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BACKUS - Cass County will increase the county emergency management position from half to full time and assign the additional work hours to be spent implementing the upgraded ARMER emergency communications system.

A three-year Minnesota Department of Public Safety grant will pay $20,000 the first year, $15,000 the second year and $10,000 the third year toward increasing the emergency management position hours.

If after that time, the county decides it cannot afford the increased cost or does not need the extra time spent on emergency management, the county would not have to fund it, Administrator Robert Yochum told the board.

Kerry Swenson, emergency management director, will use the additional time to oversee installing new communications equipment and training users for the sheriff's department and police, fire, ambulance and first responder personnel.

Yochum said the experience he gains in the Cass implementation process could be shared with Aitkin and Crow Wing counties as they implement their new communication systems as well.[[In-content Ad]]

The board discussed its intent to seek a one-year pay plan freeze for 2011 when negotiations begin with six union bargaining units. The current county wage and benefit contracts expire Dec. 31. Management and bargaining units have a 9 a.m. Nov. 23 meeting scheduled at the land department meeting room in Backus.

Eight county appointed department heads met with the board in a closed meeting Nov. 9 for their annual performance reviews. Tuesday, the commissioners found all met the requirements for their positions and reappointed them.

They include Administrator Robert Yochum, Auditor-Treasurer Sharon Anderson, Central Services Director Tim Richardson, Land Commissioner Joshua Stevenson, Environmental Services Director John Ringle, Assessor Mark Peterson, Chief Financial Officer Larry Wolfe and County Engineer David Enblom.

Cass is seeking residents who are interested in serving on county committees and commissions. Applicants should apply during the next month, because the board will make new appointments in January.

Interested people should look under the Citizen Committee Opportunities on the county website at www.co.cass.mn.us . There is an application form to fill out and return to the administrator's office at P.O. Box 3000, Walker, MN, 56484. Anyone not having Internet can obtain a form by calling the administrator's office at (218) 547-7419.

Land Commissioner Joshua Stevenson informed the board that the county's successful prosecution of the man who spiked trees on a county parcel slated for a timber sale was the result of information received from citizens. Two citizens split the $1,000 reward offered in that case, he said.

Stevenson said the county has received about $400 so far in three restitution payments of the $9,200 total the court ordered. A logger had to hire people to try to remove as many spikes as they could before logging began, he said. Most of the timber has been cut, he added.

The commissioners approved a contract with University of Minnesota Extension Service to provide a 4-H coordinator for the county in 2011. There will be no financial increase from the 2010 contract.

With interest rates down this year, the 2010 budget had anticipated Cass would receive only about two-thirds the return on investments this year as 2009. However, if returns continue through the end of the year as they have the first 10 months, the county could end up earning only about 10 percent less on investments this year than 2009.

Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.

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