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Somebody once said the only sure things in life are death and taxes and last week the County Board spent a little time talking about one of these. To address mounting costs of indigent burials, the county commissioners revised the county burial policy.

Minnesota counties are responsible when someone dies in the county and has no provisions and no assets for proper cremation services or in-ground burial. County-funded burials have become a spendy item, rising from a total of about $30,000 in 2007 to $36,000 last year.

The new policy adopted by the Board caps expenditures on what the county will provide and also prioritizes how the county will assign the deceased's assets to first cover disposition costs.

Nancy Dahlin, HHS Director, told the commissioners that she and staff had "quite a discussion" about the burial policy considering all the issues that can arise and the sensitive nature of what is, by law, a county obligation.

Under the new language adopted the county won't be supporting any "upgrades" or add-ons to the policy burial package and county costs are now maxed out at $2,500 (cremation at $1,500).

Commissioner George McMahon asked Dahlin to make sure that veterans who receive markers through the Veterans Administration don't get those markers counted against their burial costs or considered as "upgrades." Dahlin said she'll get that wording in.

Chisago County taxpayers paid for 20 burials in 2010, and 19 in 2009. The 2011 total so far is in line with last year's.

Jail needs

The sheriff and his chief deputy came to ask for approval to retool stagnant planning for a new jail.

Funds for this phase of the space study come from the sheriff's canteen fund and are in the department budget, Sheriff Rick Duncan assured the Board. He said it should be understood he is not asking to build a jail. All he needs is to look into what could be a next phase to address Minnesota Dept. of Corrections issues with the existing jail site.

Following the last election which seated some new commissioners, the new jail project was put on the back burner when commissioners did not support funding of the phase for a project that was almost totally designed. The new 9-1-1 center is being built on the site the county purchased for a law enforcement center.

Sheriff Duncan said he keeps fending off DOC deadlines instead of putting together a plan. The last communication he had with regulators was that jail bunking would be reduced and the jail would be reclassified allowing only for 90-day holding, as of November 1. He's already negotiated two extensions to address state concerns-- one from July 1 and the latest was from an August 1 deadline. Sheriff Duncan said he doesn't know how much longer he can stall state inspectors from enforcing costly sanctions.

There are programming and recreational shortcomings at the county jail the state is not willing to overlook. The 9-1-1 comm center staff is relocating to the new communications building under construction, but the county can not simply transform the old 9-1-1 space into jail needs. Chief Deputy Chad Worden explained the 9-1-1 console room is not part of the jail's secure perimeter. The comm space also has to remain useable as a "command module" and offenders and/or guards can't be easily moved. The chief deputy also reminded the Board that if there's substantial alterations done then Americans with Disability accessibility and fire/air quality standards will have to met, and this won't be easily accomplished.

The vote to go ahead with the sheriff's request was 3-2, with Lora Walker and Ben Montzka opposed.

Commissioner Mike Robinson chastized them and stated the two are "playing political games" by just voting no and providing no options.

The commissioners also approved moving forward on re-financing housing bonds that were sold for projects in 2003. Interest rates are more attractive now and the Board was told the county can avoid spending thousands of dollars if the debt is repackaged. Chris Eng, HRA/EDA Director, said the hope is to get down to around 3.6 percent.

The sale of approximately $1.3 million in G.O. Bonds would take place in early January.

The HRA/EDA and commissioners will have to hold a joint meeting, which is being scheduled.

Ehlers & Associates financial advisor Carolyn Drude explained that the sale has to earn at least three percentage points improvement for this type of (crossover) refunding to move forward, and, "We've seen some very fine rates for refunding purposes."

Get involved

There are vacancies coming up on a number of citizen boards and commissions: a three year term on the East Central Regional Library Board for an at-large member; the Extension Committee has expiring seats for commissioner Districts 2 and 5 (three year terms); the HRA/EDA District 3 seat is expiring and this is a five year appointment and two seats on the Park Board expire-- District 1 and Dist. 3. These are three year posts.

Check the county website or contact county administration, or talk with your commissioner if you are interested in serving.

Employees are having some issues with allowances for equipment and expenses, and the new county administrator said he is excited to take a look at the big picture and give recommendations on some lingering personnel issues. County Administrator Bruce Messelt was attending his first County Board meeting and he recommended delaying a couple agenda actions related to staff.

One item the Board did authorize was work boot allowance for the highway department. Reportedly the request previously was approved verbally by the prior administrator, and Messelt explained he'd like to be "formalizing" actions like this. The commissioners had no problem with providing boots as a work safety item.

Another issue is employee healthclub membership reimbursement.

Messelt recommended not taking action and the item was tabled to Dec. 7 so Messelt can review issues with union officers. The motor pool item was also delayed until vehicle use and assignments are reviewed.

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