Chief Deputy Bill Cross and County Attorney Kyra Ladd appeared before the Wadena County Board at its March 18 meeting to discuss Wahoo Valley’s application to renew its on-sale liquor license.

The county board approved the liquor license renewal at its March 2 meeting; however, the application form contains sections where both the Sheriff and the

County Attorney are asked to sign the

form and swear that the licensee has not “within a period of five years prior to the

date of this application, violated any law relating to the sale of 3.2 percent malt liquor or intoxicating liquor, and that in our judgment the applicant will comply with the laws and regulations relating to the conduct of said business.”

Ladd told the board that neither she nor Sheriff Mike Carr Jr. could sign the Wahoo Valley renewal form, because Wahoo Valley had failed two compliance checks, and four of its employees were now subject to gross misdemeanor charges for selling liquor to an underage person. She informed the board that both she and Carr recommended that the license be renewed anyway. Ladd said that Wahoo Valley had complied with the county’s procedures regarding the compliance violations since they occurred in May 2009.

The board decided to pass a new motion to grant approval of the liquor license renewal, noting that the renewal was being done without the signatures of the sheriff and county attorney.

Deputy Sheriff Bryan Savaloja, who signed the letter notifying Wahoo Valley that they had failed the compliance checks and were now subject to prosecution, said in a telephone interview that to his knowledge, the 2009 compliance check failures were the first ones that had happened at Wahoo Valley.

Savaloja indicated that two or three other establishments had failed compliance checks in the past couple of years, but that such failures were not a regular occurrence in Wadena County, to the best of his knowledge.

“We do checks twice a year,” he said. “There are 18 or 19 establishments that we check, all located outside of city limits. It’s not a habitual thing that establishments fail these checks.”

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety oversees alcohol regulations in Minnesota, and the Commissioner of Public Safety is the public official in charge of licensing and regulating alcohol. Cities and counties enforce the regulations on behalf of the Department of Public Safety.

During his appearance before the commissioners, Deputy Cross also told the board that a new K-9 officer had been appointed and that the new dog, Zeus, a 16-monthold German Shepherd from the Czech Republic, had been assigned to Sheriff’s Deputy Bryan Savaloja, who will be his handler.

Savaloja said in a telephone interview that he and Zeus were going to the Twin Cities for 8 to 12 weeks of intensive training beginning March 22. He estimated that he and Zeus would begin their duties for the county sometime in late May.

Danny, the county’s previous K-9 officer, retired after 8 years of service. His handler, Luke Mandershied, will be allowed to purchase Danny, in accordance with statewide sheriff’s department policies. County Attorney Ladd said that since Wadena County has this policy, it is appropriate that they use this policy in the case of Danny.

County Attorney Ladd brought another matter before the board. This one involved the Child Protection cases (CHIPS) that the county handles. Ladd said that a situation had arisen recently during which she believed that the county was “held hostage” by court orders to pay multiple attorneys during a CHIPs case.

Ladd asked the county board to consider language she proposed as an amendment to the board’s current policy adopted in 2008 on paying court-appointed private attorneys for their work on CHIPs cases.

The amendment said: “After the first appointment of counsel is made under the payment structure previously authorized by the Board, any subsequent appointments that are made in CHIPS cases, that are done so in accordance with the law, shall be paid at the hourly rate of $75.00, which is the hourly rate the County pays for other legal appointments.”

In order for this language to be true and correct, Ladd asked the board to raise the rate it pays court-appointed attorneys in any kind of case from the current $50 per hour, to $75 per hour. Ladd said that doing this step would bring consistency to the process.

The board approved the increase in pay and the amendment to its CHIPs policy.