Finance change for probation services

It’s possible that when the framed county map leapt from the wall at the December 8 meeting of the Waseca County Board of Commissioners, nearly landing on the head of County Attorney Rachel Cornelius, it was to ensure everyone in attendance was still paying attention. Thankfully, Cornelius was unhurt, and the meeting was able to proceed normally.

The Board’s meeting was rescheduled to Thursday from Tuesday as the board members attended the annual convention of the Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC) from December 4-7. The highlight of the meeting was an issue from this convention which the commissioners brought to their boardroom – state funding for probationary services. The State of Minnesota requires its counties to provide certain probationary services, including supervision for persons sentenced to community service, and the same regulation outlines state reimbursement for those services. Based on population and services provided, Waseca County should be receiving reimbursement at a rate of 50%, however, according to Jon Shiro from the Court Services Department, it’s been between 15 and 20 years since that’s been the case. Last year, he reported, the county received approximately 24% reimbursement. Waseca County is one of 87 counties from the AMC intending to support a collaborative work group to address this funding issue with the state legislature; commissioners voted to make their support official. The work group will aim to create an entirely new system–from the formula used to the delivery of funds–to assure funds of this type are handled correctly at the state level and that counties are reimbursed the money they’re due. Depending on the outcome of this process, Waseca County may be able to expand its probationary programs, Shiro said.

A retroactive amendment was made to Waseca County’s drug court contract with Steele County, effective from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, to account for $8,223.99 of unexpended funds from the previous year. Much of the agenda consisted of approvals to move funds between expense and reserve accounts for Public Works operations. Five such items were approved without discussion. Public Works also asked the board to approve the renewed contract identifying MnDOT as the financial bridge between Waseca County and federal aid funds. The approved contract is almost unchanged from last year, the only changes adding Title 6 language in places and allowing for the use of “e-signatures” on documents. The latter change concerned Commissioner Blair Nelson, who expressed the belief that people often don’t read things as thoroughly when “signing” them digitally. Also accepted without discussion was the annual memorial donation from the estate of Lowell Nelson, whom Sheriff Milbrath described as a “concerned citizen,” in the amount of $2,796.37.