The Federal shutdown, now in its fifth week, is causing havoc in Health & Human Services (HHS).
Tuesday, Sherburne County HHS Director MaryJo Cobb told the board of commissioners there has been significant impact in her department, especially in regards to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“On Jan. 9 we got an email from the Dept. of Human Services saying in order for people to get their February SNAP benefits, we needed to have all February renewals and new applications processed by Jan. 15. That was over the weekend,” she said. “Staff went through the applications. For all the renewals, if they didn’t have all the verifications, they called everybody.”
HHS staff worked 55 hours of overtime to get everybody approved so no one would lose their February SNAP benefits. In Sherburne County, 1,485 families (3,348 people) receive SNAP benefits. There are also 226 households (628 persons) affected in the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIB) that receive SNAP.
“As it stands, if the shutdown continues there will be no food stamps in March,” she said. “That’s a concern for everybody.”
Cobb said the state budget currently has enough money to cover the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program through April, even though federal money is involved.
“So the most vulnerable kids and moms will still have their WIC,” she said. “However, I read somewhere for stores that have to renew their eligibility to accept WIC, that can’t be done if it comes up during this time. So it’s possible that some stores might lose their ability to take WIC until the government shutdown is over.”
Cobb said HHS also receives a monthly administrative amount from the federal government between $30,000 and $37,000. But the shutdown could affect that payment.
“We received our January payment. We don’t know if we’ll get February or March,” she said. “I’m hoping that those will be retroactive and we’ll get them eventually.”
Other Business
The board approved a contract with Steinbrecher Companies, Inc. to do a solid waste cleanup of a property at 16768 205th Ave. NW in Big Lake.
Solid Waste Administrator Dave Lucas said the issue has been ongoing for years, with a complaint filed in November, 2016.
Since then, county staff has followed procedure in trying to obtain voluntary compliance. After exhausting all avenues for voluntary compliance, the case was sent to the county attorney’s office. The case was pursued both civilly and criminally due to the extensive nature of the violations.
A court order was issued Jan. 4, 2019 permitting the county to enter on the defendant’s property, Justin Rodriguez, for the purpose of abating the violations, said Lucas.
Although Steinbrecher’s estimate is $33.875, the contract has a “not to exceed” amount of $50,000 in case there are hidden issues that might be encountered during the cleanup.
The abatement cost will be assessed back to the property.
