Officials from Freeborn and Mower Counties, joined by representatives from the State Department of Corrections, will gather in Austin Wednesday, Nov.

Friday, November 23, 2001

Officials from Freeborn and Mower Counties, joined by representatives from the State Department of Corrections, will gather in Austin Wednesday, Nov. 28 to discuss the joint judicial facility.

The meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. at Hormel Nature Center Ruby Rupner Auditorium, aims to clarify the feasibility of an inter-county jail, courthouse and possible law enforcement complex. Commissioners, administrators, judges, and law enforcement officials from both counties will exchange their opinions and consult the state’s perspective.

The joint facility concept derives from the pressing needs to expand jail capacity in the both counties with less cost. But the idea involves a number of jurisdictional and logistical problems.

The course of discussion with Mower County will also have a significant impact on the ongoing new courthouse scheme in Freeborn County.

The County made 10 different blueprints in 1997 to rebuild the courthouse on the current site by partially demolishing existing structures.

The jail shortage became acute afterwards, then off-site judicial center plan suddenly came up though no possible site is ever specified.

The county’s purchase of the Western Grocery Building in June 2000 further complicated the argument.

While the County Board approved to explore the off-site judicial facility, some citizens became vocal about preserving the Western Grocery Building. The advocates conducted a study recommending the County to use the building as its office space.

The County, in case the off-site judicial facility would be realized, suggested once the current jail space would be left as-is for possible future use as a juvenile detention facility. However, the survey by the Department of Human Services concluded that to have such juvenile institution would be economically infeasible.

The County Administrator Ron Gabrielsen said that he would present every alternative in front of the Commissioners by the end of year, then he would expect to see a concrete decision about the courthouse issue early next year.