Wadena County board sets prices for tax forfeited land sale

At the May 24 board meeting, Wadena County Commissioners set the opening prices for the parcels of tax-forfeited land that will be offered for sale on Saturday, July 16, at 9 a.m. at the Courthouse. The prices range from 30 percent to 50 percent of the parcels’ accessed values. A list of parcels for sale can be found on the county’s website, www.co.wadena.mn.us.

Commissioners approved the splitting of some parcels and the combining of parcels to make the tax-forfeited properties as attractive as possible to potential buyers. Buyers are responsible for checking with the townships and cities where the properties are located to determine whether any liens or assessments are due on the properties.

Also at the May 24 meeting, representatives from Enbridge Energy requested that their permission to survey tax-forfeited properties be renewed. The agreement between Enbridge and the county was signed in 2014 and is set to expire in two years. Commissioners approved the renewal after consulting County Attorney Kyra Ladd.

BHH Partners architect Tony Stoll gave an update on the progress of the courthouse annex design project. Stoll said that through meetings with Ladd and Community Corrections Director Kathy Langer, the floor plan for the annex has been nearly completed. Additional changes could be made depending on where the annex building is to be built: either north of the courthouse, or west of the courthouse on property on Dayton Avenue SW currently occupied by residences.

Stoll has spoken with officials from the City of Wadena on how to resolve the county’s parking space problems. Currently, the county is short 29 spaces. With the new building, the county will be short another 11 spaces, for a total of 40. Stoll said the county needs to address the parking issue as soon as possible. According to his conversations with Dean Uselman, Stoll said that the city is “not flexible” on the parking requirements. Commissioner Bill Stearns said that the county should request a variance from the city.

After discussion, the board voted to ask Stoll to design the annex with a flat roof instead of the pitched roof Stoll recommended, because the initial construction costs of a flat roof are cheaper than a pitched metal roof. They also asked Stoll to hold off on issuing Requests for Proposals for soil borings and for lot surveys.

The board held a brief closed meeting to consider purchasing property. After the meeting the board approved a resolution to purchase the property at 21 Dayton Ave. SW for $75,000, with a closing date of July 15, 2016.

Human Services Director Tanya Leskey presented her monthly report to the board. She described the Minnesota Legislature’s failure to increase the numbers of mental health beds and the mental health care reimbursements for counties. Human services personnel throughout the state will continue to work with legislators hoping to gain beds and reimbursement increases in the 2017 session.

County human services staff gave a presentation on MNSure state insurance. Four MNSure plans are available for Minnesotans. MnSure differs from other insurance plans in the amount of paperwork required. The program is completely funded by the state and helps customers get the healthcare that they need. Local workers are not able to make certain changes and updates in customers’ files. Instead, these changes have to be made at the state level. This has led to delays and frustration for customers and workers. Also, there have been some problems with eligibility for Medical Assistance (MA) and heirs being deprived of their relative’s assets after death. People over 55 who take MA are subject to recovery of the government’s costs later on, including liens against homes and farms.

Leskey presented requests for two additional staff (a child protection social worker and an information technology specialist) and two changes to staff job classifications in human services. After discussion, the board approved all four requests. All of the personnel requests are within the human services 2016 salary budget, Leskey reported.

In other business:

o Received a presentation from Gina Dahms and Courtney Dobbertin on GIS Pictometry Connect (a program that provides information on buildings and parcels and that is available to county staff including the Planning and Zoning office and the Sheriff’s Department). 

o Approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the Sheriff’s Department and the Tri-County Healthcare/Ambulance Services for transporting jail inmates to the hospital and providing free training for jail staff.

o Approved a Jail Medical Services Agreement with MEnD, Waite Park, that will provide cost savings to the sheriff’s department while continuing to have medical services available for inmates and reduce prescription medication costs through Thrifty White Drugstore. This vendor is used by many other Minnesota counties. The agreement is effective Aug. 1, 2016.

o Accepted the resignation of full-time Jailer-Dispatcher Aaron Schiller, whose last day was May 13.