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OCT 10 1904 BOOK 58 FAGS George Rairden, representing the membership of the American Legion, objected to the reduction in service in the north county. He explained that after the resignation of Jerry Cook, the Veterans Office is down to a two-man staff, which is not sufficient to handle the case load. There are a tremendous number of veterans living in Indian River County and more moving in every year, and he believed another officer was needed immediately, because the sooner he is hired, the sooner he can be trained. Any delay will cause a bigger and bigger backlog of cases. Mr. Rairden figured that the salary of an additional officer to serve in the north county area would work out to a maximum of 9� per week per veteran. Administrator Wright explained that when there is a vacancy in a position of this type, he takes a little time to analyze whether we need a replacement. At no time has he advocated not filling this position, but it has been vacant only 3-4 weeks, and it is possible we may want to fill it with another type of employee. Once that determination is made, a recommendation will be made to the Board. The Administrator felt that they could start providing some services to the north county area almost immediately, and emphasized he is not advocating any reduction in services; this is a temporary situation. Mr. Rairden wished that Administrator Wright would visit the veterans service office in Sebastian or Fellsmere and take note of the many veterans, some in wheelchairs, waiting in crowded conditions in a building without air conditioning. The Commissioners were in complete agreement that they wanted to see adequate service restored in the north county as rapidly as possible. Administrator Wright stated he would have OMB Director Barton evaluate the position this week, but pointed out that 50 � � s