New Jail Mental Health
As public health and law enforcement agencies continue to struggle to deal with the 
rising tide of mental health issues plaguing our society, they are also looking at ways to address each case as best as they possibly can.
Ground was broken last year on a new Rice County Safety Center. While the new building will not have specific mental health or detox facilities, they are working to incorporate features within the design that will help de-escalate some situations. “We’ll not have a true mental health facility – there are four cells off of our intake that are softer so the colors are different, the flooring’s different, there’s natural light so that way it addresses some mental health needs but it’s not a fulltime fix” says Rice County Sheriff Thomas.
Officials in Rice County are hopeful that a private company may fill the void in mental healthcare that has been left to mainly law enforcement agencies. “I think they’re starting to understand that over the years everything has kind of got pushed on law enforcement, right? So when the State shut down their facilities, where does everybody go? They put them in jail so then we take them up to the hospital, the hospital says they shouldn’t be here, the best place for them is in jail which, that’s their opinion, not mine because they shouldn’t be in a jail if they have alot of mental health issues.”
Corporate officials have contacted and are working with the County on possibly building a facility that may house Mental Health and Detox services, though nothing is definite yet and, if built, would still be at least three years away from taking clients. As has been the case for healthcare services for a number of years now, staffing the facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, would be the biggest challenge.
City Council Preview
The Northfield City Council has their first meeting of February this evening in council chambers. Among the highlights will be the annual presentation of the Main Street Program by Revee Needham, assistant city planner. On the regular agenda, council will Consider Resolution in support of the “Driver’s License for All” campaign, consider some changes to Northfield’s Land Development code, and consider resolutions concerning transportation in Rice and Dakota counties. The meeting gets underway at 6:00 in council chambers.
Road Construction 2023
With temperatures below zero and plenty of snow still on the ground, many of us haven’t given a thought to the 2023 construction season. Not Rice County’s Highway Department. Planning and preparing for road projects takes months – often years – of work. Tree removal for the planned six-legged roundabout at the Interstate 35-Hwy. 19 interchange set for later this year has already taken place. Removing the trees now, says County Engineer Dennis Luebbe, protects a threatened species of indigenous bats. The northern long-eared bat, which is set to be classified as endangered on March 31, nest in trees, particularly rotted tree limbs and open spaces on trees. Their nesting season begins in April, necessitating the early removal. That’s just one project in the county’s long-range plan. Later this month, Luebbe will ask the Board of Commissioners to approve an updated 10-year Transportation Improvement Plan, a document that’s slightly different than the one he presented last month. Project staging for the roundabout is not yet finalized, but it’s expected to include a temporary road under the I-35 overpass and a realignment of a segment of County Road 59/Anoka Avenue. While Hwy. 19 traffic will be maintained throughout construction, County Roads 46 and 59, and the northbound I-35 ramp will be closed at times.
