County Moving Forward With Relocation Of Veterans Affairs Office

The Mills County Board Of Supervisors is moving forward with a plan to relocate the Mills County Veterans Affairs Office into the Mills County Annex Building.

The supervisors voted unanimously last week to move the Veterans Affairs office from its current location at 602 S. Locust St. in Glenwood to the county’s annex building at 403 Railroad Ave. Veterans Affairs will share space in the annex building with Mills County Public Health (MCPH).

The supervisors have been considering the move since staff reductions at MCPH earlier this year opened up office space in the annex building.

“No. 1, we have the room at the annex building on county property,” said county supervisor Richard Crouch. “It is zero entry on everything there once you’re out of your car, you have nothing to step up on, step over, or step into. Upkeep would be another reason. We spent probably in the neighborhood of $13,000 to $15,000 last year in putting in new concrete at the present place.

“Snow removal would be taken care down there, the grass, everything, It would be underneath one entity then - lights, electricity, heat and stuff.”

Fellow Supervisor Lonnie Mayberry echoed Crouch’s thoughts, noting the move would save taxpayer dollars, the space at the annex is large enough for both offices to “coexist’ with one another and the move wouldn’t mean a reduction in services for Mills County veterans.

“We keep getting leaned on, rightfully so. We have a job to do to keep our costs down as much as we can for the taxpayers,” Mayberry said. “I think we’re all in agreement here that the veterans deserve and will get all the benefits that they’ve been receiving and will continue to do so.  We’re not cutting any staff and we’re not cutting any services. It will continue the same way that you’re operating now when it comes to services.”

The board did hear concerns about the move from Mills County Veterans Affairs Administrator Elizabeth Richardson, who said she didn’t learn until the night before last Wednesday’s meeting that the matter was on the board’s agenda.

“We’re not worried about office size, windows or anything like that,” she said. “We just want to make sure that the veterans we serve in this community are treated respectfully and have the confidentiality and access that they need. So, we can’t be in a room with a partition - we have to have walls.

“I have to advocate for our veterans that I can do the best for them.”

Supervisor Jack Sayers said it’s not uncommon for VA and public health offices to share space. He would like to see Richardson and MCPH Administrator Katelyn Murtfield put together a plan for sharing the space.

“I would like to have Elizabeth and Katelynn work together and come out with an agreement for that space because I think there may be some differing opinions about that actual room space down there,” he said.  ‘Maybe not differing opinions, but differing expectations about the room space. So I think it’d be good for at least one of us to meet with Elizabeth and Katelyn if this does pass, to talk about which offices Veterans Affairs will get.”

No timeline has been set, but the board has discussed selling the current VA building once the move takes place. Sayers said the county has already received some tentative offers for the property in the $250,000 - $300,000 range.

Crouch said proceeds from the sale of the building could be used to pay back the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $246,000 that the federal agency said it overpaid the county related to the 2019 Missouri River flood.

“We have a situation coming up with the county where we would probably have to sell that immediately to pay off good ‘ol Uncle Sam for the 2019 flood,” Crouch said.  “They say they gave us too much money. So far, we haven’t been able to prove it differently.”

Crouch said by using proceeds from the sale of the building, the county wouldn’t have to dip into its reserve funds to pay back FEMA.