A lot of money is saved and a lot of useful projects get done from the work of the Cook County Sentence to Serve program. On May 28, 2013, Minnesota Department of Corrections District Supervisor Victor Moen and Cook County Sentence to Serve Crew Leader Gary Jorgenson updated the county board on what gets accomplished through this program.
Throughout the year, small crews of Cook County residents who are serving sentences pick up roadside trash, remove snow, sweep streets, bale recycled material, plant trees, maintain buildings, assist with remodeling projects, clean classrooms, landscape grounds, repair deer fences, remove beaver dams, and rescue wild animals. They work for the county, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and Cook County Schools, and by law they never displace other workers. “Our focus is on work that would otherwise just not get done,” said Moen.
In the last year, the work crews put in 3,168 hours – the equivalent of two people working full-time for 39 weeks and three days.
In addition to completing community service projects, the Sentence to Serve crews save the county a lot of money. The Cook County jail is only licensed to house inmates for up to 72 hours, after which they must be housed in other facilities at a cost to the county of $50 a day per inmate – unless they are out of the jail working during the day. Jorgenson said that in the last two months alone, the 11 inmates who were able to participate in Sentence to Serve saved the county $47,750 in out-of-county jail costs.
Commissioner Sue Hakes wondered about intangible benefits from the program, such as improved self-esteem, the learning of new skills, job training and experience, teamwork, restorative value to the community, and even mentoring from Crew Leader Jorgenson. “I believe we are changing behavior and changing communities,” Moen said. He also complimented Jorgenson, saying, “You have a very talented crew leader.”
Another benefit of the program is that families have more opportunity to visit inmates, benefitting both the inmates and their families, including their children. People in the program develop new outlooks as well. Jorgenson said that after picking up roadside garbage, participants often say, “I’m never throwing garbage out the window again!” and tell other people not to throw garbage out the window, either.
Crews can be as large as 10. Jorgenson supervises juveniles as well. They often work with janitors in the school and are always kept separate from the adults.
The county board approved a new two-year contract with the state at a cost of $116,311.50, which is 75 percent of the cost of the program for two years. The state pays for the other 25 percent.
In other county news:
. The board approved the middle of three bids for remodeling some areas of the courthouse to reconfigure departments more efficiently. M-Con Construction Inc. of Minneapolis will make the changes at a cost of $14,895.
The highest bid was from S&C Masonry and Concrete Inc. of Grand Marais in the amount of $29,029 53, and the lowest bid was from Bryan Carpenter of Grand Marais in the amount of $7,325. Maintenance Director Brian Silence said he thought materials would cost about $7,000-10,000. He said he had been as specific as possible in his request for bids.
The board decided to form a committee comprised of Commissioners Heidi Doo-Kirk and Garry Gamble, County Attorney Tim Scannell, and Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers to discuss the possibility of coming up with a policy regarding bids. It could include criteria for going out for bids even when a project is small enough not to legally require it and how decisions will be made regarding which bids will be accepted.
. The board approved the lower of two bids for reconstruction of the Colvill town hall steps. New steps were built within the last several years but the finished product was not considered satisfactory. The residents of Colvill were not satisfied with two attempts to fix them, and the contractor who had put them in is no longer in business.
S&C Masonry and Concrete Inc. will tear out the steps and put new ones in for $1,980. The other bid, from Concrete Design and Landscaping, came in at $6,170.
. The board corrected a motion it had made in December regarding the amount of the Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA) levy and the amount the county agreed to contribute toward the city’s Cedar Grove Business Park bonds. Rather than approving an EDA levy of $209,144, the county had intended to approve a levy of $150,000 and pay $59,144 from the county fund balance toward the city’s bonds.
The board made the appropriate correction in a new motion, contingent on an agreement with the city that proceeds from business park lot and wetland credit sales would be applied to future bond payments. Commissioners Bruce Martinson and Sue Hakes offered to meet with city representatives to discuss this.
. The county is going to pay up to $10,000 to restore a locker room off the Sawtooth Elementary gym and up to $6,000 to install security doors separating the gym hallway from the rest of the elementary school as part of its agreement with ISD 166 to replace the old boys’ locker room being turned into a weight room in the new YMCA.
After some members of the county board objected to paying for the security doors, Commissioner Sue Hakes talked to Superintendent Beth Schwarz about whether the school would pay for the locker room and security doors in exchange for the county paying for additional bleachers that had been suggested. The security doors and elementary gym locker room will not be covered by the 1 percent tax that is funding the YMCA project.
Hakes said the idea of paying for additional bleachers had been a passing thought passed on to the county board but had not been discussed by the school board and was not considered an option. The bleachers planned for the YMCA gym will seat only 100 people.
. The board approved a purchase of two pharmaceutical drop-off boxes to be located at the Law Enforcement Center in Grand Marais and in Grand Portage at a cost of $1,613.14, to be paid out of Recycling Center capital purchase funds. They will be transported by law enforcement personnel to disposal sites where they will be incinerated, preventing the leaching of dangerous chemicals into the ground and water supplies.
Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson said many of the Recycling Center employees have been stuck with needles that have been mixed in with materials people have dropped off for recycling. He will be compiling a list of official needle disposal boxes throughout the county, but short of that, recommended that used needles be sealed into plastic pop bottles and thrown into the regular garbage.
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