Clay County Commission

Dan Haglund

When residents see budget shortfalls and the local school district and Social Services, the local juvenile corrections program has been thriving.
And Clay County Board of Commissioners point to the secure program at the West Central Regional Juvenile Center and its superintendent James O’Donnell.
Those individuals sat down during the board’s regular weekly meeting to check out O’Donnell’s budget for next year.
O’Donnell presented two budgets: one for the secure program and another for the non-secure program.
He describes the secure program as a cooperative between 11 different counties, all in Minnesota except Cass County in North Dakota.
O’Donnell said his advisory board already approved his budget at their level last week.
In the revenue section, Clay County’s cost for 2026 will go down slightly, and is based on the cooperative service agreement.
“Cost is based on usage in a two-year lookback,” O’Donnell said.
Clay County’s usage has remained the same (budget proposal at about $800,000, down from $830,000 this year), at about 30 percent of the total. O’Donnell said usage among non-members has risen, which has driven the cost down for members in total. $1.6 million comes from non-member counties. He also added that juvenile programming within the state has gone up significantly, outpacing even healthcare costs.
O’Donnell projects $2.1 million coming in is based on 13 non-member youths, and he is confident his department can meet this mark in 2026. In 2024, the department saw $2.4 million coming in from the same revenue stream.
“I do want to point out while we’re talking about the revenue side, the dollar number that we’re looking at for Clay County is roughly $806,000,” said Commissioner Kevin Campbell, Dist. 4. “If it was not for the work of that facility and the non-member use that we get, that number would be almost $1.2 million.”
The WCRJC functions as a co-ed 55-bed secure facility, as well as a co-ed 25-bed non-secure care program at 729 11th St. N. in Moorhead. The center provides services for juveniles with behavioral, protection, dependency and delinquency issues.
The secure programs are designed to hold juvenile offenders ages 10 to 19 (up to 21 on Extended Juvenile Jurisdiction). All placements here are accompanied by a court order. Psychological evaluations may also be administered upon request or referral to either program. WCRJC also assists area counties with transportation whenever possible.
The non-secure program is designed to hold juveniles ages 11 to 18 within three programs, which include emergency placement, a consequence program and a 30-day evaluation program.
And the Community Living Independent Programming and Skills (CLIPS) program is designed to provide youth with a structured environment with staff support while teaching them the skills and providing them with the resources to successfully integrate into the community.
CLIPS operates under the umbrella of non-secure detention at the WCRJC. However, the program is located in a separate area of the facility and is run independently from non-secure detention. The CLIPS area and programming is designed with the notion that the youth served will develop the skills to live more independently once they have graduated from the program. CLIPS offers services for adjudicated delinquent youth ages 16 to 19 who are transitioning from out-of-home placements to their own living situations.
Campbell extolled the inclusion and revenue from the non-member counties as bolstering the program.
Commissioner David Ebinger, Dist. 5, reiterated Campbell’s sentiments about the multi-county coop. He and Campbell were at the larger budget meeting last week.
“You seldom see a group of 11 counties and entities come in and vote on a budget this year where everybody leaves smiling,” Ebinger said. “James (O’Donnell) has done an excellent job in running a top-notch operation. This is a very good news budget on the secure end.”