GRANITE FALLS -- Yellow Medicine County will take another look at how it might reconfigure a portion of its jail.
The Yellow Medicine County Board of Commissioners at its meeting Tuesday approved a contract with Vetter Johnson Architects, Minneapolis, according to Ryan Krosch, county administrator.
The architects will prepare a report to show options the county has for remodeling the 20-bed area of the jail for inmates who are granted work-release privileges by the court. The county is considering the possibility of replacing the dormitory-style area with individual cells.
The contract also calls for the architect to provide options for remodeling at the courthouse to develop space for the county attorney's office. The county attorney is currently leasing office space in downtown Granite Falls.
The architects will provide a look at the county's options at a cost not to exceed $3,800.
ADVERTISEMENT
Krosch said the county discussed the possibility of remodeling the work-release area of the jail previously. Security concerns with holding 20 inmates in a dormitory-style area led the county to consider its options.
The county's 40-bed jail opened in the spring of 2002. The county also contracts to hold inmates from neighboring counties and has seen full occupancy in the jail since its opening.
In other business Tuesday, the commissioners decided to put on hold a proposal to develop an off-road vehicle park in a gravel pit on the north side of Canby.
Krosch said the county's highway department uses the gravel pit, and expressed concerns about its possible loss. The gravel pit still holds a few years' worth of gravel for extraction.
Also, the gravel pit provides the highway department with an area to store recycled pavement and aggregate materials.
The commissioners heard continued interest from the Canby area about possibly developing an off-road park, and will keep the possibility open in the future, according to Krosch.
Also Tuesday, the commissioners approved a resolution that will allow the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to purchase a 320-acre parcel in Fortier Township from Herbert Tatley for use as a wildlife management area. The county will receive payment in lieu of taxes of $12.54 per acre from the site, as compared to current tax receipts of $10.04 per acre from the land.
