Braham Council selects private prosecutor for misdemeanors

Braham City Council decided to hand its city prosecutor duties for misdemeanors to an outside company as part of actions taken at its Wednesday, Aug. 7 meeting.

In the past, the Isanti County Attorney’s Office has handled the majority of these duties, with Kanabec County assisting. Both counties provided proposed contracts, with Isanti County’s contract running from now through May 31, 2026.

Council also was presented a proposal by Robb Olson from GDO Law, which is based in White Bear Lake, to handle prosecution services for the city on lesser crimes at the same price quoted by Isanti County. That contract will run through Sept. 1 of this year through Aug. 31, 2026.

“They are good at doing our ‘upper level’ criminal stuff,” Braham Police Chief Kevin Stahl said of the Isanti County Attorney’s Office. “But when we get into things like ordinance violations, they are virtually unresponsive.”

Stahl also noted that the cities of Cambridge and Isanti both hired GDO Law to handle misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor, ordinance and asset forfeiture prosecution.

“The big issue is that [the county] just doesn’t have the personnel to deal with the lower-level stuff,” he said. “When it comes down to it, our city needs someone to prosecute our ordinances, especially when we made the commitment a year ago to increase our ordinance enforcement.

“We can write citations, but without a prosecutor to put some teeth into them … We’re paying money for services we’re not getting.”

Olson said the focus of his company would be on misdemeanors and ordinance enforcement.

“We do that all the time,” Olson said. “For some, ordinance enforcement is a bigger deal than that DWI; we’re sensitive to that. …

“We work with officers, giving them annual training, and that’s part of the deal.”

Council voted 3-1 to go with GDO Law for its misdemeanor services. Council member Seth Zeltinger, who led the meeting as active mayor in place of Nate George, who did not attend because of military responsibilities, was the lone vote in opposition.

“I would just like to visit with Jeff [Edblad] before we take this away,” Zeltinger said.

Budget update

Stahl, who is also serving as interim city administrator, joined with Zeltinger in presenting a budget update.

Zeltinger noted that because Stahl is serving in two positions, the salary cost savings will benefit the city by $48,000 to $50,000 this year.

Several council members expressed concern that Stahl was receiving proper compensation — he said he was — and also wanted to make sure that the cost is being split between the police department and city administration.

“We’re roughly $1,000 under last year’s budget,” Stahl said. “We’re going to have a savings this year. We still have insurance costs, and we have to estimate a little higher [in several categories for next year]. … But we’re still looking pretty decent.”

Stahl said he plans to hold a work session to discuss the 2025 budget.

Engineering update

Jon Pauna of Moore Engineering was not able to attend the meeting, so Stahl presented an update from Pauna.

Stahl said the wastewater treatment plant project is moving on schedule, while the well project plan will be submitted to the health department for approval. The hope is that, if the approvals move as planned, the project will move forward by the end of September or early October.

“[Pauna] said it should come in relatively right on time,” Stahl said.

Stahl said Pauna indicated that as soon as funding comes through for the street project, the city should advertise for bidding on those projects.

“Because the state didn’t pass its funding bill, a lot of contractors are looking for work for next year,” Stahl said. “The bidding should be competitive, so it might be advantageous for us to send out bids for next spring.”

MnDOT 107 question

As part of a report submitted by George, he included notice from MnDOT asking if the city would like to change the Central Drive/Highway 107 intersection into a four-way stop.

MnDOT indicated that if that was the desire of the city, Braham would need to pay for a “intersection control evaluation” to determine if a four-way stop is warranted.

Stahl said the study would cost $25,000 and noted that eventually the city would prefer to have a stoplight installed instead.

Council Member Nicole Peltz wondered if it would be possible to move directly to a stoplight as opposed to a four-way stop.

“I like the idea of a stoplight, not the idea of a stop sign,” she said. “I don’t want to miss the opportunity for a stoplight there once the project comes through.”

The motion to reject the evaluation passed 3-1, with Peltz opposed.