The Regional Corrections Board met Monday, January 13, at 9:00 a.m. at the Polk County Justice Center.
The meeting started out with the election of Board Officers for 2025. “Steven Jacobson was selected as the Vice Chair to replace Steve Bommersback, who had been our Vice Chair for many years,” says Tri-County Corrections Executive Director Andrew Larson. “And then Gary Wilhite was also nominated and voted in as the Secretary, and Warren Strandell has been the board chair for as long as I’ve been with Tri-County, so that is going on almost 20 years, so Warren will continue in that role.”
Larson’s next agenda item was to give the department statistical reports for December. “I did a little more detailed review of what some of the numbers mean because we do have two new board members with us, Tim Oistad out of Norman County and Andy Moran of Red Lake,” says Larson. “I tried to do a little bit more of a comprehensive overview of what some of the numbers mean.”
The population at the jail as of Monday morning was sitting at 117. “That number is actually quite a bit lower than we have seen in recent years, and honestly, that’s a good thing,” says Larson. “The population is down, that’s less wear and tear on the building, less wear, and tear on staff, and has allowed us to close down one of our housing units, temporarily, just so we can do some upkeep on it.”
Larson says one of the big advantages to the numbers being down in the jail has to do with training. “The other advantage to having a reduced population right now is, really, it has allowed us to do some significant work on the training front,” says Larson. “It’s been no secret that we have really struggled with staffing and trying to get people trained.”
The average daily population in the jail for December 2024 was 118, and the average daily population in the jail for the year was 140. The board discussed that it didn’t seem like all that long ago when the average daily population was 180 -185. “Where we have really seen our biggest decrease in population is with our local counties,” says Larson. “There have been some statutory changes that have had an impact, such as changes in drug laws, and there has been some purposeful work on our end.”
Larson updated the board on the Juvenile Center and its numbers as well. “I am happy to report that we have been able to keep both the Secure and Non-Secure portions of the facility completely open,” says Larson. “We have really struggled to keep secure detention fully open because of ongoing staff issues. It is almost two months now that the secure detention has been able to stay open, and as a result of that, we are able to help meet the needs throughout the entire state for juvenile placement options.” As of Monday morning, Larson says there are four juveniles in secure detention and seven in non-secure.
Regarding personnel issues, Larson says things are headed in the right direction. “Overall,l we are really sitting pretty good compared to where we have been,” says Larson. “I did have four new appointments that the Corrections Board approved, one resignation; two of our staff who have reached the point where they are eligible to pass their probationary period, and one prior appointment that the board had approved right up prior to her start date she decided to withdraw,” Larson says that at this time there are no job openings in the jail or juvenile center which is the first time in a long time. He says that they look forward to using time to get everyone fully trained. “We are really focusing our efforts on getting our new employees fully trained,” says Larson. “It’s one thing to have the positions filled, but if they are filled and not trained, it doesn’t do us that much good.”
Larson gave a brief update on a Request for Proposals for Pharmaceuticals for the Correction Center and Juvenile Center. This was informational only, just to let the board know where the process was at. Larson says he hopes to have a recommendation for the board at the next meeting regarding who to get medications from.
Next, Larson brought a resolution amending the 2025 Wage Grid for Non-Union Employees. “We had identified an error, a clerical error in the wage grid that the board had previously approved,” says Larson. “We just brought that in and had them make an amendment to that.”
The board approved Monday of the contract for Swank Motion Pictures, Inc., for February 1, 2025-January 31, 2026. “Anytime you are going to show a movie in a public setting to multiple people, there is copyright protection,” says Larson. “This allows us to show movies in our education program, for example, as an incentive, without violating copyright rules.”
The board unanimously approved the Law Enforcement Labor Services Collective Bargaining Agreement, which covers January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2027.
The board voted to reschedule the next meeting. It was set to take place on Monday, February 10, at 9:00 a.m. Due to a possible conflict for a member, the next board meeting will take place on Friday, February 14, at 9:00 a.m.
