Star Tribune
Falcon Heights to end contract with Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office for police services
Falcon Heights officials say the city won’t renew its contract for law enforcement services with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office.
The contract between the sheriff’s office and the small St. Paul suburb surrounding the State Fairgrounds expires at the end of the year. The city and the Sheriff’s Office traded letters over the past week, formally agreeing to terminate the arrangement that has been in place since late 2017.
The city pays $1.3 million a year to the sheriff’s office for services.
“The city does not have issue with the Sheriff’s Office or the services we have received,” City Administrator Jack Linehan said at a March 22 City Council meeting. The council at that meeting directed Linehan to notify the Sheriff’s Office of they city’s intention to look elsewhere for law enforcement services.
In his response, Sheriff Bob Fletcher said the move “is in everyone’s best interest,” noting that providing patrol, enforcement, crime prevention, investigative and other services for the city of about 5,000 people was never a perfect fit.
Falcon Heights does not border any of the other communities the sheriff’s office serves, and that requires deputies to travel long distances, sometimes at high speeds with lights and sirens activated, when responding to emergencies, Fletcher said.
“The lack of a contiguous service area requires additional staffing to ensure deputy and resident safety,” Fletcher said.
This is not the first time Falcon Heights has exercised its option to end the contract, which requires that either party provide a nine-month notice. In 2021, the city and the sheriff’s office mutually agreed to part ways. But Falcon Heights was unable to find another partner to provide law enforcement services, and remained with the sheriff’s office.
It was not immediately clear where Falcon Heights will go from here. The city will work with a consultant to explore options for a long-term law enforcement contract, according to a city newsletter posted online Monday.
Fletcher outlined possible options, including contracting with St. Paul, Roseville or the Minnesota State Fair police departments. The city could also renew a contract with neighboring St. Anthony. Falcon Heights severed its service agreement with St. Anthony after former St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez shot and killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop in July 2016.
Yanez was acquitted of one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm.
Falcon Heights could also form its own police department or opt for a hybrid model. The city would be responsible for some police services, such as patrolling, and contract with outside agencies for other law enforcement services, such as investigations.
Falcon Heights will resume its contract with the sheriff’s office if no suitable options are found, the city said.
“Whichever option you select, please know that the Sheriff’s Office stands ready to assist you,” Fletcher wrote.
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
REDWOOD FALLS, MINN. – A truck crashing into a school bus left nine with minor injuries Wednesday morning in rural Redwood County, a statement from the Redwood County Sheriff’s office said.
The bus driver, serving the Wabasso Public School District, failed to yield when entering the intersection of County Road 7 and 280th Street, the statement said.
Deputies received word of the crash around 8:15 a.m. and identified the bus driver as Edward Aslesen, 72, of Milroy.
The nine injured passengers on the bus were transported to local hospitals, the statement said.
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