By MaryHelen Swanson

In a special worksession last week, the Chisago County commissioners talked about the option of buying the now vacant Living Branch church building in North Branch to transform into an office building for the Health and Human Services (HHS) department.

County Administrator John Moosey says it is time to do something about the space needs of that department. He is seeking approval from the board to bond for $2 million to build a facility because the department has plain grown out of its quarters.

In an effort to alleviate the cramped conditions, some of the HHS employers have been telecommuting, or working at home with computers connected to the county network.

Some HHS workers are housed in the old county highway building. Many employees in the department have had their workspace greatly reduced already.

Moosey said the county boards in past years have been conservative and some things have built up but can no longer be overlooked.

His $2 million proposal would equate to a .76 percent of 1 percent levy increase. Moosey is anticipating a payment of $172,000 a year to cover costs of building, operation and furnishings.

He is looking at a simple block building.

Commissioner Lynn Schultz thought $2 million was too low to purchase land, build, furnish and operate. She brought up the Living Branch property which is for sale now. The building is 11,400 square feet and is on 20 acres.

It was suggested that the county could sell off some of the land for development, thus helping with the costs of construction and still have a suitable building.

Commissioner Ben Montzka was strongly opposed to the county getting into development. He felt it would take away opportunities from private businesses.

Moosey reminded the board of the last time an office building proposal was planned for the North Branch area.

Called the North Branch Presence, the project was to include many non-profits in a large building complex. Moosey reminded them that after all the planning, nothing came of that project.

Commissioner Mike Robinson talked about constructing a "pole" type building, similar to the original buildings used as the Cambridge Campus of the Anoka-Ramsey Community College.

Montzka said if the county did consider the church building, there should be an inspection by an architect which would add costs. He was adamant that the county should not take risks involved in development.

Robinson said it would not be development because the county would sell off the additional land.

Montzka urged the board to see if the county can get by for another year by making do with what is available. His reasoning? He talked about a proposed 14 percent increase in the levy for 2006.

County Auditor Dennis Freed, on hand for the special work session, was asked for his opinion on waiting.

Freed said the bottom line is that if there is something that needs to be done, do it. Waiting another year, he said, won't be the answer because something else will come up.

The discussion ended with a 4-1 vote to have Moosey set up a committee to look at options in the $2 million range, plus the option of not building.

MDT and telephone system

The board went on to discuss issuing capital bonds for a county upgrade of the MDT (mobile data terminal) system and county phone system.

Sheriff Todd Rivard explained that the current MDT system, used by the deputies, is about 12 years old. About five years ago Chisago County piggybacked on to Washington Counties system at little cost to this county, he said.

But, he went on, the system is no longer supported with manufacturer technical support and could, at any minute, stop functioning. It would not be able to be fixed, he said.

Squad car terminals were purchased used five years ago and can no longer be replaced.

Rivard noted that county MICS director Jon Eckel has been working with Washington County designing a system that will work for both counties for many years.

The cost to equip all county squad cars with mobile computers is $1 million. The computers are used to access important information without having to check into the dispatch center.

The cost includes providing service to the North Branch and Wyoming police as well as county deputies.

The county phone system needs upgrading also, at an estimated cost of $450,000.

Discussion moved to New jail

Sheriff Rivard's discussion then moved to a request for $4 million to continue the work toward building a new jail. This amount would be used to purchase land, architectural costs and project management.

Carolyn Drude of Ehlers and Assoc., financial consultant to the county, pointed out that Minnesota Statutes, Section 475.61, subd. 5 allows for the issuance of temporary bonds maturing in not more than three years, for such things as property acquisition and architectural planning.

She also noted that the county has an available $50 million debt limit.

Timing was interesting for this request. It appears that an overcrowding problem at the current county jail has subsided for a few months.

The sheriff had no explanation for this phenomena.

Commissioner Montzka said he couldn't vote for $4 million in bonds unless he knew why the jail population is down.

The county has a variance from the state of Minnesota to allow for up to 67 prisoners. Chisago County, in recent years, has had so many prisoners that it has had to board out many to other jail facilities to the tune of multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Planning for a new jail and possible justice center, has been a priority with the burgeoning inmate population.

As the jail planning continues, the board will be touring two jails on July 19 to look at designs and innovations of modern facilities.

On July 20, they will consider the $1.5 million bond for the MDT and phone system upgrades.

On Aug. 17, the board will hear final recommendations from jail/justice center consultants.

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