Benton County plowing ahead with government center project despite opposition from residents

FOLEY, MINN. – Construction crews are slated to start work moving dirt Monday in a grassy lot across the street from the Benton County Government Center.

That lot is the site of a proposed new building that will replace what county officials say is an outdated and undersized complex now used by licensing, human services and other county departments.

But a group of residents who hope to pause the project plan to attend the County Board meeting Tuesday and speak during a public hearing on how the board plans to fund the facility.

“There are other options, but they’re not willing to listen to the public at this point,” resident Mike Lewandowski said.

Lewandowski, who is among those planning to take the mic, spearheaded a petition in May requesting the board put the project before voters instead of pushing ahead with construction this year.

He said he feels misled because board members gave the impression that if enough residents signed the petition — called a reverse referendum — they would postpone plans or plan to put the question on the ballot.

“We hit it hard. We went door-to-door, went to businesses. We got almost double the signatures needed,” Lewandowski said.

But instead of postponing the project or planning a special election, the board approved bids for the project and pivoted to a different funding mechanism — one where residents cannot submit a reverse referendum under state statute.

“That’s what it was portrayed as: If the people got the signatures, they would put it to a vote,” Board Chair Ed Popp said.

At a meeting in May before the petition drive began, Popp told residents that if they submitted a petition, “nothing is going to happen until the 2026 general election.” Board Member Jared Gapinski, agreed.

Board Member Pam Benoit said receiving a petition would “take everything off this board” in terms of having to make a decision about moving forward with the project. But no formal action was taken on the possibility of a petition asking for a vote.

Since then, the board voted 3-2 to proceed with the project. Popp and Gapinski voted no.

On Tuesday, the authority will consider approving the project plan and issuing the debt. It’s the last public hearing on the project.

Popp, a farmer, said he started hearing from other farmers and business owners in his district who fear their property taxes will increase at a time of so much economic uncertainty.

“I asked the commissioners to not scrap it but put a pause on it,” Popp said. “And they didn’t want anything to do with it. They thought we were too far into it.”

County Administrator Montgomery Headley said the board has discussed replacing the facility for years. It agreed three years ago to buy the land across the street — site of the former Foley high school.

The board considered revamping the current Government Center, but estimates showed renovations would cost upward of $23 million. Even then, there would still not be enough space for employees, some of whom now work out of a rented space in St. Cloud because the Foley facility is at capacity.

“A majority of the board said we cannot miss this opportunity to take advantage of these incredible bids,” he said. “That’s when they began exploring alternative forms of financing.”

In June, the board discussed two other financing options, and three members — Benoit, Steve Heinen and Scott Johnson — voted to move forward with the housing authority’s lease-revenue plan.

A finance consultant hired by the county told board members the authority’s bond option has a slightly higher interest rate than the first option considered. But the consultant said many communities refinance their housing authority bonds when the market allows for better interest rates.

“I believe we need to take advantage of the $5 million that’s on the table, and for me, personally, I’m not willing to leave it sit here,” Johnson said at the June 17 meeting.

Benoit and Heinen agreed and said that costs would likely increase if they waited for an election and had to rebid the project. They said doing nothing to fix the outdated complex was not an option.

The existing Government Center consists of the original Benton County Courthouse from 1901 and two other additions.

Headley said the facility is failing in many ways: The entrance to the human services building often floods; sensitive election equipment must be stored across the street and rolled across the parking lot for elections, and anyone with accessibility issues has to go outside to get between buildings.

But the biggest issue, he said, is that the complex is at capacity.

The new building would have a safety improvements, a large community room and a drive-thru licensing center.

Lewandowski said he and other residents who signed the petition think the county can make do without a new facility.