The vacant county coroner position was the priority discussion at the Pope County Board of Commissioners meeting this week. 

The position has been advertised for a couple of weeks, and no viable candidates have applied. Minnesota is in the minority of states that require a medical doctor to serve as coroner. Other states allow the county prosecutor or sheriff to act as such. 

The county opted to continue to advertise for the position. The other option is to hire the Anoka County Medical Examiner or Midwest Medical Examiners Office. The latter is a more expensive option and would not have a local person in the position. The position has been advertised in the Pope County Tribune, on the county website and directly solicited to medical facilities for qualified staff. 

County Administrator Kappmeyer stated at the meeting that there is a strong preference for a local doctor “as it is a superior choice.” He is also going to further investigate what Midwest would cost and their procedures in aiding outlying counties.

The Minnesota Association for County Health Programs, which includes PrimeWest Health, has been party to a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Health. The lawsuit, filed in February, is regarding the DHS’ 2022 Minnesota Health Care Program Procurement plan. The current state statutes governing Medical Assistance plans gives counties the authority to choose whether to implement either a prepaid managed care or county-based purchasing health plan. There are three members of MACHP included in the suit: PrimeWest Health, Itasca Medical Care and South Country Health Alliance. The three cover 22 counties in the state. 

The 2022 procurement plan states that DHS will require all counties to have a PMAP plan and that they may select county-based plans if they meet additional DHS criteria. The suit argues that DHS cannot implement PMAP plans in counties that have opted for county-based plans, and further, that DHS must fund the county-based plans. 

Pope County is a member of PrimeWest Health and according to Commissioner Wagner a summary judgment ruling should be coming soon. 

In other business, the board approved a Joint Powers Agreement with the probation department and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The bills were approved, and the commissioners went through their committee updates. 

Kappmeyer reminded the commissioners that August will mark the beginning of the budgeting process. The facilities committee did a walk-through of the project on the annex building and commented how great everything looks. The HRA/EDA will be hearing the report from the engineer doing the examination on the status of the Fremad Building in the next couple of weeks. 

The tech committee representative told the board about the progress of the broadband project and discussed flagging done south of Glenwood and work going on north of Glenwood. The planning and zoning committee held a hearing on winter feeding and pasture permits and the length that the permit is issued for. The permit is currently issued for one year and the committee is seeking a longer term to alleviate some of the details that go into issuing the permits continuously.