By MaryHelen Swanson

After much discussion Wednesday, Nov. 7, the Chisago County commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution stating their intent to construct a jail/law enforcement center.

In the resolution, it notes that the county has been receiving citations and warnings for structural deficiencies of the current jail, and that the county is holding two times as many prisoners as it has beds for, resulting in substantial expense in paying to house prisoners out of county.

The resolution makes note that the county has been investigating the use and capabilities of the current jail for five years and that an independent assessment in 2005 identified several fundamental problem areas in the current jail design and future jail needs.

Further, it states that the county board believes it is in the best interest of the county to plan for the future, and has purchased 59.1 acres of land as a potential future site of a new jail.

It is now the intent of the county board to construct a new jail/law enforcement center on that property.

The county will inform the Minnesota Department of Correction of this adopted resolution.

The fact that they have approved this action in no way dictates a size or price or even location, or even if the law enforcement center will be included at this time.

Many commissioners favor building in phases. Some commissioners expressed concern that the public has been told the jail will cost $40 million.

That figure came from a study done two years ago and includes the jail building, law enforcement center, land purchase, utilities extensions and all soft costs involved in such a project.

However, the next step in the process will be to hire an architect to create a schematic design which may include options such as including the law enforcement center or not including the law enforcement center in the original project. From there, costs can be determined and the board can choose an option that the county can best afford.

More accurate costs will be determined once the board has a better picture of the project.

For now, the only action action taken is to move forward with the project.

A more in-depth story on the board meeting will come next week.

Comment from Tom Lambert, 11/12/07

The new jail needs to be put to a vote>>>>

Comment from Sherry, 11/13/07

Wasn't Clayton Anderson going to donate land to the county approximately ten years ago. The property was located North Branch, on Hwy 95, on the north side, just west of town. If I remember correctly, the county turned it down, because they wanted everything left in "historic" Center City/Chisago/Lindstrom area. What a waste of tax payers. Why didn't the county board think about this, that the county would be growing in population, and would need to expand which require more land to build on, which the current site does not have. Sounds like a no brainer to me.