When the Mower County Board of Commissioners’ building committee last met, it approved more than 80 changes resulting in a cost reduction for the proposed new Mower County jail and justice center project.

Craig Oscarson, county coordinator, shared that good news with the county commissioners at Tuesday morning’s meeting.

“That’s what they discovered after a meeting with the architects and construction manager a week ago,” Oscarson said.

Needless to say, that was good news.

The last official announcement from county officials about the cost estimate for the new jail and justice center was $32 million or $2 million more than the commissioners had originally set as the ceiling for the project.

Now, the commissioners are awaiting the outcome of a second meeting with the architects and construction manager and, hopefully, hearing more good news about what will be the largest single capital spending project in the county’s history.

That could come in two weeks time. However, first, the building committee has another jail and justice center-related issue to settle.

The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board informed Mower County by letter Aug. 21, the county must decide whether an environmental assessment worksheet is warranted on the so-called “Robbins block” property.

The city of Austin informed the EQB and Mower County it believes the city is not the authorizing agent to make that decision.

“Basically,” said county coordinator Oscarson, “I think you have three options: One, you can ignore it, which probably wouldn’t please the petitioners. Two, you can say ‘Let’s do it’ or three, you can refer it to the building committee for a recommendation.”

The petition cited the possible historical significance of the square block (First to Second streets Northeast and First to Second avenues Northeast) across from the Mower County government center and courthouse.

A three-story building has been home most recently to Robbins Furniture and Design Gallery, Thoroughbred Carpet and George’s Pizza.

However, in its history the block has also housed a hotel and popular piano bar, the Alcove, and teen club in the 1960s, the Tower.

Its three stories and 27,000-square feet make it the largest single retail building in the city.

With a $1.5-million grant from the city of Austin, Mower County announced plans to acquire the property, demolish the building and use the land for geothermal needs.

The county has acquired the Thoroughbred Carpet and George’s Pizza restaurant properties, but a stalemate in negotiations between the Robbins Furniture and Design Gallery and Mower County exists.

Anticipated deadlines for a property sale have come and gone and negotiations, both sides have said, remain “far apart.”

Although the property remains the county’s preferred choice for a geothermal site, it has also examined the Austin Daily Herald building and adjoining property and now has plans to drill a test well near the Austin Municipal Swimming Pool where an alternative site for geothermal heating/cooling may be located.

The proposed two-story, 128-bed jail and justice center will be located on two square blocks of land being acquired by the city of Austin and located between First and Second streets Northeast (across from the Austin Daily Herald and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1216 buildings) and Fourth and Second avenues Northeast (bordered by the Paramount Theatre to the north and the Robbins block to the south).

The county has 30 days to respond to the letter from the EQB.

“The clock is ticking,” observed Ray Tucker, 2nd District county commissioner.

Tucker and Dave Tollefson, 5th District county commissioner, are on the county board’s building committee.

Tollefson made the motion to refer the EQB request to the building committee and Tucker seconded it.

Before the vote was taken, David Hillier, 3rd District county commissioner, pointed out one of the items on the city’s letter of refusal to take on the EAW request was “Item No. 6: There’s no historical preservation described in the city’s own letter to the EQB as one of the reasons they gave for not wanting to do the EAW.”

Oscarson added, “We did our own checking into the historical significant of the block before we decided to seek to acquire it, and we were told there was no historical significance nor was there every any request or application to have it declared historical.

The vote to refer it to the building committee for a recommendation was unanimous.

The EAW is a perfunctory examination of a property and much less detailed than an environmental impact statement (EIS), which would take far longer than the 30 days allowed by the EQB for an EAW.

Meetings

A public meeting will be held 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, to unveil the latest design changes in the jail and justice center project and cost estimates.

Then, the commissioners are expected to approve proceeding with those plans at a Sept. 10 meeting.

A question-and-answer session will be allowed Sept. 4, but not Sept. 10, according to county officials.

KKE Architects, Inc., Minneapolis, who were retained by the county to design the new facilities and Knutson Construction Services, Rochester, the construction management firm retained by the county to oversee the jail and justice center project, will be present at the Sept. 4 meeting.