Friday night football
This THURSDAY, Oct. 9, the Rush City Tigers football team travels to Esko for a 7 p.m. game. The North Branch Vikings are at home against Robbinsdale Cooper on Friday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. Look for results at the Post Review's Scoreboard Plus (above) after the games.
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We’re not gonna take it anymore, say county commissioners |
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By MaryHelen Swanson
The county commissioners aren’t going to take it any more.
You could almost hear the brakes squealing as the Chisago County board said “whoa” to accepting state decisions that are going to cost the county more money.
The issue is, as County Attorney Janet Reiter explained, this:
“Due to cuts in funding to the State Public Defender’s Office, the State Board of Public Defense recently adopted a budget which faced a $3.8 million shortfall.”
This means the state board has decided that as of July 8, 2008, the state public defenders will no longer represent parents in Child In Need of Protection Services (CHIPS) and Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) cases.
Minnesota statute says that parents involved in CHIPS and TPR matters have the right to counsel.
In a letter to the commissioners, State Court Administrator Sue K. Dosal wrote, “The decisions judges make in CHIPS and TPR cases are among the most difficult made in any case type. Such critical, life-altering decisions are made even more difficult when the parent is unrepresented by counsel.”
Dosal goes on to say, “If attorneys are not appointed to represent parents, the quality and timeliness of the court’s decision-making suffers and children may be forced to spend more time in foster care....”
Reiter concludes then that the cost of providing legal representation to these parents will be borne by the counties, even though the state has been providing this service for years.
In her letter, Dosal tells the counties that due to the decision by the state to discontinue representing parents, “it is likely that judges will appoint attorneys outside of the public defender system to represent parents in child protection cases and will order counties to pay the fees of such attorneys.”
Minnesota Statute 375.1691 says the county may refuse to pay for court-ordered items (such as attorneys fees) if the item is not part of the county’s current budget.
Even so, Dosal, in her letter, encouraged the commissioners to approve these court-ordered fees for the remainder of the year and to work with the judges to establish budgets for future years that will include such attorney’ fees.
Chisago County Court Administrator Kathleen Karnowski has determined that there will be sufficient funds to cover these new costs through the end of 2008 because Court Administration anticipated shortfalls during the 2008 budget discussions and requested additional money to cover such costs.
However, Attorney Reiter told the commissioners in her letter that the county will now need to re-evaluate the way in which legal services are secured and funded.
She said she is working with Karnowski on recommendations.
Reiter noted that Chisago County currently has 25-30 cases for which the county will have to pay attorney fees.
County Administrator John Moosey noted that current costs run around $100,000 but he figured that could double.
Without hesitation, Commissioner Mike Robinson moved to send the state a letter saying the county was not going to do this. And his motion was supported by Commissioner Ben Montzka.
But when someone called the question on Robinson’s motion, it failed 4-1 because the rest of the board agreed to proceed more slowly.
This week the commissioners are holding a special board meeting (1 p .m. Wednesday, July 9) to discuss the 2009 budget.
It was decided that during the discussion, the board would better understand the effects of the legislated 3.5 percent levy cap.
The commissioners went on to pass a motion to have Moosey draft letters saying Chisago County disagrees with this state action. But Commissioner Bob Gustafson wanted them written strong enough so the state gets the message.
Moosey agreed to draft the letters for board review before sending. It could be a bit of “civil disobedience,” he said.
In other business, the county board:
• Adopted a resolution declaring July 13-19 as Probation, Parole and Community Supervision Week which asks citizens to honor the community corrections professionals and recognize their achievements.
• Approved a contract with the Rush City School District for school nurse services. The contract provides health screenings to designated students, in-service health education for staff members and consultation with staff members of ISD #139 concerning the assessment and evaluation of student’s health needs.
• Approved a 60-day extension of the 60-day review period for Keith Elmquist’s conditional use permit application to operate a furniture repair and upholstery business out of his home in Nessel Township.
• Accepted the resignation of County Recorder Thora Fisko. Fisko recommended that the board proceed slowly in rehiring but she encouraged them to appoint an interim recorder to oversee the office.
• Approved an addendum to an agreement with Center City on the annexation and preliminary work for the property that is the planned location of the new county jail. Approval allows the city engineer to proceed with engineering design work for construction of city water, sewer and road and storm water utilities to serve this property. Anticipated costs to the city are $134,437.
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