Finstad and Olson speak to veterans, commissioners
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FAIRMONT - Thursday was a busy day in Fairmont for both U.S. Representative Brad Finstad and State Representative Bjorn Olson, who hosted a forum for veterans at the American Legion and a meeting with three Martin County County commissioners and two representatives from the Sheriff's Office on county issues.
Opening the veterans meeting, Finstad said he and Olson have a strong state-national partnership. Finstad said he wants to listen and hear what is going on in the veterans community, and speak on what’s going on in Congress.
To start, he spoke on the Richard Starr Act and the provisions that were within it. He said pieces on tinnitus and sleep apnea would set a bad precedent on what levels of disability would qualify for help. Speaking to the response levels he received from people concerned about this, he said this is one of those moments where he saw this is how government is done, as he heard from people and came back to Congress saying he could not vote for it.
An issue Finstad raised concern about is efficiency in getting assistance and tasks done for veterans. He said in the time they had the forum, he could get a car loan submitted and approved on the phone, but simple things with veterans systems take a while. Regarding current systems, he said some of the computers things are run on couldn’t even run Oregon Trail.
Brown County Director of Veterans Greg Peterson raised multiple issues, including money taken out from certain counties' established Veterans Service Office funding due to a decrease in the population of veterans and that money being used elsewhere; National Guardsmen and women, gold star mothers and widows not being included in counting people who need assistance from the veterans service offices, and needing extra PTO to cover veterans medical needs.
Olson said grants for CVSOs need to be taken care of and money taken off the top from CVSOs is highway robbery. Olson said he liked the ideas Peterson presented and encouraged him to send him more information after the forum.
On medical care, Martin County Veterans Service Officer Doug Landsteiner said Medicare pays faster, so medical bills will often be billed to Medicare unless they make it absolutely clear you want it billed to the VA. Landsteiner said not all vendors for veterans’ health use the same software, so that creates problems with transferring records or having records available between vendors.
Finstad said common sense is not common, and equalized the current system to buying 100 cars for a company and making each 10 cars different brands instead of using 100 of the same car. He said it should all be the same to work with.
After meeting with the veterans, Finstad and Olson sat down with County Commissioners Joe Loughmiller, Kevin Kristenson and Richard Koons, as well as Chief Deputy Matt Owens and Investigator Clinton Cole. To start off with, Koons spoke about the work on the current justice center and the current situation regarding a potential new justice center.
"There are some staunch supporters that wanted a new justice center," Koons said. "Without the state putting a major investment in, there’s no way I will ever vote for moving to this."
The conversation then transferred over to crime. Koons spoke on what he has seen, living in a rural area.
"The Sherburn Welcome PD can pick somebody up in Sherburn Welcome or the area, and bring them over here," he said. "By the time they get done doing their paperwork here, that person is back in Welcome or Sherburn before they are. The part of the reason our numbers are down in a big way is the legalization of marijuana because a lot of it was probation violations for drugs."
Finstad said the last murder in Mankato was a drug deal on THC vapes, where youths killed a youth. He asked if the vapes issue is being seen in Fairmont as well.
"We just had a meeting with our drug task force, and they said the majority of their violent crime on drugs has to do with vapes," Owens said. "That is what they’re seeing. They’re primarily based out of Mankato, like you’re saying, but it’s bleeding over into here as well."
When Finstad touched on businesses leaving the state, like a steel mill going to Iowa and a soybean-crushing plant to Wisconsin, Koons shared what he found when he was doing title work in Iowa.
"I said to the license girl, 'How many Minnesota people moving out of Minnesota into Iowa are you having come in here on a regular basis?'" Koons said. "Four to five a week, four to five a week leaving this state to go to Iowa. It drives me nuts."
Mental health was also touched on, as Koons and Owens said there are not nearly enough beds for people who need them. Finstad said there is work being done potentially on a site in Olmsted County, so there's a closer spot than there is now.
"When we have underage minors, where do we got to go now?" Koons said. "Red Wing, Willmar, Fargo. They’re all over halfway up the state."
"That’s you kicking a squad off the road in a staff that’s already under-staffed on a 10-hour round trip," Finstad said.
"Bottom line is we're taking our staff out to go do it," Owens added.
One of the last pieces touched on is railroad tracks, with Koons asking if Finstad or Olson can provide assistance with an ongoing issue.
"Did you go to the fair this year?" Koons asked. "Did you drive over the tracks? You drive over that at 30 mile an hour, which is a 40 miles-an-hour road there; you will catch air, and you will bottom out if you have a low car. It is atrocious."
Loughmiller said they have continued to reach out to the railroad and have had constituents with concerns call the railroad. Finstad asked for a copy of the letter that was sent to the railroad so he can put a letter in as well and send it.