Freeborn County Sheriff Mark Harig is negotiating a proposal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials that could potentially bring 80 federal inmates at any given time to the Freeborn County Jail.

During a special Freeborn County Board of Commissioners meeting Friday, commissioners approved an inter-governmental service agreement with ICE’s Office of Detention and Removal contingent on an approved contract at the federal government level.

Harig said he has been working on the proposal with ICE officials for probably five or six months. Trying to get a federal contract would help better utilize the jail’s full potential.

The newly-remodeled Freeborn County Jail opened in 2004, and it is currently licensed for 122 inmates.

Though county officials have tried to house inmates from neighboring counties to better utilize that capacity, the full potential has never actually been reached.

Under the proposal, beds would be rented at about $77 each, with potential revenue equaling $2.225 million for the county if 80 beds were rented during the course of one year. If there were 50 beds rented for one year, the potential revenue would be $1.406 million.

Harig said as far as he knows, this proposal is the only one coming right now for a city in Minnesota. It would be the first federal inmate proposal in Minnesota in five years, he said.

With the approval of the agreement by the commissioners on Friday, Harig is authorized to sign the proposal, and then it will be sent back to Washington, D.C., to be reviewed by federal legal teams. Harig said he expects a definite answer about the proposal in about a week.

If the proposal goes through, 30 to 50 inmates would be brought in initially, with the goal of reaching 80 inmates by June, he said.

Though the number of inmates will fluctuate — as it will be a constant book-in, book-out process — ICE wants the ability to bring in 80 inmates, he said. It would accommodate for both southern Minnesota and northern Iowa inmates.

“I do believe this would be a good project for us,” Harig said. “It’s something the feds look at as a long-term solution to a problem.”

To accommodate the additional inmates, the commissioners approved additional staff positions including:

Security staff: Nine new positions hired effective immediately.

Transportation officers: Four new positions hired after May 15.

Programming staff: Two new positions hired after May 15.

Clerical staff: One new position hired effective immediately.

Maintenance staff: One new position hired after May 15.

Current team leader positions will also be reclassified to sergeants, and the current assistant administrator will be reclassified to administrator, both effective immediately. The positions are all contingent on a signed contract.

If the agreement does not come to pass or it is terminated, all positions created for it will be terminated and position reclassifications would be reviewed.

Commissioner Dan Belshan questioned how much it is expected to cost for the additional staff so that he could compare revenue versus expenses.

Freeborn County Administrator John Kluever said the project cost for personnel for the county would be $618,000 a year, not including transport drivers, who are reimbursed by the federal government.

The overall cost is estimated at $750,000, Kluever said. This would include costs for things such as transporting vans, additional mattresses and uniforms.

Harig said the proposal states at any time the county could go back to ICE with an amendment if needed.

“I think this is probably going to be a good deal,” Commissioner Jim Nelson said. “As we all know, Mower County is moving ahead with their jail, so we’re going to lose some of their prisoners.”

He thanked Harig and his staff for pursuing the proposal.

Harig said ICE officials have communicated to him that they want the agreement to be a long-term solution, not just an agreement that lasts for one year.

Freeborn County Attorney Craig Nelson said if the contract comes to pass, the agreement will be reviewed periodically, after certain periods of performance.

Nelson said he thought the contract is a good one from his perspective because it is a “modifiable” agreement.

If the county finds that it’s at a disadvantage covering its costs, it can submit an amendment.