Pay raised throughout sheriff's office

Law enforcement took center stage Monday at the Carlton County board’s first meeting in July.

A series of public tours of the new $75 million Justice Center along County Road 61 in Carlton was announced for August.

It was a surprising development, given an expected delay in the opening of a facility that will feature a courthouse, jail, and both sheriff’s and county attorney’s offices.

“It’s so exciting,” board chair Susan Zmyslony said, later turning to jail administrator Paul Coughlin, who oversaw the multiyear construction project.

“Congratulations,” she added. “You did a lot of hard work and we really do appreciate all you’ve done.”

The board also unanimously approved pay increases totaling $180,000 for the remainder of this year to several positions within the Sheriff’s Office — the result of a compensation study aimed at better positioning the county “in relation to comparable counties and within the local labor market,” said a human resources memo to commissioners.

The pay increases came as a result of several positions receiving one grade level increase in the metric assigned to job descriptions. For instance, a deputy sheriff’s starting grade went from 160 to 170 and a lieutenant’s from 200 to 210. This year’s increases will be absorbed by the Sheriff’s Office budget and public safety money from the state. Going forward, the collective increases will add a full percentage point to the annual county levy.

“We wanted to capture the danger aspect — the amount of physical danger people deal with, the mental issues, the trauma they’re exposed to, the decision making without direct supervision that they’re responsible for — and to make sure all of that was wrapped up and captured within the descriptions,” county human resources manager Gary Jackson said. “This does help us as far as the local labor market, but it doesn’t fix our problem by any stretch of the imagination.”

Across the county and state, law enforcement agencies are struggling to recruit new officers, creating an environment in which larger, better-paying agencies are poaching employees from smaller outfits.

In June, the city of Cloquet increased pay for its officers, approving raises of 6-, 5- and 4 percent in 2024, 2025 and 2026. City administrator Tim Peterson noted at the time that there were roughly 50 law enforcement jobs open in a 10- to 20-mile radius of Cloquet, including Duluth, Hermantown and Fond du Lac police and St. Louis and Carlton County sheriff’s offices.

The county pay raises will be implemented this month, affecting new hires and numerous individuals already working in the Sheriff’s Office.

Prior to the vote, commissioners and officials engaged in robust discussion about the state of law enforcement.

“Does this help our hiring? Does it put us in a competitive position? Or, are we just playing games?” commissioner Dick Brenner said.

Jackson and county administrator Dennis Genereau explained the grade changes were a “first step.”

“Why don’t we fix this now?” Brenner said, pressing the matter and allowing the administrators to explain that changes outside the grading system would need to be considered, including shift differentials and paid time off — things the county has not ventured into due, in part, to how added incentives could impact other union contracts.

“It’s a moving target,” Genereau said. “But this is a very, very good first step.”

Sheriff Kelly Lake urged approval of the measure.

“I understand this is a big ask,” she said. “The bigger issue is, if we can’t get qualified law enforcement in our county, that will not bode well for public safety.”

Without naming it, she harkened back to the George Floyd killing by Minneapolis police in 2020, and said public perception was on the uptick after years of intensive scrutiny of the state’s law enforcement.

“We have a ways to go,” Lake said. “While pay is not the only thing that will recruit and retain people, it is a big thing.”

Commissioner Gary Peterson seemed to say the county can do only so much. Pay increases here can be countered by surrounding counties and agencies, he said.

“We’re just chasing the same thing,” Peterson said. “We have to increase the supply of law enforcement. We need more people going into law enforcement; we have to change the image of law enforcement.”

Justice Center tours

While that discussion was left there, the Justice Center was hailed for its pending opening.

Public tours are scheduled for 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Aug. 22, and for 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., and 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Aug. 27. The public grand opening will be at noon Aug. 22, with cake, a ribbon cutting and media tours.

Move-in will commence in September, with the jail opening planned for October after it receives approval from the state Department of Corrections. Jail staff began this week to receive eight weeks of training on the new facility and its operations. Coughlin is also talking with Sixth District Court staff about when the courts will begin operating in the new facility.

The earlier-than-anticipated public viewing was facilitated by the arrival of a 700-pound, almost-$60,000 electrical switch. The first switch was destroyed by fire during shipping, and county officials feared it would delay opening until later in the fall. But the switch was fabricated and delivered sooner than expected.

The switch allows for the facility’s generator to take up power in the event of an electrical emergency. Operating a courthouse, jail, or sheriff’s office would not be allowed without the switch.

Coughlin said the switch was installed and operational.

Tour groups, he said, will be capped at roughly 25 per group.

“It takes an hour, hour-and-a-half to get around the building,” Coughlin said, advising prospective tour-goers to wear comfortable shoes.