DNR staff down to 80 here now

Five employees in the Brainerd office of the DNR chose to be laid off after the agency announced the closing of regional offices here earlier this year.

Thirteen other regional employees remain in Brainerd. Others have transferred to offices in Pequot Lakes, Sauk Rapids, Little Falls, and some took other jobs within the DNR or another state agency. Six employees chose to retire under the Rule of 90, in which their age and years of service totaled 90.

In all, Brainerd lost 24 jobs because of the closing of Region 3.

"We still have a work force of 80-plus employees in Brainerd," C.B Bylander, regional director, said last week. "Our presence here has declined but we will remain strong."

Budget shortfalls forced the DNR to reduce its budget by $13 million in this fiscal year.

"If there's a bright side to all this," Bylander said, "it's that out of $13 million in budget cuts we laid off just five people in Brainerd. Some of them we could have found jobs for, but they would have had to move to distant locations and chose not to."

The Brainerd DNR office, which cost $3.1 million to build in 1986, once had more than 100 employees. Area DNR offices will continue to be based here. Region 3 is now based in St. Paul and includes the southern part of old Region 3 as well as a portion of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.