By Heather M. Gray
Managing Editor,
Spring Grove Herald

I have sat back and listened to the dialogue of the "concerns" over the downtown location of the countyís proposed criminal justice center (CJC). I can remain silent no longer.

Whether we like it or not, crime is part of small-town life and jail is a reality for many people in our county. It is not lots of "outsiders" like many people like to envision.

A majority of the time, it is "local" people who "messed up" or the laws have changed and their activity now lands them in serious trouble, such as DWI offenses, are now classified as felonies.

The county board and county staff have taken their responsibility to the public and the taxpayers seriously. They have examined current needs and tried to carefully project what their long-term needs will be for the next 30 to 50 years. How many of you know what the state and federal government will shove down your throat in that time period?

This county has been frugal with our money all these many years. In my estimation, the only fault I see in their approach to this project, is that they have drug it out for over 10 years! The construction costs have easily doubled in that time period, and we could have saved millions of dollars if it would have been built before 9/11.

They have made purchases of properties around the courthouse as they have come available. Even though some think their acquisition costs have been high, some of the homes had almost paid for themselves with rent payments received.

Now as we look at building the structure, the county is debt free to get to this point! How many people have their land paid for when they build their new home or business?

The small group of vocal opponents against this project keep proclaiming that the county now needs to run around and pay some ungodly amount of money to purchase some "mythical" location that will be the answer to all of their problems.

But yet, when other locations were discussed very early on, no such location could be found. Furthermore, why should we taxpayers now be asked to pay for another $1 million in acquisition costs, grading and site work, utility extensions and road creation for what? So that one or two people have a better view of what?

You are only fooling yourself if you think that the county wonít end up spending that much more.

If the county has to look at purchasing land away from their downtown complex, then they have to look at probably 30 to 40 acres minimum, so they have room to have the entire complex together, in the future.

Speaking of that, the residents of Caledonia should welcome this downtown location with open arms if they donít want their taxes to double or triple from what the proposed tax chart projected back in the Aug. 15th Caledonia Argus.

If the small groups of opponents force the county to this unknown "mythical" location, the city will be forced to build infrastructure to it. Infrastructure is not cheap and appears inadequate already.

You have a new business on the other side of Highway 44 with no sewer and a 1-inch water line servicing it because the infrastructure costs were too high.

You have a high school that had to have more infrastructure brought to it so it could pass a sprinkler test.

You, the taxpayers of Caledonia, will pay for that. Why would you want to add those hundred of thousands of dollars to your tax bill when the costs to service the structure in the downtown location will be minimal for all involved?

One more thing about costs, I have learned in my years of covering government that most of the cost of a project is seen in its operating costs after it is built; not in the construction costs.

According to some experts, the construction costs typically are only 15 to 25 percent of the "life-cycle" costs of a government building. This does vary depending upon the type of structure it is.

In this instance, the board has tried to incorporate as many cost-saving measures as they can in the design of the jail and the office portions of this building.

Furthermore, they are making a conscious effort to make it cost-effective for heating and cooling by examining renewable fuels, alternative mechanical systems and more! They have even secured a special bond up to $6 million at zero percent interest if they build the project "green" enough to qualify.

The residents around the courthouse square have lived with a jail in their neighborhood for over 150 years. It is not the fault of the courthouse that the city has allowed residential homes to spring up where businesses use to exist as recent as 40 years ago.

In addition, the new facility will be Fort Knox compared to what we have today. A person arrested will come in under lock and key and never leave a secured area until they are done with their sentence. What new danger is the public facing with this new facility that they donít already have worse today?

One more thing, talk to the downtown business people. Ask them where they want to see the CJC. Most of them will tell you without hesitation that downtown Caledonia needs those employees continuing to eat and shop downtown Caledonia to keep it viable.

Due to typical small town scare tactics, they are afraid to go on the record, out of fear of retaliation for their businesses.

One more thing, Iíve heard the comment that we need the jail but we donít need the "grandiose" offices. These offices are not grand, they are serviceable and not flashy at all.

The budget for the offices is a different rate per square foot than the jail or the courtrooms. Furthermore, walk through human services and public health, zoning and all of court services.

These employees are crammed in unprofessional circumstances where it is hard to protect the sensitive data that needs to be safeguarded.

Citizens and business owners of Caledonia, for once take a stand in favor of your pocketbook and show your support of your county officials and come to the hearing and let the nay sayers and the Caledonia City Council know that they are in the minority.

Tell them you donít want to pay extra taxes now for new infrastructure or in the future for increased operating costs by splitting government offices and purposely adding waste and inefficiency to government operations. Keep the CJC downtown Caledonia.

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Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475

E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com