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WALKER-Cass County Chief Deputy Sheriff Erick Hoglund submitted his notice of intent to retire from the sheriff's department effective May 31 after 34 1/2 years in law enforcement, 18 1/2 of which have been with Cass County.

He also is a 20-year military veteran.

Sheriff Tom Burch informed the county board at the regular meeting Tuesday, May 7, he has named Lt. Scott Thompson to succeed Hoglund as chief deputy as of June 1. Sgt. Bryan Welk will move up to lieutenant. Erick Alger will move up to patrol sergeant.

Burch also reported he is encouraging his deputies to sign up for new training options being offered online. One is a shortened form of the FBI Academy, which previously was only available by attending classes for 12 weeks in Washington, D.C. The shortened version will require participants to attend two weeks of classes in the Twin Cities in Minnesota after completing the online portion, Burch said.

Tuesday, the board approved out of state travel for Deputies Seth Robinson and Adam Mykkanen to attend emergency response training this month in Fargo, N.D.

Deputy Chad Emery, Emergency Services director, informed the board about a new app available for recording photos and documenting damage from disaster events and for transmitting that data directly to Federal Emergency Management Agency for claims.

Until now, whenever there was a major storm or flood event, county, town and city employees had to go back to reconstruct data about damage and cost incurred for repairs after it is known that an event will qualify for FEMA reimbursement.

With this app, Emery said, county staff can take photos that will have data on GPS coordinates and dates attached immediately as the event happens or immediately thereafter. Once it is known the damage is extensive enough to qualify, the already recorded data can be sent directly to FEMA, he said. County Engineer Darrick Anderson agreed this could save a lot of employee time to reconstruct the damage documentation.

Emery reported he ordered additional sandbags to prepare for flood potential in southern Cass this spring. Sentence to Serve crews filled some of the sandbags, which were made available to residents in May and Sylvan townships. Some were used to protect one house that had flooding partway up the side of the house, he said. Volunteers helped place the bags around that house to protect it, he said.

The board passed a resolution to declare May 19-25 Emergency Medical Services Week.

Cass will receive $17,618 for fiscal year 2020 and $18,235 for fiscal year 2021 in Minnesota Department of Corrections funding for its Sentence to Serve program.

Fairview Township donated $500 and Shingobee Township, $250 to the Lakes Area Dive Team.

Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.[[In-content Ad]]

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