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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Mental health headlines final debate for county commissioner

Marcus White
Posted 10/31/18

COOK— Addressing mental illness proved a hot topic during the final candidate forum between retired deputy sheriff Bernie Mettler and longtime educator Paul McDonald, held Tuesday night in Cook. …

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Mental health headlines final debate for county commissioner

Posted

COOK— Addressing mental illness proved a hot topic during the final candidate forum between retired deputy sheriff Bernie Mettler and longtime educator Paul McDonald, held Tuesday night in Cook.

The debate, sponsored by the Cook Chamber of Commerce ,attracted about a dozen voters, along with an undetermined number of online viewers who watched on a Facebook live-stream.

The two candidates are vying to replace Fourth District Commissioner Tom Rukavina, who is retiring from the St. Louis County board after a single term due to health reasons.

McDonald, who lives in Ely, voiced continued support for his plan to convert portions of rural hospitals in Cook and Ely to house mental health patients and encourage those facilities to hire mental health nurses and other specially-trained staff.

“We’ve turned a blind eye to it, we can’t do that any longer,” McDonald said. “Beds for mental health patients are scarce. Hibbing and Duluth have the beds, but they are almost always full.”

Mettler, who hails from Embarrass, took McDonald to task over his plan, stating his opponent was oversimplifying a complex problem. “I don’t think it is as simple as putting some people in a hospital for a nurse to watch,” he said. “The problem comes when they are a danger to themselves and they need more supervision. It is a much more complicated issue than we care to address.”

Mettler added people who needed crisis care would still need to go to larger facilities for advanced care.

Both candidates were also asked about how they felt about addressing violence in schools and how it was related to mental illness.

Both Mettler and McDonald said they supported expanding the School Resource Officer program to have an officer in every school, and not split across schools as is the case in St. Louis County School District facilities.

McDonald added that the county should put more money towards partnerships with Range Mental Health to expand access to mental health care professionals in schools.

Mettler said solving the stigma of mental illness in violence should be addressed through education both in schools and in homes, so people know when to get help.

Mining and job creation

Both candidates expressed support for proposed copper-nickel mining projects, especially the PolyMet project.

“I am a proponent of mining. I always have been,” McDonald said. “I wouldn’t be here today if my parents didn’t come here for mining. We’ve been mining here for 135 years, and I think we can mine here for at least another century. Our country was built on exploration. They’re looking for gold and other precious metals. Job creation is waiting to happen at PolyMet. It’s getting close. It will bring more royalties into the county coffers.”

While Mettler agreed on the PolyMet project, he pointed out that county commissioners had little to do with the approval process for mines, and said to get jobs on the Iron Range now, the county needed to invest in broadband internet access.

“Why isn’t the county leading this charge?” Mettler asked. “Why aren’t we looking at this as a county-wide project. It’s like phones or electricity.”

Mettler proposed the county could install and own broadband cable and lease out the usage to varying companies on the premise that county residents would benefit from fair pricing.

On job creation, both candidates also expressed support for the Vermilion Trail project and said it would bring revenues into small businesses and lakeside resorts.

Other issues

Both commissioners balked at a question on whether the county should be divided in two. Mettler called the idea a “romantic notion” with both he and McDonald saying there was no financially viable way to split the county in half.

On housing, Mettler said the problem of affordable housing should be addressed by cities and not by the county. He added, “if you have a job and you have the credit, you should be able to build a house.”

McDonald said communities should work with the county to look at all of the options available to them to build suitable housing for their location.