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Commission Minutes—May 6, 2024 5857 <br />Grand Forks County is the first Veterans Treatment Court program in North Dakota and it was <br />started in May of 2023. She said there is no data yet available on the outcomes of the program. Mrs. <br />Scherling asked why the program only applies to Veterans and not a broader population. Ms. <br />Cleveland said State and Fedal laws have changed and identified specialty docket courts. <br />Mr. Peterson said a few years ago, he and Mrs. Scherling spent time observing Clay County's <br />Veterans Treatment Court. He said he is broadly supportive of specialty courts, however, when <br />looking at the numbers that would meet the criteria for the program, not many people would benefit. <br />He said the reason Veterans Treatment Court has not been pursued in the past was because of <br />number of applicable participants. He said knowing the actual number of people who would <br />participate would help. Ms. Cleveland said the maximum number of participants for the first cohort <br />would be twelve. She said you don't know how many people will be willing to participate until the <br />program is ready. She said Grand Forks County has half the population of Cass County and was <br />able to fill all twelve spots in their first cohort. <br />Mr. Peterson said the State's Attorney would need at least two people trained on the program, he <br />asked how much training time is required. Cass County State's Attorney, Kim Hegvik was present <br />and said many training hours would be needed. She said two people from Cass County are currently <br />in Veterans Treatment Court in Grand Forks Court. Ms. Hegvik said Veterans Court needs are much <br />different than Drug Court needs. She said Veteran mentors are needed for Veterans Treatment <br />Court and Veterans Court would not take away from Drug Court as they serve different purposes. <br />Ms. Hegvik said she does not believe her office can absorb the extra staffing time required to assist <br />in Veterans Treatment Court. <br />Mr. Grindberg suggested a group be organized to further discuss the details of Veterans Treatment <br />Court including Judge Cleveland, the State's Attorney's Office, Veterans Service Office, and Sheriff's <br />Office. He said he would like assurances that the State is going to support the capacity and costs for <br />reimbursement of the program so that the costs do no fall back on Cass County taxpayers. <br />10. COUNTY PLANNING, Joint Powers Agreement with City of West Fargo for 911 ET addressing <br />approved <br />County Planner, Cole Hansen was present and said Cass County has a Joint Powers Agreement <br />JPA) with the City of West Fargo for 911 addressing within West Fargo's extra territorial jurisdiction <br />ET). He said the request today is for the Board to approve an updated JPA to reflect the current <br />procedures for 911 ET addressing. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mr. Breitling moved and Mr. Kapitan seconded to approve JPA between Cass <br />County and the City of West Fargo for 911 ET addressing. On roll call vote, the <br />motion carried unanimously. <br />11. COUNTY PLANNING, Joint Powers Agreement with City of Horace for 911 ET addressing <br />approved <br />Mr. Hansen said Cass County does not have a JPA with the City of Horace for 911 ET addressing, <br />however provides 911 addressing services. He said the request today is to approve the JPA for 911 <br />addressing in the City of Horace's ET to formalize the current process and ensure the language is <br />the same between other JPAs. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mr. Breitling moved and Mr. Kapitan seconded to approve the JPA between <br />Cass County and the City of Horace for 911 ET addressing. On roll call vote, the <br />motion carried unanimously.