I wish to respond to the news article in last Sunday’s MDN concerning the Ward County Veterans Service Officer, John Crosby.

I served as the Ward County VSO from 1996 until my retirement in 2016. My administrative assistant, Kathy Holte, and I spent many years providing outstanding service to Ward County veterans and their dependents. We were very proud of the service we provided.

Contrary to Mr. Crosby’s claim, the office was not understaffed when he assumed the position in 2016. We never had wait times of more than two weeks for client appointments. Most were next day or same week. Now I’m hearing from veterans who are waiting 3-4 months for appointments. Veterans without appointments are turned away. Veterans were never under-served or told to go to another county to because I was too busy. We were busy, but never overwhelmed, and I never entertained asking the Ward County Commissioners for more help.

We just found ways to do business more effectively and efficiently. There are many office functions that the administrative assistant can do to free up time for the VSO that don’t require certification. I am still doing some of the duties I did as VSO, such as the Ward County Veterans Aid Fund Administrator, because Mr. Crosby chose not to.

Mr. Crosby notes he wants to spend more time on outreach. I spent extensive time on outreach, and still had time to do my office functions. The Minot Vet Center and North Dakota Military Outreach already conduct extensive outreach programs. What Mr. Crosby wants to do is redundant government. Do most Ward County taxpayers have the luxury of having a Ward County employee come to them when they need assistance?

The Ward County veterans population is large, but has increased less than 1% since I left (ND Department of Veterans Affairs). I had multiple years in which Ward County veterans received over $5 million in VA benefits, in large part because of my help. It wasn’t unusual to see 12-15 veterans per day, with an equal number of phone calls or emails. Some clients took five minutes, some over an hour, but I was never too busy to respond to any of them in a timely manner.

We already spend too much on unnecessary government. Ward County taxpayers can have a Chevy government or a Cadillac government. I’ve always believed in a Chevy government, and hate government waste. To expand the CVSO staff is government waste. If county taxpayers want a second VSO to do claim work so Mr. Crosby can go visiting, they need to let the commissioners know. If they don’t want to pay for Mr. Crosby’s socializing, they need to let the commissioners know that too.

Mr. Crosby needs to tailor his organizational and time-management skills to the job at hand. He needs to satisfy the requirements of the position for which he was hired.

“Visiting” is not in his job description.