By Michael Howell
The Ravalli County Board of Commissioners has established a new position at the county, the County Veterans Service Officer. The move was made in response to a situation that developed at the local Veteran’s Affairs Center when the person handling VA cases for the Center was removed from his position. It turned out that once veterans had enlisted help they would sometimes sign over the power of attorney over their affairs to the service officer so that he could expeditiously proceed with processing their claims. When the officer’s employment was unexpectedly terminated, however, he was left still holding the power of attorney on several claims, making access to the records difficult for the agency.
Although that issue was eventually resolved, the County Commissioners stepped in to help keep the issue from ever arising again. By creating the county position, the records would become the property of the county and, by agreement, available to the Veterans Center as a member of the national Association of Veteran Service Officers. The officer will work under the supervision of the County Commissioners but will report to the Veterans Center. The new position will be a full time paid position funded by the existing mill levy passed in 2010 to fund the Valley Veterans Service Center.
“Our veterans are pretty excited about this,” said Commissioner Jeff Burrows.