Commissioners appoint Veterans Remains Coordinator

ALBANY — Linn County Veterans Services Officer Dee Baley-Hyder will now also serve as the county’s Veterans Remains Coordinator, Commissioners Roger Nyquist and Sherrie Sprenger agreed Tuesday morning.

Commissioner Tucker was not present.

The action was taken to comply with state law requiring each county to designate a Veterans Remains Coordinator whose duties include identifying unclaimed cremated remains in consultation with the local veterans services officer, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a national cemetery administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration.

Baley-Hyder will be responsible for ensuring the veteran is eligible and assist in seeing that person’s remains are interned at a national cemetery administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Nationally, there are an estimated 11,000 to as many as 50,000 unclaimed veterans remains annually.

In other business, the commissioners:

• Accepted a $30,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to be used by Veterans Services for veterans’ transportation programs.
• Approved a contract with Enserv Solutions to manage annual information reporting obligations for the natural gas pipeline at Millersburg.
• Approved a four-year contract for inmate dental services at the Linn County Jail with Mid-Valley Dental Associates at $240 per hour.
• Approved amending a job classification from Environmental Health Specialist III to Environmental Health Supervisor and amending pay range from 18 to Management Exempt 20.
• Approved a new job classification, Health Services and Information Technology Program Manager, pay range 26. This position combines the Mental Health Operations Manager and Information Technology Manager positions into one job.
• Reappointed District Attorney Doug Marteeny to the Law Library Committee.
• Discussed setting an agenda item for the May 14 Board meeting to consider reopening the record concerning a code text change approved in December that would require a minimum one-mile setback from property lines where new large Confined Animal Feeding Operations may be sited in the county.  

Posted 5-07-2024

Media contact: Alex Paul, Linn County Communications Officer, 541-967-3825 or email apaul@co.linn.or.us.