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Veterans office wins $180,000 outreach grant; plans mobile claims unit and kiosk
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Summary
Beltrami County Veterans Service Office reported a rise in veteran clients, new state grant awards and a mobile outreach unit purchase to expand services in remote areas; county officials discussed staffing and veterans home occupancy.
Shane Gustafson, Veterans Service Officer for Beltrami County, told the Board that the office closed 2024 having served about 1,400 veterans and surviving spouses and distributed nearly $38,000 in state soldiers assistance grants and about $20,000 in direct assistance through the local DAV chapter.
Gustafson said the office secured a $180,000 Northern Warriors Outreach grant. The funds bought a custom mobile claims unit (described as an "ice castle" fish-house style trailer) equipped with Starlink and accessibility features; the unit was under construction and expected to be completed in roughly one to one-and-a-half months. The county also purchased a 2025 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup to tow the unit. The unit is intended to provide outreach in remote areas and to allow staff to work on claims where veterans are located.
Gustafson described operational changes with VA records: county staff can no longer print VA portal documents for veterans. To address that, the office installed a secure kiosk that allows veterans to log in independently and print or retrieve records. Gustafson said other counties have expressed interest in the kiosk approach.
On veterans home operations, Gustafson said the state veterans home anticipates about 100 staff in place by the end of the month, allowing resident capacity to expand to about 29–30 residents; the facility’s licensed capacity is 72 beds. He said roughly 360 veterans and spouses are on a waiting list and about 205 of those need a home today. Commissioners asked about converting part-time job postings to full time to attract applicants and about shared use of the mobile unit with other county services; Gustafson said the unit's primary purpose must be veteran outreach for the first two years per the grant, but limited coordinated use might be possible.
No formal board action was recorded during the update.
