by Dennis Dalman
The Stearns County commissioners disagree about how, when and where to build a new county Justice Center – a disagreement that came to the fore at the county board’s April 30 workshop meeting.
The workshop was attended by four of the five commissioners – Jeff Bertram, Tarryl Clark, Steve Notch and Joe Perske. Commissioner Leigh Lenzmeier was not in attendance.
There are three options for the Justice Center project. At the workshop meeting, the details of each plan were presented to the commissioners by three county officials: Randy Schreifels, auditor-treasurer; Mike Williams, administrator; and Sarah Utsch, finance director.
As commissioners discussed those three options, it became apparent there was a serious split in opinions. Two of the commissioners (Bertram, Perske) seemed inclined to favor Option 3, while the two others (Clark, Notch) tended to support Option 1.
Each of the options is estimated to cost in excess of $300 million. There are plans to pay for the project construction with a sales tax if county voters approve that tax in this November’s election. The county board will have to agree on an option by July because that is when a sales-tax ballot question must be submitted to the county auditor-treasurer’s office.
Here are the three options:
Option 1: The construction project would include a jail, law-enforcement center and offices for probation service and the county attorney. It would be built on a site other than the current site in downtown St. Cloud. That alternate site has yet to be determined. Construction would take about three years. It would cost up to $309 million.
Option 2: This construction plan would be phased in over the next decade or so. The project would be built on a site yet to be determined that is not in downtown St. Cloud. The new construction would have a reduced capacity for new facilities for jail, courtrooms and community-correction services. It would cost up to $322 million.
Option 3: Build, update, improve the jail and law-enforcement facilities at their present location in downtown St. Cloud (near the county courthouse). The courtrooms facility would be designed and be built while the jail and law-enforcement projects are being undertaken (in the downtown location). This option would cost up to $325 million.
The major disagreements among the commissioners are about whether or not to do the project(s) in phases, about remodeling-updating versus totally new construction and about the safety concerns of Option 3 that would necessitate the transportation of jail prisoners from the downtown jail to off-site courtrooms. Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall spoke up against Option 3, saying the transportation of prisoners from one place to another (jail to court and back) would cause a public-safety hazard. She recommended Option 3 be voted down.
The three options will be revisited by the commissioners and county officials at upcoming county commission meetings.
