What's Up With the Pharmacy Contract at Chris Jensen?

At the Committee of the Whole meeting on March 18th, Board members discussed whether to keep the current pharmacy contract with Falk's Pharmacy or go with PharMerica, a company that apparently submitted a bid that could save the county $100,000 a year for better service ! Their new County Administrator, Al Mitchell, strongly supported going with PharMerica, as did three of the seven Board members. This seems like kind of a no-brainer. See video footage of Chris Jensen Administrator, Norma Brendle telling the Board what she thinks.

Very interesting and somewhat of a mystery as to why folks who are usually VERY interesting in saving the county money (remember the famous food and beverage inspection issue-claiming to need to save money by sending this duty back to "state inspectors" who are not exactly "available" the same way that local folks were) now think we should "go local" at significant increased cost! Contact your Commissioner to see what the deal is! This will likely be re-visited in coming months.

County Board Considers "Contracting Out" Management of Chris Jenson Nursing Home

At their Committee of the Whole meeting on April 1st the County Board discussed contracting out the management of the Chris Jenson Nursing Home to Ecumen Services, Inc.

This contract would be at the cost of $300,000 a year ($25,000/month)

Staff from Ecumen indicated that typically 80% of nursing home costs are salaries. They indicated they will take a close look at the present budget and compare what is happening at Chris Jensen with other nursing homes. They will evaluate all areas of Chris Jensen. They will prioritize identifying a leader and also having a good relationship with the county board. When asked about management of other county-run nursing homes they indicated they presently manage homes in Lake County and also in Grand Rapids. (among others) . They will focus on trying to "maximize reimbursements".

This contract will not have any "direct effect" on other current contracts at Chris Jenson (according to County Administrator Mitchell). In the future, however, other contracts might be re-considered to create cost savings. (Mitchell)

The expectation is that the Board will find out how to run Chris Jensen more efficiently. This should include a variety of areas. (Mitchell says we need someone to look at the "long term plan")

Committee of the Whole voted to send this to the Board without recommendation.

County Board Gets Update on “Minnesota’s Shrinking Government”

At their Committee of the Whole meeting on March 11th the Board heard from a consultant to the “Property Tax Study Group” which is made up of counties, cities and school districts in the Minneapolis/St Paul and Duluth area. The presentation clearly articulated how the State of MN has increasingly taken a greater share of taxes with counties and other local governments getting a lesser share. At the same time, they are mandated to increasingly provide more and more services to residents.

The Board struggled with how to get this information out to taxpayers/residents in a way that they could understand. They were frustrated that the press did not stick around for this meeting where the presentation occurred. (note to the Board: this presentation was on the agenda for 11am so if you had figured out how to actually have it at that time maybe the press would have reported on it!)

Commissioner Fink suggested that this presentation be timed to coincide with when people pay their property taxes in the hopes that folks will pay attention then. He indicated, “When the public is interested we ought to tell them what they need to know”.
Commissioner Kron suggested they send out a newsletter with the headline, “State raises your property taxes”.

The Auditor indicated that property tax statements are going out right now so if they wanted to draw attention to this issue now might be the time.

Commissioners asked appropriate questions and participated in a respectful discussion about this issue.

Request for Free Conveyance of Tax Forfeited Land by the Duluth Board of Education

A representative from the Duluth Public Schools came asking that the county convey a piece of property (110 feet x 125 feet) by Lester Park School to the District. They want to put a parking lot there. Commissioner Fink spoke against this, indicating that he was concerned about the lost revenue to the county in that the District was not going to break ground until 2011. Debate ensued and the rest of the commissioners thought it made sense to go ahead now, versus making the District come back later. Fink than launched into a story about property in his district that belongs to the school district and how maybe the county might want to make a trade down the road. He was unhappy that folks had made light of the small amount of revenue that SLC was getting from the Lester Park area property and then everyone apologized for having said this. (Commissioner Forsman had done a little math and figured out how much it had cost them in employee time while they debated this issue)

Commissioner Nelson Recommended to Serve on the Advisory Committee to the Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area

At their next Board meeting, Commissioners will vote to appoint Commissioner Nelson to this committee.

Respectful Workplace Training

Al Mitchell encouraged all commissioners to attend this training. So far O’Neill is the one commissioner who has attended. Encourage your commissioner to go!

Duluth Budgeteer Weighs in on the Alan Mitchell Appointment

Our View: Where's the logic?

Budgeteer News
Published Friday, February 08, 2008

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What are five of the seven St. Louis County commissioners thinking?

We refer to the five — Dennis Fink, Bill Kron, Mike Forsman, Keith Nelson and Steve Raukar — who voted in favor of hiring former (defeated in last year’s election) County Attorney Alan Mitchell to serve as interim County Administrator at a salary of $2,605.50 per week. In addition to his generous salary, Mitchell will receive full health-care benefits, a county car and compensation for his daily trip from his home in Hibbing.

Granted, the position of County Administrator is important. The county employs approximately 2,000 people. It has a massive budget.

It also has two deputy county administrators: Lisa Potswald and Gary Eckenberg, both whom applied for the interim position along with Mitchell and at least one other person.

Let’s ponder this. Here are two people who have been assisting the current county administrator (Dana Frey, who’s leaving for a job in Bosnia) with all the tasks of running the county for years (Eckenberg for more than four years, Potswald for two and a half).

If the commissioners find the two deputy county administrators so incompetent, then their next step should be to fire both of them. Obviously, they can’t do their jobs, otherwise the board wouldn’t have needed to hire an attorney to do the administrator’s job.

Then there’s the money.

At the county’s current pay scale, we understand that it would take a new county administrator nine years to reach what they’re paying Alan Mitchell to fill in until someone suitable is found. St. Louis County has never even had a county administrator stay long enough to earn that kind of money.

Why would you not save yourselves some money, at least in the interim, and appoint one of the existing deputies — who likely is competent, otherwise he or she would have been fired before, we assume — to fill the position until you’re ready to hire someone permanently?

It boggles the mind.

Here’s the clincher: Mitchell also has agreed not to apply for the permanent county administrator post as part of the agreement.

Huh? Do they want us to applaud that?

If he’s that good — so good that Commissioner Forsman started recruiting him as soon as he heard Dana Frey was leaving — then he darn well ought to be allowed to apply for the job.

Thumbs down to the fabulous five who voted for this gross misuse of taxpayer funds.

And kudos to Commissioners Peg Sweeney and Steve O’Neil for sticking to their guns and voting against this blatant cronyism.*

* Cronyism is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as “favoritism shown to old friends without regard for their qualifications, as in political appointments to office.”