A local transportation program that gets veterans to medical appointments outside the community could be in jeopardy.

Koochiching County commissioners this week accepted a state grant for county veterans service office community outreach, but said they will ask the 2013 Legislature to consider refunding the program.

The grant of $2,298 will be used in Koochiching County to help fund a program that assists local veterans with transportation to medical services outside the county.

The grant is the last of its kind, according to county Administrative Director Teresa Jaksa, unless the Legislature agrees to fund it again through the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We hope to convince them to put it back in place,” Jaksa told the board. “We need to find funding in 2014 to continue the service.”

Commissioner Rob Ecklund suggested the board bring the transportation needs of local veterans to the local lawmakers.

Board Chairman Brian McBride said veterans programs statewide are struggling for funding. “I think there will be a lot of veterans issues to come before the Legislature.”

The program, previously operated by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2948, was taken over by the county in 2011 when the county purchased a van and developed a roster of volunteer drivers, who are paid a small stipend.

A grant of $35,000 from the MDVA in 2011 has helped to fund the program, but the grants available for transportation have been eliminated, county Veterans Service Officer Kathy Sikkila told The Journal this week.

The grant accepted by the county board this week is a one-time operational grant that was divided evenly among all 87 Minnesota counties, she said.

“What will happen from here on out, I have no idea,” said Sikkila.

The service is valuable to veterans, Jaksa told the board. Sikkila estimated that, on average, 15 veterans use the service each month for transportation to VA Medical Center appointments.

“We’re a long ways away from Minneapolis,” she said, adding that some elderly vets no longer drive and the cost of gas also plays a role in their ability to get to the appointments.

“This concerns me immensely,” said Sikkila. “I just don’t know what direction to go in. Maybe we look at grants from private foundations or maybe somebody here can step in and give a donation.”

Transportation to medical facilities outside the community is a concern not only for veterans, said Sikkila, but also for the rest of the county’s aging population. “But I must focus my concern on the veterans and aging veterans that need help getting to medical appointments,” she said.

Veterans who take the two-day round trip from the Falls to the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis have a place to stay overnight, free of charge, said Sikkila. The transportation service includes a telephone that accompanies the van that is paid by the Littlefork VFW Post 9641.

Sikkila noted that many of the volunteer drivers are veterans, but one is not and one is a spouse of a deceased veteran. “I am so thankful for our drivers,” she said.

 

Other county business

The county board also this week set its legislative priorities for 2013, as requested by the Arrowhead Counties Association, of which Koochiching is a member.

The ACA asked its members to rank on a scale of 1-3 its priorities.

Ranking No. 1 for Koochiching commissioners are: preserving payment in lieu of taxes from the state; Wetland Conservation Act changes and exemptions; restoring the homestead credit; conservation easement rules; rural transportation funding; Veterans Affairs mileage reimbursement; shoreland regulation rule rewrites; TXT4LIFE youth suicide prevention funding; wind, solar, biomass and energy policy; and rule making versus legislative action for developing new state rules.

The board also heard that a conditional use deed conveyance from the county to International Falls for an animal holding facility has been completed.