By MaryHelen Swanson

The occupants of a certain Chisago County government-owned building will probably be the first to say they donít like their accommodations. Bigger rooms, better furnishings, better meals, more space for recreation and leisure activities might top their lists.

But then, if you happen to be a resident of the Chisago County Jail, you probably would rather be any place else in the world anyway.

For those who work there, and have to find lodging for the visitors that are brought in, the situation is serious.

Too many people, too little room, too much money being spent finding alternate housing for the inmates.

Last Wednesday, Sheriff Todd Rivard, an assortment of county law enforcement people, county commissioners and citizen members of a jail task force met to get an update on the process that could lead to a new jail.

The process actually began some time ago with the recognition that a larger jail is needed.

A couple of years ago, the county board took a tour of the jail and learned about the space and liability issues at a cramped facility that cannot even house all of Chisago County prisoners. In 2004, $604,000 was spent boarding prisoners in other jails.

Some time later, the board approved sending a team of law enforcement and county officials to Colorado where they learned about the process of planning for and building a new jail.

After returning, this team put together a plan on how the county could proceed and Sheriff Rivard brought the plan to the commissioners.

With the jail population problem increasing to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, steps were taken in Chisago County to ease the burden on the sheriff's department budget while the planning for a new jail proceeded.

The county got approval from the state for 14 beds of double bunking. Jail staff was restructured and a transition team was formed.

The transition team toured six jails, talking to everyone involved, including inmates.

Each visit took several hours.

For its part, the county board established a citizen task force to study options for a jail and a justice center (combined jail and court system).

Dennis Liebert and Assoc. was hired to perform a needs assessment and draft a master plan.

David Bennett and Dan Wiley of the Liebertís group collected pertinent data on the countyís needs, including a study on the court system.

All of the collected data and study results were presented at a criminal justice symposium earlier this year.

What size jail?
One issue stood out from the reports, the number of beds that would be needed at a new facility.

Originally, it was decided that 139-150 beds would be suitable, the current jail is around 60.

Many felt 150 was too low.

The number, noted Chief Deputy Bob Shoemaker last week, was calculated using a population estimate that they also felt was too low ñ 60,000 by 2025.

County Administrator John Moosey then contacted a Martha McMurry at the state demographers office and learned that the state was estimating a growth rate of 1.7 percent for Chisago County.

Moosey told those gathered last week that growth in the 10-year period from 1993-2003 was 3.3 percent.

He said the state feels that as Chisago County population ages the rate of growth will slow. And he said, the state has placed Chisago County in the ìmoderately acceleratedî growth group rather than ìfaster than average.î

But in the end, Moosey said, the state said ìwe really donít know.î

Moosey said the rising price of gas and inflation of recent years hasnít slowed the countyís growth. The close proximity to the Twin Cities area makes Chisago County a desirable place to live, while continuing to work in the metro area, he said.

So he calculated new estimates and believes the growth will be more around 2.9 percent with a projected population of a little over 85,000 by 2025.

Using the new population projections, it was decided that the number of beds needed, assuming an average length of stay is 12 days, would be 235.

So, said Sheriff Rivard, we came up with the need for a 190-bed jail, one that would be internally expandable by double bunking.
A facility of that size, he said, should satisfy the countyís needs for 15-20 years.

At this point, if everything fell into place without a snag, it would be over 2 1/2 years before the jail would be constructed.
But at this point, there are still many things to decide.

Location, location
A major holdup for moving forward right now is a site.

According to Dennis Liebert, who was on hand for last weekís meeting, if a site is not found by mid-June, the whole project will come to a screeching halt.

By mid-June all the programming will be completed by the Liebert firm, he said. They could not move on to the other phases of the project without the site being selected.

The county has to decide if it wants to build just a new jail, a jail and sheriffís office, or a jail and court system, known as a justice center.

Moosey believes the board has an obligation to study all options for building whatever it builds in Center City and he said Center City has, in writing, expressed a desire to do all it can to help the county find a site. Annexation is a distinct possibility.

It would take special legislation (and possibly an additional year of time) if a site out of Center City was to be considered. One thought has been in North Branch.

Moosey said the county has no money to work with right now. He said the county might need as much as $3 million upfront just to get the project going.

Besides deciding what kind of facility to build, and where, the county has to decide financing options. Commissioner Rick Olseen is urging a partnership with the countyís EDA-HRA for financing options. Options might include a lease/purchase or a levy referendum.

In addition, the county needs to have its financial consultant determine the impact of the options on the taxpayers.

But, that would also require a cost figure for the structure to be built ñ and that wonít be available until mid-June, noted Liebert.

People will want to know a ballpark figure, said Commissioner Lynn Schultz, for the different options.

One man on the citizen task force said it would be important to put together information on what will happen if the county doesnít build a new jail.

Rivard suggested that the citizen group tour jails and possibly Polk County's, (Wisc.) new justice center.

The big issue right now is whether the county board can find answers to the pressing questions before mid-June.

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