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Grand Forks County commissioners enter executive session to discuss state lease offer for corrections facility
Summary
Commissioners voted unanimously to move into an executive session to discuss a North Dakota Department of Corrections proposal to lease an expansion of the county facility; a commissioner raised concerns that a long-term state contract could reduce local bed capacity and force inmate transports.
At a Grand Forks County Commission meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to enter an executive session to discuss a state offer to lease an expansion of the county’s facility to the North Dakota Department of Corrections and related contract negotiation strategy.
The session was called after a public participant raised concerns about the proposal’s potential effect on the county’s ability to house its own inmates. “We will find ourselves in a bind, going down the road here where we’re not gonna be able to take our own prisoners and we will ultimately be transporting them to another facility,” Mister Ross said. He said the state was seeking “an 8 year contract at, what, $2,628,000 a year.”
The request to move into executive session was made under what the meeting cited as “North Dakota 24 44 dash 4 dash 19.19 for contract negotiation strategy and instructions.” A roll-call vote was held; Cindy recorded “Aye,” other commissioners also responded in the affirmative, and the chair announced the motion carried unanimously. Commissioners then asked members of the public attending the meeting to leave the room before the closed discussion.
The meeting record shows logistical difficulty for at least one remote participant: a commissioner identified as Sydney had trouble joining by Zoom and was patched in by phone as staff and other attendees worked to reconnect her. The transcript does not record any formal decision, directive or contract award in open session; the record ends with the commission entering the executive session.
Background details provided in the meeting record are limited to the concerns voiced by Mister Ross about county bed capacity and the quoted contract term and annual amount. The transcript does not specify the full terms of the state’s lease offer, which county office requested the lease, or any timetable for a public vote on a contract. No ordinance, resolution, or contract award was recorded in open session during the excerpted transcript.
