Latest news with #GrandForksCountyCommission
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Yahoo
No decisions or timeline made so far in the future of Grand Forks County Correctional Center administrator
Apr. 2—GRAND FORKS — The path moving forward hasn't been decided for the future of the position of the Grand Forks County Correctional administrator following Tuesday's County Commission meeting. "Because of the situation it puts me in I cannot speak to it right now," GFCCC Administrator Bret Burkholder said. "It is (Sheriff Andy Schneider's) prerogative as to what he wants to do and it has not been communicated to me as of yet." Schneider had not returned the Herald's request for comment before this report was published late Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday, April 1, the Grand Forks County Commission voted to recommend that the sheriff fire Burkholder after Schneider told commissioners that the jail received feedback from the state Attorney General's Office that it had not used a state grant disbursement correctly. During the meeting, Schneider said he became aware of the grant's disbursement issue as he began to consolidate the correctional center into his department. The grant in question was a "Back the Blue" initiative created by the Legislature in 2023 to aid the recruitment and retention of law enforcement and correctional officers. Both the sheriff and correction center — which at the time were separate departments — applied for and received funds from the grant. Both were required to submit reports at the end of 2024 to explain progress on the grant, which had to be spent by March 31 of this year. The state had not given feedback to how the grant could be used until recently. The correctional center was given feedback, but the sheriff's office was not, Schneider told commissioners. The sheriff's office gave the grant out as a monetary bonus to employees. However, the corrections center used the grant funds for employee incentives — like improvements to an employee break room — as its form of a hiring and retention bonus. According to Burkholder's update to the Attorney General's Office, the state agency administering the grant, his department thought a more creative approach to the grant would have served the correctional center better and invested the funds for long-term benefit. The state said that the correction center erred in this line of thinking. It happened at nearly the same time Schneider was taking over the department. Schneider told commissioners that when he took over, he changed course to give it as a flat bonus to correction center employees and used other county funds to cover the costs of items ordered. The law authorizing the funds for the grant does not directly define the exact form a recruitment and retention bonus should take. The eventual outcome of Burkholder's position is now between him and Schneider. According to a 2017 North Dakota Supreme Court decision, Schwartzenberger v. McKenzie County Board of County Commissioners, county commissions can't directly fire employees of the sheriff, which the Grand Forks County Commission had tried first before changing course. Only Schneider can directly fire Burkholder in this case. If a termination or resignation does occur, the commission would get a notice as part of its regular items of business.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Grand Forks pursuing planning commission changes to include military presence
Mar. 10—GRAND FORKS — Local government entities across Grand Forks are looking to add representation from Grand Forks Air Force Base on their planning and zoning commissions, a push spurred by proposed state legislation that focuses on land development near military installations. "The city of Grand Forks and the Grand Forks Air Force Base have a great relationship and we want to continue that," Grand Forks City Council President Dana Sande said. "In my opinion, it just makes more sense for the communities that are affected by these military influence zones (to add representation) instead of creating some commission or even a military influence zone." Both the city and the county of Grand Forks are looking to change their planning and zoning commissions. The proposed changes are still in the preliminary stages and any changes to these bodies are still several weeks away at the earliest. The proposed legislation that has spurred conversation, Senate Bill 2398, has laid out creating a state commission to study encroachment and impact zones around the state's military installations. The bill has been heavily amended since it was originally introduced, but its original version would have created a 25-mile area around the base. In many local interpretations of the proposal, it would have meant nearly every single land use decision in Grand Forks would have been subject to state review. The spirit of the bill originates in the Fufeng controversy, according to the bill's authors. The Fufeng company, which has ties to the Chinese government, was in negotiations with the city to build a wet corn mill plant on the north side of Grand Forks. The project raised national security concerns with its proximity to Grand Forks Air Force Base and the Air Force has said that it was not notified of the project until it went public. The Air Force also said it would have appreciated more notice. Avoiding another controversy like Fufeng, but also other mundane planning and zoning items, was also brought up by the Grand Forks County Commission when members discussed changing their planning and zoning commission at their March 4 meeting. "Even here at this board level, we had to go in and call a special meeting to set up more parameters for that radar tower," Commissioner Mark Rustad said during the meeting. "It's nice to have somebody in the room that has some sort of a sense of this ripple effect our decisions possibly have on the base." The radar tower in question was a special use permit that was approved by the County Commission last summer. The county had approved the meeting, but later had to amend the permit in a special meeting to ensure more communication between the various military entities in the area. With SB 2398 still being considered by the Legislature, some on Grand Forks Planning and Zoning felt like amending their composition needed more time to see how the state decides to move forward, especially given the limited information on whether the base is even interested in having representation on these commissions. "I think we're putting the cart in front of the horse a little bit," Grand Forks Planning Commissioner Steven Wasvick said on March 5. "We don't know a lot of information and all of a sudden it ends up on a bill and ends up on the radio and everywhere else." Adding a military member would also likely ensure that the air base is receiving the many land development proposals and changes that the planning and zoning commissions use. While the meetings are publicly noticed, being a member would ensure direct staff contact rather than having to learn about the material through other means. As of now, the local proposals are still in their infancy. Grand Forks Planning and Zoning gave preliminary approval to an ordinance change on March 5, with the intent to keep the conversation going; the change would still take several weeks and the soonest a change would occur is likely mid-April. The county's proposed change is also still at the beginning, with county staff having been directed by the County Commission to begin drafting a proposal for the base.
