incarcerated. There are currently limited services for female offenders in northeastern Minnesota. Specifically, the proposed programs and facilities will focus on adults with mental and substance abuse disorders.

Since the closure of state regional treatment programs such as the one in Moose Lake, programming, especially for women, has not been replaced in northern Minnesota.

An earlier study of the makeup of the Carlton County jail population has shown a dramatic increase in female incarcerations. Although the Covid-19 pandemic has kept the numbers of incarcerated low and keeps a larger number of the offenders in the community, for many years the numbers of women in jail has been close to equal the number of men. The current jail was not built to serve that many female offenders.

Zoning ordinance amended

The board approved the Amended Carlton County Zoning Ordinance No. 27 which was adopted in March 1, 2005 and has now been formally amended nine times. Zoning administrator Heather Cunningham remarked that the ordinance should have been amended sooner but committee work was hampered by the pandemic.

There are many changes, but of particular interest are:

1. A zoning permit is not needed for a chain link or livestock fence. The fences must be on the owner’s property and must be set back from the Ordinary High Water Level for riparian and riverine lots.

2. There is now a nuisance subdivision in the ordinance, describing a public nuisance, blighted areas, hazardous building or property, and going down to specifics as air pollution and existence of liquid or solid wastes. Minnesota statutes are quoted throughout the ordinance.

3. A permitting program is instituted for vacation rentals.

In other matters:

County attorney Lauri Ketola said progress in resolving the backlog of cases in the courts has been slow. The ongoing pandemic has shut down the operation of the courts another month since the beginning of the new year.

County highway engineer JinYeene Neumann said she had organized a plan to pay back the $1.4 million overrun in construction costs for building the Barnum garage. Her department was told to reimburse the general fund. She said she will take state transportation revenues over three years to pay back the loan.

Sheriff Kelly Lake reported that the road into the proposed justice center will have a right of way of 66 feet and will be listed as a driveway access. With further development, it probably will become a county road, she said. Naming the road has been a topic of discussion. “Justice Drive” has been suggested. The sheriff said any suggestions from staff or the public would be considered before a final choice was made.