A New State Seal Means Changes for St. Louis County

DULUTH, Minn. Since 1858, with only minor modifications, the state seal of Minnesota has not been changed. However, beginning May 11 there will be a new Minnesota state seal. It features a loon, the north star, wild rice, water, and evergreens.  The seal is used to attest to the official status of government documents.

In St. Louis County the state seal is used in many different ways and different places, perhaps most noticeably in the Sheriff’s Department.

The badge of St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay and all the badges feature the Minnesota state seal in the center and will need to be changed.

In addition, all of the Sheriff’s vehicles feature the badge on their side. But in most cases, the vehicles’ logo will not be changed immediately.  Instead, as the vehicle is retired the replacement vehicle will have a new design on its side. Dana Kazel, the communications manager for the county says what the design may look like has not yet been determined.

“They’re debating what we do with the logo,” Kazel said. “Do we do an update to the sheriff’s logo to include the new state seal, or do we just now go over to a county logo? And I mean, it’s all up for discussion right now. I don’t think we’ve really made any hard decisions on those.”

Based on preliminary estimates the sheriff’s office says it will probably take $50,000 to make the changes, if they were all to be made at one time.

Elsewhere in the county, the current seal is not found as often on department signage, but even the Notary Public used by the county will need to update their notary stamp.

Kazel said, “So it’s, it’s an interesting situation for us, because I mean, while the county has its own logo, we counties across the state, we really are an arm of the state,” said Kazel. “There are a lot of things that the state mandates to be done through legislation. And it’s the county’s job to actually do those tasks. And so, you’ll see the county or the state seal, incorporated into a lot of what we do.”

The county’s property management division is currently compiling lists of all the places and in what form the seal is found in buildings throughout the county. The communications department is beginning to develop an overall plan on how to make and manage the changes.

“We’re just trying to make sure we’re aware of what all needs to be changed, and then come up with a plan for what’s the best way to do it,” said Kazel. “Both from a practicality standpoint– what can we do ourselves, what do we need to order out to a consultant or an expert to do? What are the costs?”

One bright spot according to Kazel, is that the state has said changes to the county’s use of the current seal do not need to be completed until next January.

In checking with other counties in the state, it appears the new state seal will have only a minor impact as they do not use it as extensively as St. Louis County.