PINE CITY
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017 VOL. 132 NO. 15 www.pinecitymn.com $1.00
ON THE RUN: Dragon boys, girls track teams both take first at Cool Dragon Invite. P12
MIKE GAINOR | THE PIONEER
Absolutely egg-static for annual Easter egg hunt Parents were nearly as excited as their kids for the annual community Easter celebration and Easter egg hunt at Robinson Park this past Saturday. More photos from the event on Page 20.
Out of home placement comes Pine City residents at high cost to Pine County report thefts, speed, BY MIKE GAINOR EDITOR@PINECITYMN.COM
A large portion of taxpayer dollars are spent on out-of-home placement for Pine County youth. At last week’s regular board meeting, Pine County Health and Human Services (HHS) Director Becky Foss explained that her concerns were for staff and funding. Even more revealing was her news that the 2016 HHS spending in this area was over budget by $280,000. HHS had budgeted $675,000 for outof-home placement. She noted two items in out-ofhome placement budget which caused the over budget situation. They were non-tribal family style foster care. It exceeded its $235,000 budget by $48,000. Tribal placements had a budget of $187,500. It exceeded its budget by $297,000. “We won’t make our out-of-home placement budget this year,” Foss said. She said social workers in the department should ideally be handling no more than seven or eight cases. They have nearly double that
number. Most of the out-of-home placements were ordered because of severe neglect, mental health and parental drug use, Foss shared. In her presentation, she stated that if the county’s HHS department were to follow the recommended caseload size, they would need to hire four additional social workers and one supervisor. SHERIFF’S RECORD MANAGEMENT Pine County has been sharing and contracting a records management system (RMS) jointly with St. Louis and several other counties. Some of the functions of the computer software system are that it gives dispatch a means of keeping track of incidents and makes it available to law enforcement within the system and also provides access to the National Crime Information Center. Some of the counties began pulling out of the joint information system leaving those remaining with a larger share of the bill. Pine County has been exploring a means to remove themselves from the current Nemesis system, retain their previous records and possibly
reduce the cost. At last week’s regular meeting, Pine County Sheriff Jeff Nelson said they’ve been looking for a system more beneficial to the county for about five or six years. The group of counties sharing in the new system include Pine, Carlton, Cook, Lake and Koochiching County. Nelson said they expect to be working as a group in 9-12 months. Pine County Commissioner Steve Hallan said he was concerned that the current software system would malfunction before the new system was up and running. He asked if Zuercher, who provided the proposal for the new system would be prepared to get the package in place. The county is still under contract with the current software provider, Nelson told the board, and they would be required to service the current software system. Chairman Matt Ludwig asked if the data retained on the present system belonged to the county. Nelson assured him it did. He added that $60,000 has been set
noise complaints BY MIKE GAINOR EDITOR@PINECITYMN.COM
Pine County Sheriff’s Office deputies are responding to hundreds of police calls in Pine City each month, according to Pine County Chief Deputy Paul Widenstrom. In a report to the Pine City Council, Widenstrom said that deputies took 274 calls in January, 292 in February and 239 in March as of March 29. Some of these calls are made due to criminal activity, but most relate to medical, fire or other safety issues, Widenstrom said. He noted that there have been two burglary complaints, 23 theft complaints and 16 shoplifting complaints in Pine City in the past three months.
NO NEED TO SPEED Widenstrom said that efforts are being made to control speeding on Pine City streets. He told the city council that the solar-powered speed monitor in the southbound lane of Highway 61/Main Street by the fairgrounds would remain there permanently, to remind drivers to slow down as the speed limit drops from 45 miles per hour to 30 mph. Widenstrom also noted that deputies have been
SEE COUNTY, PAGE 8
SEE COMPLAINTS, PAGE 8
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