County court will try to unclog case backlog

A directive has come from Minnesota Supreme court chief justice Lorie S. Gildea to the Sixth Judicial District, which includes Carlton County, that all backlogged cases due to the Covid-19 pandemic are to have judicial action before the end of this year.

Upon the recommendation of county attorney Laurie Ketola, the Carlton County board of commissioners unanimously approved hiring a provisional attorney during Monday's regular meeting, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act money coming from the federal government. The attorney will be hired for no more than two years.

The state judicial system has said it will provide $500,000 to help expedite the hearing process and additional staff needed.

Assistant county attorney Jeff Boucher said that in 2020, some 268 court files were active. Even with 20 percent of cases handled via Zoom, the active cases have increased to 460 with 36 jury trials needed by the end of the year.

Commissioner Dick Brenner voiced his doubts that all that legal work could be done by the end of the year without having a third judge at the courthouse. Boucher said the county attorney's office had been assured that judges would be pulled from other parts of the district to handle some of the cases.

"The department efficiencies that have been accomplished this last year or two will not cover the backlog," Boucher said. "Our office attorneys worked an extra 300 hours this summer, without pay, to handle the workload. It is inevitable that there will be changes with two new judges and some new public defenders. During trials, 20 percent of the county attorney's office is tied up with preparation and court appearances. We are committed to a fair, comprehensive judicial process for each case, but it does take staff time."

Courtroom space is also an issue at the courthouse. Brenner suggested that there would be some space available in the Health and Human Services building in Cloquet for proceedings if the district would allow. Additional staff and security would be needed.

DEED to leave office

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development has had an office in the Health and Human Services building in Cloquet for many years but now has given notice that it will be closing in June and the employees will work from home. The move will leave that end of the building with only 60 percent of its usable space filled.

"We have known for some time that this might happen. We have no power in what decision is made and we are definitely not happy," said board chairman Tom Proulx.

Garage to stay open

County highway engineer

JinYeene Neumann requested that the agenda item to vote on closing the Kettle River garage be dropped. The garage will continue to house a grader and a highway department pickup.

Commissioner Gary Peterson said the Kettle River garage will remain open indefinitely. Many residents from the area voiced concerns about losing the garage, including those at a special hearing earlier this month.

Masks considered

County coordinator Dennis Genereau asked the commissioners to consider requiring mask wearing in county buildings. He said some departments have requested mask mandates because of the increase in the rates of Covid in the county. Some staff said they had concerns about working with small children who have not been vaccinated yet.

After both the zoning and assessor department administrators asked for no mask mandate and the county recorder asked for masks in county buildings, commissioner Marv Bodie said the board should consider a mask mandate in county buildings at a meeting Monday, Oct. 18, after the 2 p.m. jail study meeting at the Cloquet Government Center.

Genereau said that would give him time to get policy guidelines together for some type of mask mandate and time to inform the public. The proposal will likely follow the lead of St. Louis County, which has implemented mask wearing in its government buildings.