RLC Sheriff's office gets approval to hire full time deputy & On-Call Policy

On July 28, 2015, the Red Lake County Board of Commissioners met at 10:00 a.m. Commissioners present were John Lerohl, Dave Sorensen, Chuck Flage and Chair Ron Weiss. Chuck Simpson was absent.
The agenda was approved with one change, to add Treasurer Nick Knott to the agenda.
Treasurer Nick Knott reported to the commissioners on the 5 year treasury bonds the county has and that there was not a lot of change in the county portfolio.
Committee reports were next. Commissioner Chuck Flage did not have any meetings during the past two weeks to report on.
Sorensen reported on the Red Lake County Economic Development Corporation (RLCEDC). There are no delinquent loans at this time. The couple of loans that had been delinquent have been brought to small claims court and have paid in full. There are loans available up to $20,000 at 2% for qualifying borrowers.
There has been difficulty getting members on the board which meets quarterly and discussion to possibly solve this would be to change the bylaws to allow per diem for members. This will be brought up at the next RLCEDC meeting.
Lerohl had an HRA meeting on the 15th and it was decided to sell the Foxtail Apartment in Thief River Falls for student housing and plan on purchasing some apartments in East Grand Forks that the city of EGF wants to sell.
Lerohl also had a Fair Board meeting and reported that the Red Lake County Fair did ok, but didn’t make as much as they thought they would. The Red Lake County Fair Board will be holding another Baja Race on August 22nd for a fund raiser and will be doing some fund raising at Oklee Market Days on August 8th.
Enbridge is asking for a reduction in taxes Lerohl reported. He also attended a tour at Hillcrest in Red Lake Falls which will be opening soon. Hillcrest has 13 rooms for assisted living and 10 rooms in an Alzheimer’s wing.
Lerohl also attended the Inter County Community Council (ICCC) meeting and reported that bids for the annual audit were opened and Carlsen Highland was awarded the bid. The PIC Board has a program for dislocated worker and is being overwhelmed so has decided to get someone else to work with the program and ICCC is going to work with the program. A conference call dealing with an Audit from the Legislature for all Action Committees was held with Leroh and Director Catherine Johnson participating.
Also discussed at the ICCC meeting was the Riverpoint Apartments, ICCC has contracted with Insight Technologies for their IT needs and Deb Kiel visited with ICCC discussing a project she is working on for hiring seniors. And ICCC will once again be helping people get set up with MN Sure.
Weiss reported on the Qiun Board and informed the board on the SHIP program, the WIC program and about the water problems they are having at their offices. Ads for administrator have been put in the paper again and medical marijuana has started in MN.
Sheriff Mitch Bernstein came before the board to ask for permission to hire a full time deputy since it would change the budget, not so much this year, but for 2016. He has been advertising for a part time deputy, but hasn’t had much luck getting a part time deputy. Bernstein explained since 2013, Red Lake County Sheriff’s Department has lost 3 deputies to Thief River Falls Police Department and also has lost about 47.5 hours of patrol hours a week. There is money in the budget for this year, but in 2016, the budget will have to be increased if allowed to hire a full time deputy. A part time deputy will cost about $27,000 and a full time about $67,000 but a full time position receives about $6,000 in police state aid. Sorensen and Lerohl made the motion to allow Bernstein to hire full time instead of party time deputy. And it was carried.
Bernstein also wanted to have an On-Call policy because no one is being compensated at this time which makes it difficult to have someone on call for a couple of hours and it is necessary with the limited personnel. Bernstein would implement the On-Call policy in 2016 and with a full time deputy being hired, will help cover a couple of extra hours when only one deputy is on duty and a call comes and needs assistance. Lerohl and Sorenson made a motion and it was carried to allow Bernstein to implement an On-Call policy in 2016.
Bernstein was asked by the commissioners on how things were going in the county and he reported that things were quiet and the call volume has been down at Voyagers. They pit by Oklee has been busy and reports of broken glass on the beach were discussed. It was suggested that signage be installed that "No bottles or glass" will be allowed and the County Attorney said if someone is caught, write them up.
Dr. Sens, County Coroner, came to inform the board about the new laws taking effect on August 1st that families will have the right to object to autopsy’s based on their religious beliefs. However, there are 15 rules that can override an objection, such as homicide, etc. She felt that the law will not be hard to work since she usually works with the families already on their wishes if it doesn’t interfere with the laws. It will require more paperwork, Sens reported. Minnesota is the fifth state to have religious objection laws and it could slow down homicide autopsies slightly due to the additional paperwork. Sens was asked if autopsy’s had to be done on all deaths and she said that unless there is some circumstances requiring an autopsy, such as homicide, suicide, child death without a medical condition, etc., an autopsy does not have to be done. Dr. Sens has brochures for the Sheriff's office to be available for families to help them work through a death and the autopsy laws.
Expenses and the minutes were next handled by the board. The expenses were approved by a motion from Sorensen, seconded by Flage with a roll call vote. The minutes were approved with a change regarding the transfer of property from the City of Oklee, to Red Lake County and then to the Red Lake County Fair board to make it clear. Motion was made by Lerohl and seconded by Flage.
Sorensen would like someone at the next meeting to clarify the new permit rules on drainage/tiling of water. Audtior Bob Schmitz will get either Myron Jesme or someone from the DNR to attend the meeting.
Other items mentioned by Schmitz to the board included the two TIFF reports from Oklee and Red Lake Falls, a grant Tanya Hanson recieved and has a list of projects she is working on, the public hearing on August 13th at Plummer for Enbridge, the amendment to the tiling language, and Sorensen asked if the board would agree to a resolution be sent to Enbridge about the reduction of the taxes and Sorensen made the motion, Lerohl seconded and it was carried to send a letter of opposition to the reduction of taxes.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:37 a.m. and the next meeting will be held on the 11th of August at 10:00 a.m.