Dissatisfied with the slow process, Becker County is taking steps to terminate the contract with jail consultant Allen Brinkman of St. Cloud.
The county hired Brinkman in July to study the different jail options for Becker County since the jail had some compliance concerns and is over capacity. He was hired to look at different site options, staffing and 15 other points outlined in the contract.
The county is paying Brinkman $1,550 a month, after an initial $3,000 down payment, for services they aren’t seeing. Per the contract, the county must give a 60-day notice of termination, so the board voted to start the process at the meeting.
Besides the project not moving very quickly, in September, the commissioners were not happy when Brinkman told them that he had just learned that Tri-County Community Corrections (Polk, Norman and Red Lake counties) Jail, located in Crookston, was interested in housing Becker County inmates. Until then, Becker County had been looking into a partnership with Hubbard County and the Tri-County Corrections option was a last minute option.
County Administrator Jack Ingstad said Tuesday that if there is some action in January, the county can always stop the termination process and keep Brinkman on.
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“This is not moving forward at the speed we had thought,” he said as the formal reason for termination.
Follow Pippi Mayfield on Twitter at @PippiMayfield .
