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County administrator reports jail laundry fire, juvenile placement costs and road and fairground projects
Summary
The county administrator updated supervisors on several operational matters: a dryer fire in the jail laundry (insurance claim pending), ongoing child placement costs expected to increase county expenses, County Road B construction timeline, the DD Kennedy Bridal contract awarded to Larson Construction, and upcoming fairground bid work.
The county administrator briefed the General Government Committee on a series of administrative and operational items affecting county operations and budgets.
The administrator said a fire occurred in the jail laundry room on April 3; the dryer burned through the roof and repairs and replacement equipment were being processed through insurance. The county did not have final repair costs at the time of the meeting.
On juvenile placement, the administrator said the county received a youth placement that will cost the county $1,268 per day until June, and that the per‑day cost could rise to $2,305 thereafter; if the child remains in placement for the rest of the year, the administrator estimated a potential county exposure of approximately $538,000 and, when age‑out costs are included, a potential total near $1.6 million (staff said attempts to recover fractions from the state will be pursued but are limited).
Projects updates included awarding the DD Kennedy Bridal project to Larson Construction after a multi‑year planning and DNR review process; supervisors were advised that the project came in over long‑range budget projections and would be monitored. The fairground grandstand modifications received revised input from the fair society and will be bid shortly. County Road B work (Atlas to 35) was expected to begin mid‑April.
The administrator also flagged that federal grant cuts affected some health projects (an $8,000 RISE grant for child immunization was cut and other COVID immunization funds became unavailable for charging), and said staff are monitoring market and federal developments that could affect next year’s budget.
