by Rich Larson
Rice County began enforcing a mask mandate in all county buildings this week, and Rice County Attorney John Fossum said yesterday that he is unsure how that could affect the county court system.
Fossum said Rice County currently has a backlog of 351 cases that need to be resolved, as a result of the court shutdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, and last month the courts were forced to shut down again due to a lack of public defenders. The courts have only recently re-opened for in-person hearings. Fossum said the county still has the ability to hold certain hearings remotely, but there are a number of court functions that they have found work better when all the necessary people are together in a court room.
“I assume the courts will continue to have a lot of hearings via Zoom, but we’re still supposed to have contested hearings, evidentiary hearings, contested omnibus hearings and jury trials going forward, that have in-person testimony and in-person functions. So, I guess we’ll see how this all turns out.”
The backlog has caused enough concern among county authorities that action is being taken. Fossum said the initial plan is to bring a judge out of retirement temporarily, most likely Judge John Cajacob. The county would then plan to make further use of the recently constructed, Covid safe, Courtroom 5 in the Government building next door to the County Courthouse, most likely trying felony cases in that courtroom and misdemeanor cases in a standard courtroom.
Any plan would have to be approved by the Chief Judge of the Minnesota Third Judicial District, Joseph Bueltel, and by the Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea. The case backlog is not unique to Rice County, as all the courts in the state were shut down for the majority of the pandemic. Fossum said the judicial district is looking at adding resources, perhaps involving Magistrates for civil cases, or even bringing in judges from the Metro area to expedite the legal process.
The formal plan for dealing with the backlog will be announced on September 1st.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Rice County Attorney John Fossum can be heard here
City discusses new staffing possibilities
During the budget work session on Tuesday night, the directors of the city Public Works, Community Development, and the Communications departments, as well as the Chief of Police each made presentations on their departments’ needs for more staffing.
In total there were requests for seven new positions. Dave Bennett, the City Engineer and the Head of Public Works noted that his department has a great number of infrastructure projects on the books over the next five years, but only two civil engineers on staff, and there is need for another person to offset that workload. He said they are also starting to think about bringing on a city horticulturist and arborist. For many years, the city has been the recipient of the good work of Judy Code and the Northfield Garden Club, which has always been done voluntarily. However, that is not a sustainable situation long-term, and plans need to be made for a transition.
At the encouragement of the City Council, Community Development Director Mitzi Baker made the request for two new full-time positions to help with city planning and economic development. Michelle Mahowald Director of the Communications Department made a request to make two part-time positions, the Station Manager for Northfield Public Broadcasting and the City Translator into full-time positions. And Police Chief Mark Elliott said by adding one more full-time police officer, his department would be fully staffed for the first time in years.
City Administrator Ben Martig asked the council for some guidance by ranking each of the requests in order of perceived importance, because as much as the city would like to honor each request, there is a fundamental obstacle in the way.
“This is kind of the ‘All-In’ request of ideally where we would be. But the challenge is, ‘How much can we afford?’ to deal with that. But we did, at least, dig into understanding those positions and how they’re beneficial. We didn’t get to the how to pay for it side of things which we will get to in an upcoming meeting. So those are the pieces that are going to be coming up as it relates to the staffing and general operating.”
Determinations on new staffing will be made as the budget discussions continue deep into the fall.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with City Administrator Ben Martig can be heard here
Sheriff’s Department hopes for canine training field
And as plans for the new Rice County Jail and law Enforcement Center continue to develop, Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn said one of the things he would like to see in the final design is an outdoor training area for the county’s three canine officers.
Dunn said the police dogs are a very important tool in law enforcement for a number of reasons. Aside from being invaluable members of the drug task force, as they are trained to smell drugs hidden where a human officer would not normally find them, he said they can be very helpful in keeping the peace as well.
“When you need the help – say you have a fight out in the street in front of a bar and you roll up in squad cars and say ‘Okay, break it up,’ they don’t always listen. But if you get a dog out and the dog starts barking, people just disperse.”
They are also very helpful with clearing a building, he said. The idea of sending a dog into a house where an armed burglar is hiding is just more palatable than sending a person inside to find them.
A training field on site would not just be helpful to the Sheriff’s Department. Faribault has two canine officers, and other law enforcement agencies in the area have them as well. Sheriff Dunn said he would expect all members of the law enforcement community to take advantage of it.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Sheriff Troy Dunn can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
