June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Cass Commissioners given update on June activities planned at Fort Ripley
He said June will have the highest activity level of the four summer training months, with the most artillery and air traffic.
Commenting on the federal government talk of closing some military bases around the country, St. Sauver said the federal government cannot close Camp Ripley, because it is a state-owned facility.
However, the fact that federal funding for operations currently constitutes 90 percent of Ripley funding, with the state paying the other 10 percent, reduced funding could have a major impact, he said.
In addition to carrying out military training on the base, Ripley rents its facilities to many other state and local agencies for training. St. Sauver said he expects Ripley use to shift in the future from the current 80 percent military/20 percent civilian use ratio to more like 70 percent military/30 percent civilian or 60 percent military/40 percent civilian.
This change would mean any federal funding reductions would have less impact.
The current sequester impact here looks like the days federal technicians will be furloughed will be 14 days rather than the originally expected 21 days, he said. This does impact some people who live in the Brainerd to Pillager areas, he added.
New construction planned at Camp Ripley largely has been completed in recent years, so any sequester reductions in new construction likely won't impact Ripley plans, he said.
In other county board business Tuesday, Central Services Director Tim Richardson demonstrated the county's newly revised mapping system. It responds much more quickly than the earlier system, he said, and now can work on iPads as well as personal computers.
To access the maps on the county website, www.co.cass.mn.us, click on "Maps", then "Web Mapping".
The board authorized Richardson to attend a Honeywell Users Group Conference/Symposium in Phoenix, Ariz., in June. Honeywell will pay for transportation, lodging, meals and any other items related to the training session.
The commissioners named Commissioner Bob Kangas to represent the board on the Paul Bunyan Expressway Coalition, a group of city and county officials from Nisswa to Bemidji who are lobbying for funding to extend the divided highway design of Highway 371 from Nisswa to Bemidji.
Currently, only the portion of Highway 371 from Nisswa to Jenkins is tentatively scheduled for improvement in 2018, though a design concept has been created to Pine River. Not even design concepts have been drawn north of Pine River.
Sheriff Tom Burch obtained board approval to extend his department's contract with A'viands LLC to provide jail meals through June 30, 2015.
He also obtained approval to execute an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to provide law enforcement services within the federal forest from May 1 through Sept. 30, which will be billed as services, are provided for up to $9,750.
The board reappointed County Engineer David Enblom to another four-year term through May 16, 2017. This follows a closed session performance evaluation of Enblom's work for the county held two weeks ago.
The board closed its meeting for a special session on labor negotiations following the regular agenda Tuesday
Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.
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