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WALKER - Probation Director Jim Schneider obtained Cass County Board approval Tuesday to apply for a MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge Grant.

If this grant for up to $150,000 is approved to permit the county to plan how to keep fewer people in jail, then the county could apply for another grant to implement the plan.

Schneider said nearly 75 percent of pretrial and sentenced people here are in jail for non-violent crimes such as traffic, property, drug or public order offenses. Many are held there far longer than necessary due to crowded court dockets and chronic backlogs that delay timely case resolutions, he said.

Some are held mainly, because they cannot afford bail.

The goal, he said, will be to create individual case plans for offenders to help them avoid reoffending and to help them overcome substance abuses.

For pretrial persons, the screening would assess whether the person is likely a safety or flight risk, whether a diversion program could prevent a person from losing their job and whether they can be reintegrated to society, he explained.

Leech Lake Reservation is expected to partner with the county in seeking the planning grant. If successful, Cass would be one of 20 nationwide approved for a planning grant. Of the successful 20, only 10 ultimately would be given a second grant to carry out their plan, he said.

Cass Board approved Morrison County's selection of a contractor to rehabilitate the bridge over Crow Wing River on the county line with Cass. Cass's $114,812.25 share of the $399,719 cost will include a $12,156 portion to also replace failing joints on a Cass County bridge on County State Aid Highway 33.

The board approved a joint project with the city of Pine River. It uses municipal state aid funds to repave some city streets when the city improves underground utilities there. The county cost is estimated to run $400,000.

County Engineer David Enblom said he expects the Pine River Council to open bids for the combined project April 2.

Cass County will receive $286,027 from the U.S. Forest Service this year, which represents 25 percent of the amount Chippewa National Forest average generated annually in 2014 and the previous six years. The amount is after a deduction for the 7.3 percent the forest service sustained from Sequestration.

This is slightly above the $283,548.22 the county received last year, but below the recent peak of $466,552.87 Cass received in 2009. Half the apportionment goes to the county for use on roads. The other half is shared by Cass school districts located within the Chippewa Forest.

Those include Walker, Cass Lake, Remer and the portion of Deer River district that overlaps into Cass County.

Central Services Director Tim Richardson obtained board approval Tuesday to advertise for bids to replace the fire control and alarm system at the courthouse complex in Walker. Current systems were installed in 1976 and 1986.

Sheriff Tom Burch obtained board approval to accept the 2015 state grant for $54,100 to be used for boat and water safety.

Chippewa National Forest will pay the sheriff's department up to $9,750 to provide law enforcement services within the forest this summer.

Cass has received $10,000 for the Soo Line Trail and $30,000 for the Emily/Outing Trail to construct and maintain those all-terrain vehicle trails through June 2016.

Cass land department sold $44,427 worth of timber on five of six tracts of timber offered to loggers at a Feb. 26 auction.

Aspen sold for $36.06 per cord. Loggers paid $28.81 per cord for red oak and $27.53 for jack pine.

Tim Terrell, Mississippi Headwaters Board (MHB) executive director, informed the county board MHB has expanded its focus to not only control zoning along the first 400 miles of the Mississippi River, but also to encourage cities along the water route to take steps to minimize storm water runoff into the river.

A state Board of Water and Soil Resources grant to MHB will enable cities along the river to design storm water collection basins and gardens to collect and filter water before it enters the river.

MHB also is working on a unified awareness education program MHB counties can use to inform people about preventing and controlling the spread of aquatic invasive species.

Health, human and veterans services expenditures ran about 1 percent over budget projections in January. Out of Home child placement cost ran about 3 percent higher than budgeted.

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