The knowns and unknowns of the Grand Forks Sheriff's Office future home

Apr. 6—GRAND FORKS — A committee meant to help decide the future home of the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office met for the first time Friday, April 5.

Chaired by Grand Forks County Commissioner Bob Rost, the committee is looking to find a new home for the sheriff's office

when it moves out of its current home

in the Grand Forks Police Department's Fifth Street headquarters as soon as 2026.

The committee's recommendations will go before the full County Commission for a final vote at an unspecified time in the future.

The county still has a long way to go before it begins putting out requests for bids for construction or renovation of a new space. Here are five things that are known right now, and five things that aren't.

The options the county has considered so far are expected to cost between $3 million and $20.2 million.

The four options County Administrator Tom Ford

offered commissioners Tuesday

are still on the table.

The county can spend around $3 million to renovate space in the county office building that's soon to be vacated by Grand Forks Public Health; $10 million to renovate the old county jail attached to the Grand Forks County Courthouse; $13.5 million for a new sheriff's office at an unspecified location; or $20.2 million on a shared space for the sheriff's office and the Grand Forks County State's Attorney.

The new building costs, however, do not factor in the cost of acquiring new land, or demolishing an existing space like the old county jail to make room for a new building.

Renovating the county office building for the sheriff would likely also incur additional costs from relocating the building's other occupants.

The county can finance up to $16.9 million in capital improvements costs without a referendum.

County Auditor Debbie Nelson said the county can raise those funds with the remaining 1.73 mill levy allowed for capital construction that's left over after payments on bonds for

the county's current capital projects.

The new estimate is

considerably higher than the $3 million Nelson originally predicted

the county could raise with its remaining levy.

"That's actually some good news," Building and Grounds Manager Bill Gerszewski noted.

Nelson said the county could make interest-only payments on new bonds for the sheriff's office until the county's existing bonds are paid off in 2036. Under a more traditional payment plan, the county can finance close to $9 million with its remaining levy.

Nelson emphasized that this estimate was also tentative and could change with interest rates.

The county (probably) has a fairly generous timeline on this.

The city has indicated it wants to begin renovations on the second floor of the Fifth Street Headquarters by sometime in 2026.

City Administrator Todd Feland has floated the possibility of charging the county rent if the sheriff's office continues to occupy that space past 2036, but that's only if the county isn't progressing on a long-term plan to move out.

"Realistically, as long as we're doing something to figure things out, the city will not push us out," Rost said.

The County Commission is, however, expecting to receive an update from the committee on April 16, and Sheriff Andy Schneider wants the committee to set firm deadlines on when it brings a final recommendation before the commission.

The sheriff(s) will play a big role in any recommendation that goes before the County Commission.

Committee members have indicated they'll largely defer to Sheriff Andy Schneider or Rost, who retired from the sheriff's role in 2018.

That doesn't necessarily mean the two of them will always be in lockstep. Rost, for instance, wants to see the sheriff's office stay close to the county courthouse, while Schneider has indicated an interest in moving the sheriff's office into larger space outside downtown.

This is going to come down to money.

"It comes down to what the commission and the county can afford," Ford said at the meeting's outset.

On the other hand, the committee is looking for a lasting solution for the sheriff's office, and much of the committee's debate will come down to balancing those two options.

"We are in a corner, and the human tendency is to react with a knee jerk," Ford said. "But we don't want a knee jerk, we want to figure out now and 15-20 years from now."

State officials could nix the county office building as a sheriff's office location.

The county office building is home to both the Human Service Zone and the Northeast Human Service Center, which offer social and behavioral health services, respectively, to area residents.

Some of those clients, committee members acknowledged, have likely had bad experiences with law enforcement. Some may have criminal backgrounds, or outstanding warrants.

Renovating the county office building appears to be the unanimous unfavorite among committee members for the sheriff's office, but it's also the cheapest option right now.

However, protests from those state-run agencies or threats to pull out of the county office building and cost the county rental income could change that calculus.

Commissioner Mark Rustad is particularly opposed to the county office building as an option for this reason.

"We could get a million-and-a-half down the road on this project before (Gov. Doug) Burgum calls and says 'you're stopping this,'" Rustad said.

The County State's Attorney may need a new home as well.

The Grand Forks County State's Attorney is facing space problems of its own: its employees are currently squeezed into a corner of the second floor of the already space-limited county courthouse.

The Legislature's allocation of an additional judge to the Northeast Central Judicial District, headquartered at the courthouse, has made space tighter, and the district could get yet another judge in the near future as the county grows.

State's Attorney Haley Wamstad has indicated she wants her office to stay in or near the courthouse, which complicates integrating it into the sheriff's office plan — especially if Schneider wants to move elsewhere.

There could be space options outside the four outlined on Tuesday.

Several committee members said they'd been reached out to about purchasing existing real estate, including open space in the Columbia Mall and the current site of a car dealership.

Ford and Schneider have also previously heard proposals for a public-private partnership between the county and property owners where the county would lease or rent-to-own space for the sheriff's office.

Schneider in particular is a fan of this option, because he reasons the county could lease the extra space to other law enforcement agencies like the Highway Patrol or the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and make money back.

But more space means more spending upfront and possibly higher upkeep costs.

The county could raise more funds from a sales tax or property tax referendum.

That's the several-million-dollar question. The county was banking on a half-cent sales tax (as in a 0.5% tax on purchases) referendum to help fund construction on the correctional center and juvenile detention facility, but it failed by a handful of votes in 2022.

Some committee members think a similar measure could pass in November with better messaging focused on its role for the sheriff.

"We need to be very specific about what it's for," Ford said. "This is a very pro-law enforcement, pro-military community."

Schneider floated a third-cent or quarter-cent sales tax as a compromise measure.

Rustad remains skeptical of any referendum's success, despite the successful referendum to continue a city sales tax to fund a new recreation center last year.

"That was a shiny toy," Rustad said. "This comes off as 'we need your help to pay our bills.'"

The committee doesn't yet know what kind of space the sheriff's office will need.

The most recent assessment said the sheriff's office required 13,000 to 15,000 square feet of space, but that assessment is five years old.

A needs assessment for all the county's departments, including the sheriff and state's attorney, is expected from JLG Architects in early May, and Ford and Schneider say that will give committee members a better idea of what locations are viable and which aren't for the sheriff's office.