Date: May 16, 2023 9:00 a.m.
Place: Commissioners Room, Courthouse, Caledonia, MN
Members Present: Dewey Severson, Eric Johnson, Robert Burns, Bob Schuldt, and Greg Myhre
Board Workgroup Session
Call to order.
Johona Harris and Tamara Wylie from Collaborative Design Group (CDG) discussed space utilization options with the Commissioners. Harris and Wylie presented two options for condensing space and better utilizing current space. In one option the County would keep the current community services building and in the other option the County would sell the current community services building along the highway and condense County departments to fit on one centralized campus. Departments from the community services building would be relocated to the Historic Courthouse. Harris and Wylie shared with the Commissioners rough estimates of costs associated with the space utilization options, and asked if the Commissioners had one option they wanted CDG to explore further. Both options were estimated to cost over eight million dollars. The Commissioners said they had “sticker shock”. They thanked CDG for their work on the study. It was the general consensus of the Commissioners to get the final report from CDG, but that CDG did not need to explore any further options.
Commissioner Myhre said there had been some confusion regarding the Wildcat management contract and who was responsible for mowing individual camp sites. He said the new manager had been told that she would not need to mow individual sites, as it was the responsibility of each seasonal camper to mow their own area. Myhre said campers were frustrated saying that the previous manager had mowed their sites.
Sheriff Swedberg shared several updates with the Commissioners related to the Sheriff’s department. He said his department would be helping with Farm Safety Day and Syttende Mai.
He said he had received an email from Target Field saying they were giving away some of their metal detectors. The metal detectors were a year old. Swedberg said he had driven to the cities and picked out three metal detectors for the County. He planned to use one in the jail, and the other when needed. The County would also have a backup detector for if a school or other organization wanted to temporarily use it. The Sheriff said the County currently had one permanent metal detector, but the new detectors were newer and portable. Swedberg said he had also obtained body cameras from Olmsted County. Olmsted County had given the cameras to Houston County. He said he was working with IT to get the cameras converted to the County’s system for use. Swedberg said typically departments rented cameras and the cost was around $20,000 per year. He said eventually the cameras could be a requirement. The Commissioners thanked the Sheriff for his work in obtaining the metal detectors and cameras.
Swedberg said his office had received an order from the court that law enforcement needed to give a student a ride to and from school each day. He said this was difficult for the County as a deputy needed to go to attempt to pick up the student each day. If the deputy on duty in the area was on another call at the time the student needed a ride this could cause an issue. He said he hoped the courts would not turn giving students a ride to and from school into a regular occurrence.
Swedberg said there was a possible Sheriff’s auction that would be coming up. Equipment that would possibly be sold at the auction was currently in the Highway Building parking lot. If a settlement agreement between parties was made before the sale the sale would be cancelled.
The meeting ended at 11:09 a.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS HOUSTON COUNTY, MINNESOTA
By: Dewey Severson, Chairperson Attest: Donna Trehus, Auditor/Treasurer
THE ABOVE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMISSIONERS IS ONLY A SUMMARY. THE FULL TEXT IS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC INSPECTON AT THE HISTORIC HOUSTON COUNTY BUILDING AS WELL AS AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESS: https://www.co.houston.mn.us/.
Publish 29
"Where Fillmore County News Comes First"
