County board OKs contract for sheriff’s move

With one dissenting vote, Steele County commissioners last week approved a contract that moves the Sheriff’s Office one step closer to Alexander Street SW.

The county will pay Wold Architects $299,250 to handle design development, contract documents, bidding administration, and construction administration for an 8,900-square-foot addition to the Detention Center. The project will also use 4,500 square feet of existing Detention Center space.

The 58,575-square-foot facility, built with a 154-bed capacity, has never operated at full capacity.

Moving the department from the Law Enforcement Center in Owatonna–a building shared with the Owatonna Police Department and dispatch center–has been under consideration since commissioners approved a conceptual Master Plan in 2021. They have also purchased a building on Alexander for use by the department and for emergency management.

Wold anticipates a total project cost of $5.3 million, about $500,000 less than the $5.8 million budgeted.

County treasurer and finance director Cathy Piepho said the addition will reduce sheriff’s office expenses from $411,500–half the cost of running the LEC–to $212,000 in 2024, when the county would lease LEC space while the new space is under construction. Once the office moves, savings will drop to $128,000.

Ultimately, Piepho said, the county would save about $100,000 annually over the next three years. New construction also means building maintenance costs would be pushed out for years. 

The county may also see savings that can’t be quantified yet, facilities director Jake Rysavy said.

“Some of those efficiencies are going to be kind of learn as you go,” he said. “We’re all confident there’s going to be plenty of efficiencies you don’t see in that projection.”

Officials put off a decision on the Wold contract two weeks ago, after concerns emerged from a work session discussion over the size of the proposed addition and delaying work on the county’s Annex building. They also discussed it during last Tuesday’s work session, and some remained unsure about their votes even after commissioner Rick Gnemi introduced a motion to approve the contract.

“It’s a big dollar item, so a lot of thought goes into this,” commissioner James Brady said.

Looking long-term, he said, means looking at the community’s growth. 

“When you look long term, you’re looking at the growth of the town and what will happen at the LEC during that time.

“I realize that we’re going to use ARPA funds,” commissioner John Glynn said, “but I think that it’s still going to cost money to maintain the buildings that we have. I think that eventually would be a burden on the taxpayers. I like the concept, I like the idea, but I’m not sure.”

Commissioner Jim Abbe said he had been getting questions from constituents about why the county doesn’t just move the sheriff’s office into an unused pod at the Detention Center. The easy answer, he said, is that would be more expensive.

“If you would have asked me three days ago where I’m at on this, I would’ve said absolutely not, but when you start weighing out the cost benefit and you look to the future… it makes sense from the standpoint that it’s going to free up some cash, we’ll use some ARPA dollars, and set ourselves up for the future.”

Abbe said with the use of ARPA funds, the county would also be left with reserve dollars to either reduce levy costs going forward or make necessary capital improvements.

“Where I am having a hang up … is the scope or scale of this project. I would like to see it scaled down a bit,” he said.

“There’s a lot of what ifs,” commissioner Greg Krueger said, “but I just think this helps set the county up for the next 25 years, and it starts that maintenance cycle over again, because we’re dealing with a new facility, so we won’t have the maintenance coming at us every year as we do with the LEC.”

“I think we’re doing a service to the county by doing this project now,” he added. “And then let’s step back and take a deep dive into the next one.”

The project’s next step is design development; construction is expected to begin in September.