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NORTH DAKOTA VETERANS' AFFAIRS CHIEF PUT ON

ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE -- "He just has no

management abilities in that office."

 

 

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N.D. Veterans Affairs head put on administrative leave

Janell Cole, Forum Communications Co.

BISMARCK – State Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Bob Hanson has been put on administrative leave with pay after eight months of problems, the chairman of his governing board said Tuesday.

“He just has no management abilities in that office,” said Rudy Jenson of Valley City, chairman of the state Administrative Committee on Veteran Affairs, which oversees Hanson’s office, the state Department of Veterans Affairs.

There’s no question Hanson is a dedicated advocate for veterans, Jenson said, but “he doesn’t do a good job in the office. Out in the field, he does an outstanding job.”

Performance problems include duties the committee expressly asked Hanson to do “and it wasn’t done,” he said.

Jenson said Hanson’s leave began Thursday after a five-member subcommittee that oversees Hanson’s office met Wednesday evening and took action.

“We’re not saying he’s out; we’re not saying he’s in,” Jenson said Tuesday. He’ll call a special meeting of the full 15-member administrative committee when he gets the required four written requests from committee members. Otherwise, the committee meets quarterly.

The state VA’s main office is in Fargo. Hanson, a former state treasurer and state tax commissioner, has been commissioner since Sept. 1, 2004. He maintains his home in Bismarck but commutes to Fargo, where he has an apartment, he said Tuesday.

Hanson declined to comment on the alleged management problems and said he wants to meet with the full administrative committee to discuss its concerns.

Jenson said the problems are a longstanding issue between the committee and Hanson. Committee minutes mention a commissioner’s evaluation panel “still working on issues within the department” at its January meeting. The subject is also in the April and August minutes.

“This has been going on for about eight months,” Jenson said. “We identified it as a problem a long time ago.”

The committee asked state government’s Human Resource Management Services to send mediators to meet with Hanson and the VA office’s employees earlier this year. But Jenson said mediators won’t disclose results and committee members don’t know whether progress was made.

At the committee’s Aug. 4 meeting, a motion for a vote of confidence in Hanson failed on a 6-6 tie. Three members were absent. The vote came shortly after the committee voted 8-4 to grant Hanson a 4 percent salary increase, the amount the Legislature enacted for all state employees.

Jenson referred additional questions about Hanson’s management issues to Dean Overby of Wahpeton, chairman of the subcommittee that put Hanson on leave last week.

Overby declined comment, saying the committee is working on a news release.

Cole works for Forum Communications Co., which owns The Forum. She can be reached at (701) 224-0830 or forumcap@btinet.net

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Larry Scott  --