Crow Wing County Community Services reports rising demand, grant-funded public-health hires and service pressures; MNChoices wait times and data systems flagged

Crow Wing County Community Services leaders reviewed programs, staffing and funding pressures at the Committee of the Whole on Sept. 16, telling commissioners the department is balancing expanded grant-funded work with persistent service demands and technology constraints.

The big picture: Kera Terry, community services director, said the department has roughly 210 full-time equivalents and is prioritizing fiscal stewardship, demonstrable results and targeted risk-taking to meet demand for services across public health, long-term care, adult services, child and family services, fraud collections and community corrections. April (business manager) summarized funding: the largest share of the departmentbudget is local levy, followed by state and then federal funding; charges for services and recoveries make up smaller shares. April said the department's total spending is in the tens of millions (estimated at roughly $48 million in discussion) and that some levy dollars fund staff and program administration rather than direct client benefits.

Public health and long-term care: Gina Hyer, public health manager, said public health has 14 staff and manages more than a dozen grants and programs, including WIC, maternal-child health, public-health emergency preparedness, and a new follow-along developmental-screening program that coordinates with WIC. She said public-health grant awards the county recently received include the Foundations of Public Health grant ($185,338) and an infant-health grant (about $151,000); a cannabis/substance-use grant of about $112,000 funded a full-time public-health nurse dedicated to pregnant and parenting mothers.…