County answers questions at meetings about bond

By Anna Jauhola
Kittson County’s administration and commissioners held two of their six meetings last week to explain the bonding request on November’s ballot.
Fifteen people attended the meeting in Hallock on Monday, Sept. 16 and 21 people attended the meeting in Lancaster on Thursday, Sept. 19.
Since 2023, the commissioners have been discussing how best to fund a complete HVAC overhaul of the courthouse in Hallock, as the piping is original to the building. Upon closer inspection, the pipes are deteriorated beyond repair and must be replaced. The current two-pipe system doesn’t allow for heat and air conditioning separately, and the standard is to have a four-pipe system, which is proposed. The other part of the project includes building upgrades at the Hallock shop and a new building at Northcote for the highway department.
In February, citizens concerned with the cost – up to $8 million – submitted a petition after the county held the public hearing required when a government is asking to bond for a project. This petition is now a part of the November election, which is just over a month away.
“We want to make sure this process is transparent,” said Aimee Sugden, county administrator on Monday evening.
The bond question on the ballot will read as follows: “Shall Kittson County be authorized to issue general obligation capital improvement bonds in an amount not to exceed $8,000,000 to provide funds for the improvement and betterment of the Kittson County Courthouse and the construction, improvement, and equipping of highway department facilities in the County? BY VOTING ‘YES’ ON THIS BALLOT QUESTION, YOU ARE VOTING FOR A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE.”
The commission emphasized at both meetings, should the voters approve this question, the county can bond up to $8 million. However, should bids come in less than that, they will only bond for the cost of the project.
The bond would be paid off over 15 years at 3.5% interest rate. And currently, Kittson County does not have any debt. There hasn’t been an active bond since 2011.
At each meeting, Sugden explained how a county is funded, where the money is used and what bonding dollars will pay for. The county has contracted Johnson Controls to work on the courthouse and highway department projects.
Overall, the courthouse HVAC project is estimated to cost $5.4 million. Work on the highway shop at Hallock, retrofitting a building at Northcote, building a new shop at Northcote and fixing the Kennedy shop is over $700,000.
Members of the public asked why the county waited so long to replace the HVAC system within the courthouse. Sugden said in 2012, the pipes and other components were retrofitted to operate better. Other than that, there had been no plans to upgrade the aging system.
“Where were the boards to allow it to get into such disrepair?” asked Tim Gustafson at the Hallock meeting. He noted as a business owner, he did annual walk-throughs of his building and worked on a five-year maintenance plan. The board said they can’t speak for previous boards, and can only say the current board has realized the severity and immediate need of this project.
Joel Muir asked if the commission thought of breaking the project out into smaller projects and put certain portions back into the general budget. The commissioners and Sugden said the HVAC system at the courthouse would be more expensive to break out into sections because the walls and ceilings have to be opened for work. To open and close the walls and ceilings over and over would eventually cost more.
Several people at the Hallock meeting asked why the county only received bids through Johnson Controls. Rodney Bakken suggested the county at least visit with Kraus-Anderson, the company that built the additions at Kittson Central School. That company, Bakken said, handled the same type of construction and projects that Johnson Controls handles.
Others asked the commissioners to at least ask Johnson Controls to justify the numbers they submitted for each leg of the projects, as many of them seemed astronomical. For example, the bid to replace the windows on the courthouse, which are original to the building, was $1.8 million.
At the Lancaster meeting on Thursday, Sugden said they met with Johnson Controls after the Hallock meeting and pressed them about the cost of courthouse windows. There are 121 windows on the building.
“The pricing we had was incorrect. What was listed at $1.8 million on Monday, is actually $1.3 million,” Sugden said. “Also we were very clear with them that this was out of line and raised red flags with us and the board. They clarified there were some other overages put into this project and we’ve asked for some more clarification on numbers.”
Derry Jones asked whether they could separate the highway department projects from the bond. Assistant County Engineer Keith Klegstad pointed out the cost would then just be put in the general levy. CFO Shirley Swenson said they felt bonding the funds and spreading payments out over 15 years would help relieve the immediate tax burden.
If the county added $784,000 to the general levy this year to do the highway department projects, that would increase the levy by nearly 20%.
The commission and county administration took several questions during both meetings to which they didn’t have immediate answers. They will work to have those answers at the subsequent meetings. Each meeting is held at 6 p.m.
The next public meeting regarding the bond question is set for Monday, Sept. 30 at the Lake Bronson Community Center.
After that, on Thursday, Oct. 3, the group will hold a meeting at the Karlstad Community Center.
They will also hold meetings on Thursday, Oct. 17 in the Kennedy VFW Middle Room and on Tuesday, Oct. 22 in the Humboldt United Methodist Church.