Sheriff’s Office moves to new spot

A major change is beginning to take shape in the administration of the area’s two top law enforcement agencies.

The Steele County Sheriff’s Office is moving from the downtown Law Enforcement Center to the Detention Center at 2500 Alexander St. SW, located on the west edge of Owatonna.

Sheriff Lon Thiele said the records department moved into the new location on Monday. Moving forward, anyone needing copies of reports, burning permits or other records related to the Sheriff’s Office will need to go to the Detention Center.

The new records department will consist of two staff personnel, according to Thiele. Previously, the city and county had a joint records department. With the sheriff’s move, the records personnel were divided in half—two became city employees and remain with Owatonna Police at the downtown location and the other two will be at the new Sheriff’s Office.

Thiele said citizens can enter the lobby of the Detention Center where they will also find the Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff, along with the rest of deputies and staff, will move into the new spot most likely in February, Thiele said. “We’ll move as quickly as we get the occupancy approval for the rest of the remodeling project,” he said.

For more than two decades, the city police and sheriff have been in the same joint building, along with the Rice-Steele 911 Center. The dispatch center will be moving to Faribault most likely in 2025. Earlier this year, Owatonna purchased the county’s half of the current law enforcement center.

“At one time they thought it was a good measure to work in the same building together,” Thiele said of the joint center. “But since that time both agencies and grown and need additional space.”

Steele County has faced a dilemma with the jail for years because it was overbuilt in the early 1990s. Thiele said the jail has never been used to its potential, which allowed space for the Sheriff’s Office to move into. “The lack of resources of keeping the jail in its designed capacity was not efficient,” he said.

Thiele noted that changes to sentencing guidelines and staffing shortages have contributed to less jail population in recent years.