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County looking at contracting with DOC for probation services
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
The Houston County Board spent about 30 minutes discussing the pros and cons of contracting for probation services directly with the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) during the March 18 meeting. DOC District Supervisor Rena Patterson was on hand to review the various options available to the county.
At the March 4 meeting County Personnel Director Tim Comstock informed the board Court Services Director Kevin Siebold will be retiring from his position on April 25. Siebold has worked for Houston County for 30-plus years, beginning in 1977.
“Judge Fabian and I have discussed options for providing probation services and are asking the county to consider vacating the County Probation Officers (CPO) option and contract for probation services directly from DOC,” Comstock stated in a memo to the county board.
“If this were done, the DOC would determine the appropriate staffing levels for probation agents and office supervision would be provided at the regional level.”
According to Patterson, the DOC provides felony and supervised release services in 55 counties in the state. It also provides juvenile and adult misdemeanor supervision in 27 counties.
If Houston County decides to take the DOC route, persons currently working in the county court services department would become state employees, and the state would assume all liability of these employees. The supervision of these agents would be provided by DOC at no cost to the county. Human resource matters would be the DOC’s responsibility. DOC would provide the majority of the training needed at no cost to the county.
Patterson also noted that the training aspect would be a huge benefit to the county, since DOC offers many training resources that could be accessed.
The current county support staff, which is one fulltime and one part time clerical position, would continue to be county employees.
The DOC would pick up the CSTS (computer system the county subscribes to) cost, which is approximately $2,600 per year.
Houston County would continue to be responsible for office space, support staff, and office equipment and supplies. The DOC would provide training to county support staff as needed.
District Court Judge James Fabian reaffirmed his conviction that contracting with the DOC is the route to take. “I discussed this with the judges in Winona County. They feel it is a good program and highly recommend it. The transition would be much smoother if we go with the state program, and if we need more help, we can share staff with the Winona office,” Judge Fabian said.
The county board was scheduled to make a decision on this matter at the March 25 meeting.
In other board action:
Wildcat Park manager hired
The county board unanimously approved an agreement with Ed “Jake” Lonkoski to operate Wildcat Park as an independent contractor for the 2008 camping season. The county leases the park, located just south of Brownsville, from the Army Corps of Engineers.
According to Comstock, the Wildcat Park Board interviewed eight persons who applied for the position and recommended Lonkoski.
Public hearing on park
ordinances April 8
County staff has been working on developing new rules and regulations for Wildcat Campground and also for Botcher Park, located in Sheldon Township. It was recommended the new rules be put in the form of official ordinances so the County Sheriff’s Department could enforce them as official laws, and not just county rules.
In order to enact an ordinance, a public hearing must be held. The public hearing will be held April 8 during the Tuesday morning county board meeting.
Flood damage will be
handled differently
County Zoning Administrator Bob Scanlan asked the board if proposed projects to repair property damaged by the flash floods of August 2007, could be handled differently than the current procedure.
Scanlan explained that currently any project that calls for more than 50 cubic yards of fill to be placed in the flood plain, or 10 cubic yards of fill placed along a stream or river bank must have a conditional use permit (CUP). In order to obtain a CUP, a property owner must fill out a number of forms, have several inspections conducted, have the project reviewed by the county’s Planning and Zoning Board, and finally approved by the county board.
“We have so many projects that will be coming up to repair soil erosion damage from the August floods,” Scanlan explained. “It’s going to take up so much time, and tie up the staff and planning commission from conducting more important business. I brought this before the land use committee, and suggested we only require a zoning permit on all repair projects from the floods. They felt it was a good suggestion.”
“How many projects are we looking at?” Commissioner Tom Bjerke asked.
“All along the Root River Valley,”” replied Environmental Services Officer Rick Frank.
“I’m guessing somewhere between 100 and 150,” added Commissioner Dave Corcoran.
“It just doesn’t make sense having each one go through the entire CUP process,” Frank added. “They aren’t filling in wetlands, just repairing what was damaged last summer.”
The county board agreed to change the requirement from a CUP to a simple zoning permit only for flood repair projects.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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