BEMIDJI 鈥� The Beltrami County Board of Commissioners has officially withdrawn its purchase agreement for a property that had been under consideration for the new county jail鈥檚 location, following public input.
The decision, which occurred during the board鈥檚 meeting on Tuesday, withdrew a purchase agreement for the Weibolt Property, located along Jefferson Avenue a couple of miles south of the Fifth Street roundabout, which the county had previously agreed to buy for $540,000.
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Dozens of community members had spoken against the county鈥檚 decision, outlining their concerns that building a jail on the 16.9-acre property would have negative impacts on the surrounding neighborhood and would be too large of a distance from crucial services located downtown.
Following this public input, the county reconsidered its site selection criteria and altered its measurement of neighborhood impact to include properties within 1,000 feet of the selected site.
鈥淥riginally the criteria that was being used for neighborhood impacts was based on adjacent properties,鈥� explained County Administrator Tom Barry, 鈥�(We鈥檝e) expanded it to a number of residencies within a 1,000-foot buffer.鈥�
With the adjustment, the county reassessed the properties under consideration and further evaluated an additional four properties that members of the public brought forward.
All properties that were zoned as residential have, at least currently, been disqualified from consideration following a moratorium issued by the Greater Bemidji Area Joint Planning Board prohibiting the construction of a jail in any residential zones for a period of six months.
The top-rated location was once again the BRIC property, which the county was previously unable to negotiate an agreement on, and the second-highest-ranked site was the new industrial park located on the south end of Bemidji.
A total of seven properties are still under consideration, and more information can be found on .
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Response to Red Pine
Another item before the board was to consider the allocation of community reinvestment funds by PrimeWest Health.
Four proposals were presented to the board by Anne Lindseth, director of health and human services, amounting to just under $204,000.
These proposals included efforts to maintain eligibility specialists and case aids, support guardianship clients, and invest in technology. The final proposal was to use the funds to assist the displaced residents of Red Pine Estates in Bemidji.
All 47 residents of the apartment building were evacuated from the building following an order by the city on June 30. The reason for the action was concerns related to the building鈥檚 structural integrity, and residents had just six days to vacate their apartments.
The proposal related to Red Pine would allocate $48,000 to support those residents, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s and rely on social security for income, while they search for alternate housing.
While District 2 Commissioner Joe Gould was in favor of moving the proposals forward, the other commissioners expressed a desire to table the topic to allow for further information.
鈥淚 just want to make sure we are doing what we can as a board to utilize these reinvestment dollars in the best way possible,鈥� said District 4 Commissioner Tim Sumner. 鈥淚 just want to make sure we aren鈥檛 leaving anything out.鈥�
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Gould made a motion to approve the proposals but did not receive a second. A motion was made to table the conversation until the board鈥檚 meeting on Aug. 1, which then passed.
Toward the end of the meeting, Gould brought up the possibility of the county initiating an investigation into the events at Red Pine. This sparked a conversation on where the county鈥檚 authority lies and County Attorney David Hanson agreed to look into the topic for a future meeting.
鈥淚 think we all agree we need to get down to the bottom of what happened and why,鈥� said Gould.
District 5 Commissioner John Carlson, while acknowledging the dire situation, encouraged a cautious approach.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not the county鈥檚 problem, this is the city鈥檚 problem that they tried to make our problem,鈥� Carlson said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 mean we shouldn鈥檛 try to help in some way, but that also sets a precedent.鈥�
Barry added to the conversation by agreeing that looking into the events at Red Pine will be a crucial step in efforts to prevent similar occurrences.
鈥淚 do believe that an after-action review of some kind will be critical to learn about what happened and to identify ways we can put things into place to prevent that from happening again,鈥� Barry said.
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