Service officer proposes creating veterans resources center in courthouse

Taylor County Veterans Service Officer Sheila Wundrow wants to tap into grant funds to turn the department’s waiting room space into a veterans resource center.

Wundrow presented the idea at Friday’s meeting of the veteran’s service committee. She told committee members there is grant funding available to bring additional cubicles into the current two-room office space, which is located on the ground floor of the courthouse across from the Veterans Service Office.

She said she would like to get two laptops or Chromebooks which would be available for veterans to use to check the status or file claims on their own. She said they would also be able to have telehealth appointments there for the veterans to take advantage of the better internet service available at the courthouse than in many other areas of the county.

The office had been vacant since the human resources department moved to space on the third floor of the courthouse. Last year, the buildings and grounds committee approved using it for waiting room space for veterans waiting for appointments with the veterans service officer so that they did not have to sit in the hallway.

Wundrow said they could still utilize the rear office of the space to have private discussions with veterans.

While creating a veterans resource center is a goal, she reported that she is working on rearranging the front office of the Veterans Service Office to better serve veterans.

“The flow isn’t great right now,” Wundrow said. Going forward, she said, she is looking at changes in office schedule with set times for appointments and others for walk-ins. One of the changes she would like to implement is to have no walk-ins or appointments scheduled for after 11:30 a.m. in the morning or after 4 p.m. in the afternoon.

She said this would allow the office staff to wrap up with any clients before closing the office between noon and 1 p.m. for lunch. Likewise having the last appointment spot at 4 would allow them to get out of the office on time at the end of the day.

She said the changes would make sure the office staff didn’t run past lunch or skip lunch, noting that is where they have run into issues with overtime and comp time.

Wundrow said currently they close the office from noon to 1 for lunch because she is there by herself with the benefit leave and then resignation of benefit specialist Nikki Sherman.

Committee member Larry Peterson expressed concern about having the office shut entirely over the lunch hour. He asked about the possibility of staggering lunches to keep it open for people who came in.

Under Wundrow’s plan someone walking in at 11:30 a.m. would be asked to wait until 1 p.m. or come back at 1 p.m.

“Could special arrangements be made?” ask committee member Sue Swiantek.

Wundrow said special arrangements could always be made. “We are trying to establish a routine that has not been established in a very long time,” Wundrow said.

Wundrow’s proposal was part of the report on her first month as CVSO.

She said she has been doing training with other CVSOs and passed the accreditation test, obtained VetPro access, submitted paperwork to obtain official accreditation from the Veterans Administration. This is expected to take a few months to receive.

She also reported that she has created an “office expectations and professionalism” document and created a standard operating procedure for the office.

Committee members questioned the office expectations asking if it was something that was unique to the veterans service office or if each department had something like that on their own.

Wundrow said the intent of the document is to let whoever is in the office know what is expected while they are there. “It is straight out of the Taylor County handbook,” Wundrow said of the items.

She said that the operating procedure for the office would cover such things as what needs to be done in the office to prepare for Memorial Day along with daily operations.

“I have never been a CVSO before and I have been learning,” she said.

“Do all departments have their own standing operating procedures?” Swiantek asked.

“Some do and some don’t,” said county clerk Andria Farrand.

“They may not have it written down,” said Nicole Hager, the county human resources director. “It is how each department head runs their department.”

“I would not do anything outside the handbook,” Wundrow said over concerns the departmental rules could be different from county rules.

Meeting time

During a public input portion of the meeting, one of the about a dozen veterans and community members present asked why the meetings were held during the day and if they could be held in the evening when those veterans who were still working would be able to attend.

Committee chair Cathy Lemke said the reason has to do with having to pay overtime or comp time to county staff members who have to attend them.

“I feel a lot of our meetings should be at night,” said committee member Lori Floyd. She said the hours could be adjusted to have people come in later on days with a meeting. “That’s how I would like to see things go,” she said.

“It is a discussion for the full county board,” Hager said.

Veterans benefit specialist

Board members made quick work of voting to approve starting the process to fill the vacancy in the veterans benefit position. The position has been vacant since May 22 when Sherman resigned her position with the county.

Committee members met in closed session at the end of the meeting for the purpose of conferring with legal counsel who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the board with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved regarding the personnel change and claims filed against the county.

No action was scheduled to come from that closed session at Friday’s meeting.

With Sherman’s resignation, the county does not currently have anyone with the federal certification needed to file a claim or to directly check the status of claims on the federal system.

Wundrow said she is working with other neighboring CVSO offices to ensure claims are continuing while she goes through training. In the meanwhile she said she is still able to work with veterans to prepare the claim, she said she then shares it electronically with the CVSO in Dunn County (both Taylor and Dunn County used the same VetPro computer system which allows for easier document sharing). The CVSO there reviews the claim and formally files it.

She said the process takes a little longer this way, but they are still able to service area veteran needs.

In other business committee members:

  Received notification that Wundrow would be attending the state conference and that while she was gone the office would be closed with a sign asking people needing immediate assistance to go to the county clerk’s office. She said the office number would be set up to forward calls to her cellphone while she was at the conference and she would return calls while on breaks between sessions.

137319