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WALKER - Cass County commissioners approved reorganizing plans for two county departments Tuesday.

Control systems for monitoring the Cass County Jail in Walker will be added to the sheriff's office dispatch center. This will enable either a dispatcher or a jailer to manage the jail from a control center.

By having a dispatcher manage jail operations from that center, it will free a jailer to work on the jail floor rather than having to remain at the control center and will save personnel.

This change will enable the sheriff to add 25 prisoners in the Walker jail, saving the $88,000 cost he spent last year to board prisoners in other jails outside Cass's Walker jail and Cass's contract for 40 beds in the Crow Wing County Jail.

During high volume times and busy court times, control of jail could still remain in the jail central control. Inmate populations have increased in the last year.

In Health, Human and Veterans Services (HHVS), the board approved having the veterans service officer report directly to the HHVS director rather than first going through the fiscal supervisor.

HHVS Director Reno Wells informed the board the volume of people seeking financial assistance has risen to the point some case workers are handing 373 cases each.

The financial assistance division is divided into two subdivisions: family recipients and adult recipients. The board Tuesday approved creating two separate supervisors for those two divisions instead of one overall supervisor.

Part of that change will be to accommodate what is expected to be a 27 percent further increase (800 more cases in Cass) in applications for financial assistance when the Affordable Care Act (universal health care) begins to take effect in 2014.

Two former lead eligibility worker positions will be eliminated as the new supervisor positions are created. Two additional workers to process cases will be added. This will bring worker caseloads down to 283 or less each.

The board will wait until a later date to determine whether the health care act impact will necessitate any additional staff.

In other HHVS business, Veterans Services Officer Jeff Woodford obtained board approval to select Stephen Sether of Pine River as the new assistant veterans services officer. An interview committee recommended Sether's appointment after interviewing five candidates.

Cass County has collected 223 pounds of unused and expired medications through the Take It to the Box collection program. There will be an effort this year to improve public education about bringing old medications to collection sites at Lake Shore, Pine River and Walker law enforcement centers.

Medications left in homes have led to drug abuses, officials reported. Also, disposing of them in sewer systems pollutes groundwater.

Kelly Felton reported the Working Together Coalition has provided beverage server training to 125 people in the last year. There was 100 percent compliance when businesses serving alcohol were checked to ensure none sold alcohol to underage persons.

LeAnn Sampson, community health specialist, and Jeri Seegmiller, county team leader, gave the board an update on work they are doing to improve healthy diets and active living. Their programs also focus on preventing people's exposure to tobacco.

Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.

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