Caledonia Argus

Houston County Commissioners received some advice on building a new jail their May 18 board meeting in the courthouse in Caledonia.

Posted: 5/25/04

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

Houston County Commissioners received some advice on building a new jail their May 18 board meeting in the courthouse in Caledonia.

Tim Thompson, detention facility inspector with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, visited with them for about an hour, answering questions and telling them some doís and donítís.

The first step is usually to hire an architectural firm, Thompson said.

Counties also hire planners or outside consultants, but Thompson doesnít think that is necessary. ìThose are things that can typically be negotiated as part of an architectural task,î he said.

Finding a site is one of the things that an architectural firm can do, according to Thompson. They will look at space requirements and bed needs for the next 20 years and come up with a total building size.

Several people disagreed with Thompson on his initial comments. Houston County Sheriff Mike Lee said the board should not let the architect dictate to the county. ìThey have a tendency to make everything bigger and more expensive,î he said.

The first priority should be finding the right site, Lee said.

ìYouíre right in saying that someone from the county needs to be there,î Thompson replied. But choosing a site first might lock the county into a spot that isnít big enough. That could add more height to the building, which would require more staffing.

Second district commissioner Kevin Kelleher said he had heard from talking to people from other counties that a hiring a consultant is a good idea. ìIím not casting aspersions on architects, but you always act in your own self interest,î he said.

Regardless of their decisions, commissioners should know that the DOC is available to try to answer their questions, Thompson said.

Commissioner Ann Thompson said she would like county employees to provide a lot of the information to determine things a planning consultant would need. She wondered if a consultant would even be needed. ìYouíve got a lot of the information that a planner would typically gather,î she said.

ï Be flexible with design: Tim Thompson said that the design of the jail should be done with flexibility in mind. For example, staffing for 70 beds can be the same as for 90 beds if the building is designed right, he said.

A linear design jail has a 25:1 inmate to staff ratio, while a direct supervision jail has a 60:1 ratio.

He also emphasized that county employees will need to research well any company they hire.

The project will need someone like a construction manager to oversee every phase of the project, Lee said.

Tim Thompson said that architectural firms do the design, then bring in a construction management firm.

Ann Thompson said that the timing of bringing in a building consultant should be weighed carefully, and should perhaps happen later in the process.

ìThis county is going to pay for a construction manager one way or the other,î citizen Earl Welch of La Crescent said.

The next step should be to get staff together and figure out what the projected needs will be, Ann Thompson said. She had heard a 35-50 inmate capacity to be a good amount.

But donít lock into that, Tim Thompson said, because the staffing might be the same for a 45-inmate or a 60-inmate facility.

Counties can borrow from the reserve fund and then pay that back from the bonding money to cover initial costs, Tim Thompson said.

The question of where to locate a new jail was not discussed, prompting Earl Welch to say, ìOne of these days the site is going to be important.î

Welch and Russ Krech are citizen-at-large members of a criminal justice committee that has been studying the jail issue from the beginning, which jailer Mark Schiltz estimated to be about a 10 year period. Other committee members are Schiltz, Mike Lee, Ann Thompson (chairman), court administrator Darlene Larson, Caledonia Police Chief Duane St. Mary, La Crescent Police Chief Todd Nelson, county attorney Rick Jackson, county victim services director Michelle Herman, county human services director Beth Wilms, and county court services administrator Kevin Siebold. Their mission is to find different ways of improving the whole criminal justice system, Schiltz said.

Top of Page