A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Local dignitaries participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the new justice center Monday, digging in their shovels on the edge of the construction footprint. Pictured, from left, are state Rep. Mary Murphy, Commissioner Dick Brenner, Judge Michael Cuzzo, Commissioner Marv Bodie, Commissioner Gary Peterson, Commissioner Thomas Proulx, Commissioner Mark Thell, and Jail Administrator Paul Coughlin.
This aerial drone photo shows the existing Carlton County transportation building and the building site for the justice center - a $66 million combined jail and courthouse building expected to be completed in the summer of 2024.
After workers spent the past few weeks clearing the site of the future justice center, Carlton County commissioners and other dignitaries gathered for a traditional groundbreaking ceremony Monday afternoon.
County Board chairman Gary Peterson led the event. State Rep. Mary Murphy, DFL-Hermantown, who has served as a state rep for 46 years, was the only woman to turn a gold shovel. Murphy and retiring District 11 State Rep. Mike Sundin were instrumental in guiding legislation for the $2 million grant the County received to study the project, leading to the addition of a 16-bed female offender program in the 80-bed jail complex.
The total combined jail and court building is expected to cost $66 million by the time it is completed in summer 2024.
Following the groundbreaking, officials returned to the Carlton County transportation building for their meeting, including an update on a proposed electrical substation which would serve the Black Bear Casino Resort.
Negotiations continue between Carlton County and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa for an agreement on where, in the Carlton Junction area, to build the substation. An area of county land north of the justice center site and south of the Burlington Northern rail tracks is being considered. The Carlton County board had made a tentative agreement two years ago with the Band to use that site.
The Band has not had steady, reliable electrical service to its casino complex or to nearby Reservation land.
Minnesota Power has no plans at this time to upgrade the electrical grid to service them, according to Fond du Lac energy project manager Bruno Zagar.
County attorney Lauri Ketola reported that negotiations with the Band - over the duration of the land lease and a bond requirement for cleanup - are at an impasse. She asked for board direction.
Peterson suggested, and other members agreed, to think about what options there were and give direction at a later board gathering. The idea of trading land between the county and the Band was brought up as a possibility.
Federal funding is needed by the Band to build the electrical substation and transmission lines. The Band must own or have a long-term lease on the land the substation is located in order to get the funding.
In other business
• Cloquet schools superintendent Michael Cary attended Monday's meeting and commented on the new contract the school and the county are using to provide transportation for foster children. The county had included a $10,000 limit for county human services funding for part of the transportation during the formation of the county budget.
Cary wondered why the county would have the power to place foster children out of the home - causing extra transportation costs for those children to continue to attend Cloquet schools - then arbitrarily set a limit of how much the county would pay for that transport.
The county's share of the transportation costs is below $10,000 at this time. Any increase in costs above that limit will be considered at a later date and no action was taken.
• Charles Pleski, a resident of Wisconsin but a member of an action group trying to repair flood damage to an area on Wisconsin County Road W, addressed the board to ask for a letter of support.
The bridge over the Nemadji River in Wisconsin was flooded four years ago and both approaches to the bridge were swept away.
Pleski explained that the current detour increases the travel time by 20 minutes from both Wisconsin and Minnesota. County Road 8 east of Holyoke depends on that bridge crossing in Wisconsin to travel east.
Holyoke Township has written a letter of support. Pleski admitted that Wisconsin county officials do not see a need for that bridge crossing. The Carlton County board instructed auditor/treasurer Kevin DeVriendt to execute a letter of support for the project.
• County Highway Engineer JinYeene Neumann reported that the roundabout on Cloquet's 14th Street will be mostly completed by the start of school and will allow for traffic east to west of the construction area.
