Hillsboro Banner

By NEIL O. NELSON

Individuals interested in the future of Traill County are being offered an up close and personal look at plans for the proposed $7 million addition to the courthouse in Hillsboro.

The Power Point presentation that tells all, including what it will cost taxpayers, was first presented to residents of Hillsboro last night in the community room at the courthouse. 

The county takes its show on the road to Mayville and Portland next week.

The clock, however, is ticking.

Informational meetings are planned across the county up to the April 8 special election, when voters will be asked to approve the bond issue that will pay for a new law enforcement center and county office building.

County commissioners expect to find a sympathetic crowd at the public meetings. How receptive the audience will be remains to be seen.

How receptive Traill taxpayers will be to eventually paying for the $7 million project will be determined in 32 days.

A 60 percent majority will be needed in the April 8 special election for the bond issue to pass.

A groundswell of support or one of opposition to the project has yet to surface anywhere in the county.

Meanwhile, a fact-finding committee researching the need for more space two years ago recommended building new. Options explored included remodeling the present structure that houses the jail and Social Services, in addition to purchasing and remodeling the former Farm Service Agency (ASCS) building a block south of the courthouse. Hillsboro’s Union Block, currently being renovated, was also looked at but dismissed by the committee.

A building committee later endorsed the $7 million building plan designed by the ICON Architectural Group of Grand Forks.

The building committee, which numbered more than 10 early in the process, has dwindled down to six members: county commissioners Steve Larson and Ron Peterson; sheriff Mike Crocker and Social Services director Kim Jacobson; Karen Naastad, Hatton, and Bobbi Hepper Olson, Buxton and Grand Forks.

Committee members outside county government and initially on board with the building project left their appointed positions when the process entered its third year.

Disillusioned committee members questioned if the project would ever be finalized.

Jacobson and Crocker are coordinating the public informational meetings. Included in their presentation will be the costs to the taxpaying property owner in Traill County.

Projections at this point indicate the owner of farmland can expect to pay $97.60 a quarter in new taxes.

The owner of a $150,000 home in the county will pay $141.75 more each year in taxes for 20 years.

Despite the increased mills and accompanying tax bill, commissioners meeting Tuesday in Hillsboro were hopeful residents will recognize the urgent need for more space at the courthouse. They’re also hoping people will understand how the timing is critical.

“Now is the best time to build,” commissioner Larson stressed.

The industry, he has been told, is looking for work.

A new addition will not be cheaper to build five or 10 years from now, Larson added.

Interest rates and construction costs will most certainly increase, in Larson’s estimation.

“We’ll be looking at a building that will cost $8.5 million in a couple of years.”

The Mayville commissioner answers inquiries that a Plan B will be the same blueprints the county is offering today, only with a higher price tag.

“The square footage (29,600) is what we need.”

Our job, he told fellow commissioners Tuesday, “is to get the facts out.”

The facts, he is certain, will speak for themselves.

In other business Tuesday, sheriff Crocker reported on the flooding forecasts this spring for the Goose and Red River.

There’s a 10 percent chance the two rivers will reach flood stage, according to the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Grand Forks.

The spring flood outlook is not threatening, said Crocker. Of course, he added, that could change if there were a heavy snow or rain event in the months ahead.

Lastly, the commissioners are continuing to interview individuals interested in the opening at the highway department. The county has not filled the vacancy created by the resignation of superintendent Scott Stammen, who left Traill for Mountrail County on the north shore of Lake Sakakawea.