Posted: 2/8/05
County takes another step toward new jail
By Jane Palen
Managing Editor
The Houston County Board has agreed to proceed with an advertisement for a person or a firm to complete the programming stage of the planning for a new jail. It will also advertise for a lawyer to help with the contract review and bonding issues that will be part of the process.
The board made its decision at its regular weekly meeting on February 1. The meeting was attended by the jail study committee and a representative of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Tim Thompson.
ìWe accepted the recommendations of the jail study committee and havenít moved forward,î commented board chair Ann Thompson prior to the motion being made.
Chairman Thompson noted that many taxpayers have questions about the proposed jail, including where it will be built, how much it will cost, and what other offices will be included. People are also wondering when the county will start building.
The first step will be to hire a consultant or firm to ìprogramî the jail. The goal will be to determine what the countyís needs are now and what they may be in the future. Other questions to be answered in this phase of the project include what is to be included in the jail, whether there will be a courtroom in the facility, what technology to include and so on.
Tim Thompson said that part of his job and that of his colleagues at the DOC is to make sure that counties donít under-build or overbuild.
ìWe have not seen that counties are encouraged to overbuild,î he told commissioners. ìPart of our job is to make sure that doesnít happen.î
Thompson went on to say that jails can be built with both internal and external options, and the internal options are less expensive. For example, cells can be built to be used as single cells to begin with, with the capability of adding another bed. For example, 40 single cells could expand to as many as 80 if needed.
Commissioner Kelleher said that in conversations with commissioners from other counties, he has been encouraged to hire an attorney who understands contracts, bonding and other aspects of the project. The county attorney does not have the time to devote to a large project such as this, he added.
Sheriff Mike Lee noted that the site should determine the layout of the facility.
ìWe need to build for the site,î he said.
The county has not yet determined a site.
Tim Comstock, the countyís personnel director, encouraged the jail committee and commissioners to look to technology to make things efficient at the new jail. Video visits and arraignments and telehealth screenings could take place at the facility if provisions are made. He also pointed out that with a new jail, there may be some new programs to consider that are not possible at the present jail.
Two members of the jail study committee, Earl Welch and Russ Krech, noted that the first meeting of the committee was in 1996.
ìThis will be the biggest project you have ever undertaken,î Krech told the board.
Court services officer Kevin Siebold alerted the board to a situation regarding juveniles that he would like to see resolved before the jail is built. Because the county is considered part of the La Crosse Standard Metropolitan area, juveniles can be held in county for no more than six hours. Areas that are outside a metropolitan area can hold juveniles up to 24 hours. However, the county is not allowed to use the juvenile facility in La Crosse because it is in a different state. Deputies must transport juvenile to Rochester, often in the middle of the night, because of the six-hour rule.
The design of the new facility will be impacted by whether it is a holding facility or a detention facility, said Siebold.
Commissioners said that they would contact their counterparts on the federal level to see if the federal guidelines can be changed because of the situation they have created.
The jail committee and commissioners expressed an interest in getting the public involved in the project. A possibility may be to hold its monthly meeting at 7:30 a.m. and invite the public to attend.
County thanked for EIS stand
In other news, the commissioners read a letter of thanks from Ken Tschumper, a member of one of the citizensí groups that lobbied successfully for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to require an environmental impact statement for the proposed Heartland tire-burning plant. The commissioners, as well as the Fillmore-Houston Joint Board of Health, had passed resolutions in support of an EIS.
Commissioner Kevin Kelleher, who was at one time a member of the solid waste advisory committee, and made a presentation before the MnPCA, commented that, ìThereís no way they wouldnít do an EIS if it (the plant) was in rural Anoka or Dakota Counties. Weíre rural folks, but weíre not hillbillies. Our air quality is just as important.î
On another health issue, the board thanked public health director Linda Grupa for her work on a 19-page federal telehealth grant which would provide $50,000 or more for the development of a telehealth clinic in the county.
ìIt was gratifying to work with the department heads on this,î said Grupa.
Caledonia Argus
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