They also shared ideas about their own programs that might work in the other county.

Cass Administrator Robert Yochum reported Cass County is processing the final payment to Crow Wing for the shared jail in Brainerd. Paperwork is in the process for the two counties to receive state sales tax refunds for that construction project, he said.

A joint training program has enabled the Cass County cities of Lake Shore and Pillager police officers to receive training so they can book inmates directly into the Crow Wing County Jail without first having to take an inmate 60 miles to Walker for booking, Yochum said.

Jerry Negen, jail administrator, said the county is negotiating a one-year renewable contract with the state to house state prison inmates in the jail. He said both Cass and Crow Wing inmate populations currently are down, leaving space the county can rent to other agencies.

Most state inmates would be those with six months left to serve on a prison sentence, Negen said. When released, they would be given a bus ticket back to their home community and would be monitored to be sure they got on the bus, he said.

With a contract for only one year at a time, Cass and Crow Wing would be able to cut back or eliminate the state contract as their local inmate populations rise in coming years, Negen said.

Cass Commissioner Jim Dowson informed Crow Wing commissioners about Cass' recent implementation of a National Association of Counties program to offer a drug discount card to all county residents.

In the first month of operation, Dowson said 400 claims have been filed, saving residents about $1,200 in drug costs.

Cass Environmental Services Director John Sumption reported Cass' intra-lake land use mapping is nearly complete. The DNR provided the county with scientific data about the county's lakes to help identify critical habitat areas, so zoning classifications can be varied in different parts of shoreline on a single lake under this program.

This is a pilot project on a few lakes in the county.

Sumption also reported the Region 5 low interest loan program for replacing failing septic tanks likely will expand throughout the region. He said grant funds also are being sought to help people who own failing systems, but simply have no financial resources to replace their system.

When Sumption reported Cass has processed only 10 applications for these loans in 2007, Crow Wing Commissioner Paul Thiede said it appeared to him these loans must be hard to get.

Sumption said Cass has identified 225 platted roads that end in lakes. Most never were developed. Dec. 5, Cass officials plan to meet with township officials to determine whether they wish to assume ownership of any of these short roads. After that meeting, the county will consider whether to keep any remaining roads ending in lakes.

The DNR then would assume ownership of any the towns and county do not take. While some neighboring property owners have expressed interest in obtaining some of these roads, Sumption said it is likely in most cases the DNR will veto those proposals.

Aitkin County, however, did obtain special legislation to permit vacating some roads ending in lakes to neighboring owners, Sumption said.

Crow Wing Administrator David Hamilton outlined that county's current reorganization proposal for planning and zoning. He also noted the county is trying to rewrite zoning regulations to make them more consistent and easier for the public to understand.

Yochum reported Cass has been drafting proposed destination recreational trails to interconnect with trails in neighboring counties, but noted the county is waiting for the DNR to complete in 2008 and the U.S. Forest Service to complete in 2010 final drafts of their trails. The trail systems will include trails for all-terrain vehicles.

The county expects to interconnect the county trails with the state and federal trails, Yochum said. He reported there have been fewer complaints about ATVs since some trails have opened for their use.

Hamilton reported Crow Wing is trying to catch up to Aitkin and Cass counties on trails development and also hopes to have an interconnecting system. He said he thinks the DNR needs to develop a simpler system to tell people where they can and cannot ride various types of recreational vehicles. He said there are five ATV clubs in the county.

He reported Crow Wing's study of juvenile detention center options will weigh the cost of transporting juveniles to facilities outside the area against the cost of providing a facility within the county.

So far, Crow Wing has learned a 16-bed facility will be too small. It will take at least a 30-bed facility to break even on cost effectiveness for an in-county detention center, Hamilton said.

Yochum said Cass is a member with 11 other counties of Northwest Juvenile Training Center at Bemidji. Cass and Beltrami provide most of the juveniles the court assigns to that facility for both secure and minimum security corrections.

At one time, he noted Cass Commissioner Virgil Foster proposed Northwest open a satellite juvenile facility in Cass County. That idea progressed until the Minnesota Department of Corrections vetoed it on the grounds the buildings at Ah-Gwah-Ching did not meet its standards.

Yochum suggested Crow Wing might look into joining Northwest Juvenile Training Center and seek a satellite facility in Brainerd. A satellite of an existing program might prove more cost effective than a separate new program, Yochum said.