Posted: 9/20/05
Countyís criminal justice center plans progressing
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Planners for a proposed criminal justice center (CJC) had a productive two days in Houston County last week.
Architect Richard McCarthy, of the Minneapolis architectural firm Klein McCarthy & Co. in Minneapolis, gave that upbeat assessment to the county board on September 13.
McCarthy said he and associate Scott Fettig received good responses and lots of information from county workers. He said the project is moving ahead more quickly than some other similar projects he has worked on.
The county has been thinking about the project for a long time, commissioner Ann Thompson replied. ìWe have department heads that are cognizant of costs and efficiencies and arenít looking at extravagant costs,î she said.
The next step in the process will be to put together a space program by the end of this month to see how much square footage is needed, jail planner Dave Prachar of Duluth said. This will provide the overall building costs without factoring in the costs for things like land and utility extensions.
Then they will examine the sites that are identified and develop drawings for each of four different sites. This will happen later this year, with the goal of giving the board enough information to make a decision.
The new CJC will have five components, McCarthy said: a jail; law enforcement center; courtrooms; court offices such as attorney, administration, and probation; and central services such as maintenance and mail rooms.
Those five things will need to be tested in each potential site that a CJC committee identifies. He said he would like to see three or four sites. The committee has five or six sites now, he said.
No sites listed yet
None of the potential sites were identified at last weekís meeting other than to say that some are on-site and some are off-site, and that the on-site places were to the east and south of the current jail/courthouse.
On-site would require acquiring property, Thompson said. Letters have been sent to adjacent property owners, and some people have been spoken to and are receptive, she said. Other people have called to say their property is available within the city limits, Thompson added. ì[We] Hope to be working with willing sellers,î she said.
The question of what to do with the old jail also came up. Storage and conference rooms were two ideas mentioned. McCarthy said it could be useful for something other than a jail with some remodeling.
Commissioner Kevin Kelleher said it could not be utilized if the CJC were built off-site.
If it canít be used, the board needs to look at the cost of keeping it, commissioner Dave Corcoran said.
The new jail proposal would have 42 beds, expandable to 82, Prachar said. He stressed the need for flexibility for moving prisoners within the jail as needed. For example, site barriers would be needed for female prisoners, and there has to be flexibility to have a two-bed juvenile cell, he said.
Jail administrator Mark Schiltz said three staff members will be needed for the new jail compared to two now. But the cost per prisoner will be lower because there wonít be the cost of housing prisoners outside the county, he added.
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