Jail's new sewage grinder will be installed this week
By Michele Linck Journal staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, April 22, 2008
DAKOTA CITY -- Terry Kern, Dakota County director of corrections, has a Muffin Monster sitting in the sallyport at the jail.
He said he expects Hander Plumbing and Heating to install the long-awaited sewage grinder over two days this week. Hander was the plumbing contractor on the new jail, which opened in January 2007 with a sewage slicer, which proved inadequate.
The Muffin Monster, however, is expected to grind the T-shirts, towels, tennis shoes, candy wrappers and other debris prisoners flush down their cell toilets, keeping the sewer line flowing freely.
The existing slicer did not handle those unexpected items and there were occasional backups. The state Jail Standards Board warned the county early this year that it would close the jail if it didn't have the problem permanently fixed by the fall inspection.
Kern said the county set May 1 as it's own deadline and said he expects to meet it.
Despite its name, the Muffin Monster is surprisingly petite -- just 5-feet tall and 2-feet wide.
The Dakota County Board of Corrections has spent months discussing sewage system problems, discerning who is responsible for choosing the initial equipment and researching whether the Muffin Monster or another brand's grinder would be worth the price tag, about $16,500.
Given the Jail Standards edict, the county had little choice but to solve the problem, they decided, and little time to experiment with cheaper solutions.
Under a deal worked out by G.A. Johnson, the construction management company, architect Steve Davis and Hander, Davis and the engineering firm he worked with will reimburse the county $5,000 for the original slicer and Hander will install the new grinder at no cost. Kern said in addition to that agreement, the Muffin Monster will end up costing about $4,000 less than estimated.
Disaster averted
Closing down the jail would have been a major expense for Dakota County, as it would have had to pay other counties to house its overflow prisoners, a bill which, prior to the new facility, hovered at its peak near $1 million a year and did not include federal prisoners.
Kern said on Monday the Dakota County's new 116-bed jail and old 40-bed facility held a combined 139 prisoners, 33 of them in the old jail. Kern said warm weather drives the jail's population up; when it's cold people tend to stay inside and out of trouble.
Forty inmates counted in Monday's census are federal prisoners whose board is paid by the U.S. Marshal Service. Federal prisoners brought in about $210,000 in the first quarter of 2008 and are on track to add $74,000 to the total for the month of April.
Looking at the fiscal year, which began July 1, Kern said jail revenue from federal prisoners for the three quarters ending March 31 totaled $516,852.
Jail revenue, which also includes fees for fingerprinting civilians who need prints for job applications and some inmate housing reimbursements from the state, pays 38 percent of the facility's operating costs.
He said he expects Hander Plumbing and Heating to install the long-awaited sewage grinder over two days this week. Hander was the plumbing contractor on the new jail, which opened in January 2007 with a sewage slicer, which proved inadequate.
The Muffin Monster, however, is expected to grind the T-shirts, towels, tennis shoes, candy wrappers and other debris prisoners flush down their cell toilets, keeping the sewer line flowing freely.
The existing slicer did not handle those unexpected items and there were occasional backups. The state Jail Standards Board warned the county early this year that it would close the jail if it didn't have the problem permanently fixed by the fall inspection.
Kern said the county set May 1 as it's own deadline and said he expects to meet it.
Despite its name, the Muffin Monster is surprisingly petite -- just 5-feet tall and 2-feet wide.
The Dakota County Board of Corrections has spent months discussing sewage system problems, discerning who is responsible for choosing the initial equipment and researching whether the Muffin Monster or another brand's grinder would be worth the price tag, about $16,500.
Given the Jail Standards edict, the county had little choice but to solve the problem, they decided, and little time to experiment with cheaper solutions.
Under a deal worked out by G.A. Johnson, the construction management company, architect Steve Davis and Hander, Davis and the engineering firm he worked with will reimburse the county $5,000 for the original slicer and Hander will install the new grinder at no cost. Kern said in addition to that agreement, the Muffin Monster will end up costing about $4,000 less than estimated.
Disaster averted
Closing down the jail would have been a major expense for Dakota County, as it would have had to pay other counties to house its overflow prisoners, a bill which, prior to the new facility, hovered at its peak near $1 million a year and did not include federal prisoners.
Kern said on Monday the Dakota County's new 116-bed jail and old 40-bed facility held a combined 139 prisoners, 33 of them in the old jail. Kern said warm weather drives the jail's population up; when it's cold people tend to stay inside and out of trouble.
Forty inmates counted in Monday's census are federal prisoners whose board is paid by the U.S. Marshal Service. Federal prisoners brought in about $210,000 in the first quarter of 2008 and are on track to add $74,000 to the total for the month of April.
Looking at the fiscal year, which began July 1, Kern said jail revenue from federal prisoners for the three quarters ending March 31 totaled $516,852.
Jail revenue, which also includes fees for fingerprinting civilians who need prints for job applications and some inmate housing reimbursements from the state, pays 38 percent of the facility's operating costs.
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