Law-enforcement agencies seek state land and funding for shared Minot facility; cost estimates rise

A hearing on House Bill 1487 heard testimony that the state could transfer about 1.25 acres of North Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT) land on Minot’s east side and that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would own and manage a new building to be leased to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and the Highway Patrol.

The bill, presented to the Appropriations – Government Operations Division by Patrick Leonard, Supervisor and Special Agent with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, would authorize DOT to transfer the parcel and appropriate funds to construct a combined office and vehicle/shop facility. “The bill is very, short. It’s 2 paragraphs,” Leonard told the committee as he summarized the transfer and appropriation elements and why the agencies are pursuing a new site.

Leonard said the parcel contains a small weigh station structure but is otherwise open ground and that agencies working with OMB, DOT, Highway Patrol and the Attorney General’s office agreed DOT would donate the land if the Legislature appropriates construction funds. He said the current Job Service building that now houses the Minot field office is slated for sale and that the BCI’s Minot field office—currently 15 people in the joint workspace—cannot easily relocate on short notice because evidence rooms, a computer lab and secure storage are in the present location.

Why it matters: committee members and agency witnesses emphasized that state law enforcement needs secure evidence storage, lab and…