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One step closer

County board drafts jail proposal language

HOUGHTON - During a special meeting on Wednesday, the Houghton County Board of Commissioners took up the discussion of a precise millage request for the construction of a new county jail. The millage, based on a 30-year bond, was set at 1.27 mills, or $1.27 per $1,000 of taxable value. The millage amount was determined from rough order of magnitude (ROM) documents submitted to the Houghton County Jail Committee from three regional contractors. The contractors were from Bradway Enterprise, Granger, and Miron Construction.

During the meeting, Faith Morrison, jail committee co-chair, was asked to provide an overview of the minutes from committee's July 30 meeting, at which members reviewed ROMs from three local and regional contractors. The three ROMs were similar, ranging from $25 million to $28 million.

"To make the three ROMs comparable, there was a discussion at the meeting and we did have to make an adjustment to one of the recommendations and add engineering work that was not originally in the Bradway proposal," Morrison said. "But after those adjustments, all three of the ROMs came in the range between $25 million and $28 million."

Commissioner Roy Britz made the motion to approve the resolution of the bond proposal at the Nov, 3 general election. The motion was supported by Commissioner Gretchen Janssen and passed unanimously.

The next agenda item was to discuss the ballot language for the millage proposal. Morrison told the board the committee had drafted a recommendation for the board on a resolution regarding the ballot proposal language. The resolution draft was included in the meeting packets provided to the commissioners. Board Chair Tom Tikkanen said the resolution was prepared in collaboration with the county administrator, the bond attorney, along with input from the jail committee.

"This resolution, if adopted, would place the measure on the November ballot," Tikkanen said, "and if adopted, it will be also be reviewed when the clerk's office has it prepared for submission."

At the recent committee meeting, Tikkanen said it is important that the voters understand what they are voting for or against, based on the specific wording of the proposal, saying the millage will be dedicated strictly to construction of the jail and the sheriff’s office, including site development.

Morrison agreed that the County needs to make a clear promise to the voters. She referred to the August, 2025 millage and proposal language.

"In those documents," she said, "the county's advisors used broad language, presumably to allow the County wiggle room in what they could do with the funds."

Morrison suggested the board to use tighter language to make the ballot language more of a contract with the voters. For instance, there is no plan to acquire property; there is no plan to renovate any county buildings, and no buildings are slated for demolition, she said.

"Many voters will be closely considering the millage for the first time when they see their ballot," said Morrison. "The ballot should speak clearly to them."

Tikkanen said it must be made clear to the public, also, that the current jail will be re-purposed for storage of various county department records. Currently, he said, the county pays more than $11,000 annually in record storage fees. Eliminating that expense would be a significant benefit to the county.