Posted: 1/23/07
New jail, sheriff computer program OKed
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Houston County commissioners gave final approval on January 16 to a new computer program that will benefit the sheriffís department and jail.
The board had approved the $79,803 purchase from Police Central, Inc of Atlanta, GA, on December 19 at the recommendation of jail administrator Mark Schiltz and information systems coordinator Lindsey Pierce.
Schiltz and sheriff Doug Ely spoke about it again last week. "Our system now, weíve outgrown it," Ely said.
"[Itís] The most user friendly and the most cost effective," Schiltz said.
Phase one, for jail management, will cost $34,593, with the sheriffís department paying for $24,593 and human services paying for $10,000.
Phase two will be used for E911 incident reporting, criminal warrants, and civil proceedings. The $45,210 cost will be covered by the E911 budget.
Training for the jail staff will be done on January 22-23. The sheriffís department will be trained on January 24-25.
The new program will combine things like booking, medical, and financial information into one database. Incident reports, citations, and sex offender information will also be in one program. Data will be sent to the state automatically.
Other sheriff and jail news
Several other sheriff-related items were discussed at the meeting.
Ely distributed information from the countyís website on 2006 jail statistics. The average daily jail population was 11.4, which was down from 12.3 in 2005. The average daily population housed outside the county was 14.0, compared to 9.7 in 2005.
"Itís a continuous rise," commissioner Larry Graf said.
Inmate transports went from 2,280 hours in 2005 to 3,310 in 2006, a 45 percent increase. Transport officers received $10.00/hr plus use of the vehicle and gas.
More statistics can be found at www.houstoncounty.govoffice2.com.
The board also approved a $5,000 membership fee in the the Southeast Minnesota Drug Task Force. Ely and county attorney Rick Jackson both recommended the service, which the county has used in the past. Ely said the organization helps with drug traffic intervention, plus provides vehicles, monitoring systems, and manpower. "They are truly a phone call away," he said.
Jackson said the group helped in handling material in a meth lab that was discovered in Eitzen a few years ago.
The board also approved an annual membership in Mid-States Organized Crime Information Center for $150.
Abatement approved
The board unanimously approved a motion to sign a tax abatement agreement for Hutton Partners, LLC, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, which owns Dollar General in Caledonia.
The abatement is for half the cost of the driveway. The maximum amount of abated county taxes is $19,743.13 over nine years. The first six years the abatement is at 75 percent, with the last three years at 50 percent. The Caledonia City Council also approved a $12,000 abatement last year.
(When a business is granted a tax abatement, it mean that a portion of the increase in taxes that result from improvements made to the property will be forgiven. In years 1-6 of the abatement, 75 percent of the increase in taxes will be abated and in the last three years, that figure is 50 percent.)
The abatement could have been eliminated with planning and a frontage road, Corcoran said.
"Thereís a lot of short-sightedness out there," said Graf, who voted against it last year.
"All around in every area," Thompson added.
Oher business
ï CJC update: Thompson gave an update on the status of the proposed criminal justice center project. Architects are working on a plan, and will be at a county board meeting in the next week or two, she said. (See Thompsonís letter to the editor on page four for more on the CJC.)
ï Flyover funding: The board approved a request from county recorder Bev Bauer and GIS mapping director Dan Krzoska to use recorder compliance funds to pay for 40 percent of the cost of an aerial flyover that took pictures for county maps.
ï No to housing request: The board voted to deny a request from Southeastern Minnesota Multi-County Housing & Redevelopment Authority (SEMMCHRA ) for $4,950. According to a letter from executive director Joe Wheeler, the money would be used to help cover administrative shortfalls in 2004-2006. The group served 108 Houston County families and provided about $340,000 in rental assistance, Wheeler wrote.
"We donít have that many [families]in the county anyway," commissioner Dave Corcoran said. He noted that the county had not given money to SEMMCHRA in the past. "And we arenít going to start," Corcoran said.
ï Support for trail: The board passed a resolution supporting the La Crescent Wagon Wheel trail enhancement application to the MN DOT District 6 Area Transportation Partnership. The resolution was written by the Houston County Economic Development Authority Trails committee. The Wagon Wheel trail would connect La Crescent with La Crosse for bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
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