CADILAC — Wexford County Commissioners making sure they have a back-up plan so veterans in the county will still get the support they need, thanks to an agreement with Kalkaska County.
Commissioners agreed to an agreement to have Kalkaska County’s Department of Veterans Affairs to assist veterans in Wexford County.
Wexford County Administrator Joe Porterfield said it’s a safety net.
“I don’t know that we’ll ever have to utilize the team from Kalkaska County. But we thought we would approve that contract just in case the need did arise. We don’t want to get in a situation where we’re in a place where we can’t provide services to our veterans, said Porterfield.
Wexford County’s Veterans Affairs Department was forced to shut down for about a month last November, after it was left without the staff needed to run the department, including a director.
The former director and other staff resigned at the end of October. Porterfield said they have hired a new director, Kent Myers. Myers has agreed to a one year term and they have hired additional staff.
“With our veteran service director, if he gets behind, he can have the claims paperwork filled out here and transmitted by encrypted email to Kalkaska County. And she could just file the claims from that location.
Porterfield said that means that veterans would not have to travel to Kalkaska County for help.
The agreement would reimburse Kalkaska County $26 per hour and is there, just in case there’s a backlog of cases during this transitional period.