1 week Ago By JEFF BAHR [email protected]
Once a few details are ironed out with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Hall County jail will begin holding up to eight ICE detainees at a time.
The detainees will be held in a small minimum security unit, which has eight beds. That unit was formerly used for work release, but it's not being used right now, Hall County Corrections Director Todd Bahensy told the Hall County Commission on Tuesday. The agreement with ICE will piggyback onto a contract Hall County Corrections currently has with the U.
S. Marshals Service. On March 11, the Hall County Commission modified that contract to add ICE as an authorized user of the agreement.
The Hall County jail has not housed ICE detainees since the end of 2023. The county ended that arrangement primarily because of ICE's bureaucratic demands. ICE might still conduct audits of the jail, but Bahensky has been told they won't be as much of a headache as they were before.
"So I'm kind of banking at this point that those audits are going to be considerably less of a burden to us than they have been in the past," Bahensky told the board. If the arrangement "becomes a huge burden in the future, we just won't do it anymore," Bahensky said. The idea is to start small with ICE and see how much of a demand there is, Bahensky said in an interview.
County Attorney Marty Klein said that when people are placed in a 48-hour hold, there is always an accompanying warrant. Bahensky still needs to have conversations with ICE about details of the arrangement. The commission withheld taking action on the ICE matter until its next meeting.
Commissioner Pam Lancaster said Hall County has a good rapport with ICE. "We do everything we can to work with federal agents," she said. But Lancaster is concerned that Hall County shows up in an online list as a sanctuary county.
Commissioner Jane Richardson will provide language to include in an April 22 resolution that will hopefully remove Hall County from that list. Traffic safety on 281 Also at the meeting, Commissioner Gary Quandt said he has talked to three people who are concerned about motor vehicle safety at the intersection of Highway 281 and Wood River Road, which is at Bosselman Truck Plaza. "Semis are pulling out of the parking lot, and they're not stopping on Wood River Drive," Quandt said.
There have been near-accidents, he said. A sports complex may be built in the area, which would only add to the traffic, Quandt said. The board's road committee will meet with County Highway Superintendent and Public Works Director Don Robb, Sheriff Rick Conrad and Bosselman Enterprises to see if there is a problem and if there is, what might be a good solution.
Bosselman Enterprises is a "fantastic employer," Quandt said. Conrad said the problem might be due to local drivers as much as it is semi drivers. Tri-City Sports Complex update In addition, the commission heard from Burke Harr, who was representing the Tri-City Sports Complex.
On Jan. 28, Hall County officials received a report about the 128.85-acre development that would be located west of Highway 281, near West Guenther Road and Wood River Road.
It would include multi-family apartments, single-family homes, a hotel, retail and a youth sports complex. The Tri-City Sports Complex would like to use the county's tax-exempt authority for the use of industrial revenue bonds. The group hopes the county will pass a resolution stating that the Tri-City Sports Complex is first in line to use the bonds, assuming the county does not have an environmental disaster.
The resolution would state the county's support for the project. "And that's all we're getting out of it," Harr said. "We still have to go to market, we still have to sell the project and we still have to find the buyers.
All we're using is the county's tax-exempt status." There would be no cost or liability to the county, Harr said. The resolution would be used by Tri-City "as we go forward and work with the people who are interested in buying these bonds," Harr said.
The Tri-City Sports Complex is a nonprofit organization, which is one of the requirements. Lancaster noted that Hall County has used such an arrangement in the past, with Tabitha at Prairie Commons and with a Hornady Manufacturing project. The board put off making a decision on the resolution until new language can be added.
To come up with that language, Richardson will work with Klein. Also at the meeting, the board added an emergency item to its agenda because of expected increases in the cost of steel. The board voted to buy a snowplow from Northern Truck Equipment for $15,480.
Steel prices are expected to rise substantiality in the near future, Commissioner Stott Sorensen said..
