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Commission approves updated inmate-housing agreements with Nelson and Cavalier counties
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Summary
The sheriff told commissioners the Nelson and Cavalier housing agreements were updated (removal of certain indemnification and open-records language) with no change to financial terms; the board approved both contracts and authorized the chair's signature.
Grand Forks County commissioners on March 17 unanimously approved updated inmate-housing agreements with Nelson County and Cavalier County, the county sheriff told the board.
The sheriff said the Nelson County update removed a paragraph on indemnification and that the changes "were just some legal jargon" requested by Nelson County; he told commissioners the update did not change the financial terms in the contract. "So the base rate is $1.00 $7.69 per day per bed, and that does have a 2.5% annual increase on it," the sheriff said (transcript phrasing appears garbled on the numeric amount).
On the Cavalier County draft, the sheriff said the biggest change removed language referencing open-records requests and that the draft included minor formatting edits. He recommended the chair sign the agreements; commissioners voted to approve both contracts and authorized the chair to sign.
Why it matters: updated inter-county housing agreements set the legal and financial terms for counties that periodically place inmates at the Grand Forks County Correctional Center. Commissioners asked about indemnification language and the sheriff explained counties generally do not indemnify one another and that contracts were revised to reflect mutual risk and shared insurance coverage.
What’s next: staff will finalize the signed agreements. The sheriff told the board he may revisit contract terms later in the year if county charging practices change.
