Beltrami Co. Residents Voice Concerns About Proposed Site for New Jail

Some Beltrami County residents are voicing concerns about the county’s choice of a location for a new jail.

Last week, the Beltrami County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a $540,000 land purchase for what is called the Wiebolt Property. It’s a 16.9 acre property located off of Jefferson Ave. at the west corner of where that road crosses Highway 71.

The county settled on the site after evaluating 15 possible properties and rating them based on 12 different site selection criteria. The Wiebolt Property was the second-highest rated property based on their ratings, and the top-rated selection was not for sale.

But at Tuesday’s Beltrami County Board meeting, citizens packed the room to voice concerns about moving forward with that location for the new jail. Many were opposed to the jail being in a residential area, with some saying the site would be near their homes.

“This is a residential area that by accident has commercial properties. It should remain a residential area,” said Christian Breczinski. “To invite this level of a facility and the traffic that that would incur in our neighborhoods, that puts my two children, who have no sidewalk – there’s no sidewalk there, there’s no bike trail in there for them to ride on – it puts them at risk every time they would cross the road.”

At the meeting, Bemidji City Councilor Emelie Rivera criticized the board for what she saw as secrecy and a lack of public input surrounding the decision-making process in picking a new jail location.

“I’m not exactly sure how we can be involved and how we can be knowledgeable. If I hadn’t gotten the materials from [Beltrami County] Commissioner [Joe] Gould, I wouldn’t have had access to them,” said Rivera. “There isn’t even a meeting date listed on your county website, so I would wholeheartedly disagree that there was plentiful public engagement.”

One person stated that their opposition was in part due to the impacts of local policing on area residents.

“I have a huge concern in regards to the policing that happens in this city and in this county, and how drastically it affects marginalized communities … at a much higher rate, and that’s exactly who you’re going to put in this jail when you build it, Black and brown and Indigenous and queer people, and poor people,” said Christian Taylor-Johnson.

Board members did not respond after the comments were made at yesterday’s meeting, which is standard. They generally do not respond following the open comment period at meetings.

Next week, our Mary Balstad will take a deeper look at plans for the new jail location.