Department heads share challenges they face

WALKER - Cass County department heads shared with the board Friday challenges they face this year.

Assessor Steve Kuha said the Legislature has mandated reports from counties on taxing the resort, timberland and green acres property classifications to help legislators re-evaluate these classes.

County Attorney Earl Maus said planning toward a safer court building is at the top of his priorities.

Sheriff Randy Fisher echoed Maus' concerns about the present court.

"It's really unsafe now for moving inmates (from jail to court and back)," Fisher said. He also said he is looking forward to sharing jail operations with Crow Wing County.

Building and Grounds Superintendent Tom Emery would like to see the county develop a long-term staffing plan for his department.

Environmental Services Director John Sumption reported nearly all zoning records have been scanned to the computer system, which will enable field inspectors to check old records on their laptop computers from anywhere in the county. Employee cell phone costs will drop $1,000 this year, he said, under a new plan, which allows sharing minutes between users in the department.

There were 1,550 new lots created in Cass in 2004 and another 1,558 in 2005, Sumption said, adding permit applications are maintaining 2005 levels so far this year. The department completed responses to 93 percent of the 673 complaints reported to the office in 2005, he said, improving response time.

ESD continues to face court challenges to zoning decisions, said Sumption, who reported five major cases currently in the court system.

Children's Health Services Supervisor Ane Rogers noted the start this year of Cass' Health, Human and Veterans Advisory Board, replacing a four-county health board after many years.

Methamphetamine education and health preparedness will be a focus this year, she said. Commissioner Jim Dowson suggested it might be a good idea, in light of talk about a potential bird flu epidemic, for the county to prepare a plan on how to operate if half the staff were to get sick at the same time.

Adult Human Services Supervisor Frank Schaap reported there are only nine state patients left at Ah-Gwah-Ching. They will need placement in a local group home, he said. Challenges for that department will continue to be coordinating services for senior citizens and attempting to get final state approval to join a joint county rather than the state-run alternative to Medical Assistance.

Highway Engineer David Enblom has been in talks with MnDOT officials toward a joint highway garage building project in Pine River before MnDOT has to move from its current garage location south to make room for the four-lane Highway 371 expansion, currently planned for 2009.

The Legislature will ask voters this fall to vote on whether all the motor vehicle sales tax should be dedicated to highway funding. Currently, only a portion of that tax goes for roads, Enblom said.

As a result of drivers cutting back their driving miles when gas prices were high in 2005, Enblom said, the county's highway state aid gas tax revenues are down.

Management Information Systems Director Tim Richardson said the law enforcement computer system will change in the next year and a half. He also expects the county will have to replace its telephone system by 2007.

Richardson has begun tracking service calls his staff makes to other county departments to develop a record of what action is taken to fix which problems. This should give a record of solutions and speed corrective action in the future, he said.

Probation Director Reno Wells is looking forward to the start-up of the Wellness Court under a grant to run through July 2007.

He said with injuries and loss of quality of life are estimated to cost $106,000 per person injured in a traffic accident. Cutting down the recidivism among drunk drivers, as the Wellness Court is projected to do, will save money as well as lives. Cass has had a rise in repeat DWI offenders and decline in first-time offenders, Wells said.

Electronic home monitoring has been a successful program, saving $491,344 in jail costs in 2005, Wells said.

Recorder Katie Norby said microfilm records are being converted to digital records. Electronic recording for some documents will begin this year.