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.
St. Louis Park will soon require landlords to give renters more notice before they file for evictions over late payments.
The city currently requires landlords to give tenants notice seven days before they file for eviction. Starting in November, landlords will have to give 30 days notice and use a form prepared by the city.
“This is a tough ordinance,” Council Member Lynette Dumalag, the only person to vote against the change, said during a meeting this week. “At least for me, personally, I felt that it pit those that care about affordable housing against one another.”
In public hearings and other forums, city leaders heard from renters who said the current requirements didn’t give them enough time to scrape together payments if they face a sudden hardship, such as losing a job. They also heard from at least one landlord who said he might have to increase deposits because he already struggles to make ends meet when renters fall behind on payments.
The change passed 4 to 1. Council Member Tim Brausen and Mayor Nadia Mohamed were absent.
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — Ryan Leckner has resigned as Mayor of Park Rapids and the city council has officially declared a vacancy.
City Administrator Angel Weasner said councilmembers will hold a workshop on Sept. 24 to determine how to proceed. They can fill the vacancy by appointment or hold a special election, which Leckner said seems unlikely given that the November general election is just around the corner.
Until then, Leckner said “we’re thinking that we’ll just be able to get by with just one less council member.”
He added that Councilmember Liz Stone would likely serve as acting mayor until voters hit the polls.
Former Park Rapids Mayor Pat Mikesh is running uncontested for Leckner’s now-vacant seat.
In 2018, Mikesh stepped down a month before the election and Leckner successfully ran as a write-in candidate.
Leckner first joined the council in 2015 and is ending his third, two-year term as mayor early because his family built a home outside city limits. Construction of the home in Henrietta Township, and the sale of his existing home in Park Rapids, all happened faster than expected, he said.
“My term was up in November anyways,” he said, “so I was kind of planning on just not running.”
In the 27 years since Rhode Island’s first charter school opened its doors, just one has closed. Segue Institute for Learning, a community charter in Central Falls, R.I., is among the state’s successes. It has an extraordinarily low student-to-teacher ratio of 4 to 1, even though it spends less than a typical Rhode Island school.
Part III
How Rhode Island’s charter schools succeeded where Minnesota’s failed
Each spring, Blackstone Valley Prep in Rhode Island hosts a loud, spirited and celebratory “college signing day” ceremony for its high school seniors. One by one, the teenagers step onstage to proudly announce their post-graduation plans. Many are the first in their family to seek a degree.
Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country, but it’s here — and not in Minnesota, the birthplace of the charter school movement — that this daring experiment in public school education is paying big dividends for students and their families.
Left In the 27 years since Rhode Island’s first charter school opened its doors, just one has closed. Segue Institute for Learning, a community charter in Central Falls, R.I., is among the state’s successes. It has an extraordinarily low student-to-teacher ratio of 4 to 1, even though it spends less than a typical Rhode Island school.
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Fearless Fund settles lawsuit, ends grant program for women of color
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