To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Human Services
Staff Name and Phone Number: Mark Orlando 565-5955, Paul Dunaway 565-3673
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Veterans’ Remains Officer for Sonoma County
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Adopt a resolution to reappoint Ron Collier as the Veterans’ Remains Officer of Sonoma County for a two-year term from February 8, 2022 through February 7, 2024.
end
Executive Summary:
AB 1644 was signed into law on August 27, 2010. This law changed the California Military and Veterans Code, Sections 940-950 and formalized the requirement for a Veterans’ Remains Organization to be designated by each county Board of Supervisors.
Discussion:
Since 2012, through the voluntary effort of Mr. Collier and the agencies assisting him, Sonoma County has implemented a recognized model program in complying with AB 1644.
Ron Collier is the Board of Supervisors current appointee serving as the Veterans’ Remains Officer for Sonoma County. The volunteer position is required by AB 1644 and the Missing in America Project to ensure that that the remains of indigent/unclaimed Veterans are properly interred in a National/State Veteran Cemetery. Mr. Collier has spent over 783 hours in his volunteer position to review records of over 800 decedents retained at local cemeteries and funeral homes. With the assistance of the Sheriff/Coroner, County Recorder, Vital Statistics and the Public Administrator, 115 Veterans and 5 dependents now have a final resting place in a National Veteran Cemetery. Mr. Collier has also identified 17 veterans buried in a local Potter’s Grave, provided VA gravestone markers for these Veterans, and is in the process of planning a military honors ceremony thus ensuring they receive proper recognition and are never forgotten. In the past, Mr. Collier and the County Veteran Service Officer have made presentations at both the California State Public Administrator/Public Guardian/Public Conservator and County Veteran Service Officer conferences.
Ron Collier has served in the position as the County’s Veterans’ Remains Officer since he was initially appointed by the Board on January 10, 2012. There is no formal application process for the position. The original appointment was based on both Mr. Collier’s status as the only volunteer for the position, and his long-standing record of public service during his career as the Windsor Fire Department Chief. Mr. Collier single-handedly built the Veterans’ Remains program in Sonoma County and developed it as a model program for the entire state.
In the next term, Mr. Collier will continue to work in collaboration with the Sonoma County Veterans Service Officer, Sonoma County Public Administrator and the Sonoma County Sheriff/Coroner to ensure the unclaimed remains of deceased Sonoma County Veterans are properly interred with military honors in a national cemetery.
Mr. Collier has received training from the national director of the “Missing in America Project,” a qualified Veterans’ Remains Organization (VRO), and is a member of the organization. He is also a member of the American Legion’s Military Escort Team. Due to his status from his father’s service in World War II in the Army Air Corps, Mr. Collier qualifies to be a member of the Sons of the American Legion and is a member of Post 111 in Healdsburg.
AB 1644 - Section 942 of the Military and Veterans Code is amended as follows:
“The board of supervisors of each county shall designate a veteran of the United States military or a member of a Veterans’ Remains Organization as defined in Section 951, and who shall cause to be decently interred the body of any veteran or spouse or the eligible dependent of a veteran as defined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for compensation purposes who dies in the county. This section shall apply to all indigent, abandoned, or unclaimed veterans and dependents of veterans, including those deceased veterans and dependents of veterans without having sufficient means to defray the expenses of burial, other than moneys paid or due and payable by the United States, pursuant to the World War adjusted compensation act.”
The code establishes procedures whereby all unclaimed remains of veterans (formerly only indigent veterans) and veterans’ dependents could be identified and designated to a VRO for proper burial. Under Section 950 of the Military and Veterans Code, the person appointed shall receive no compensation for any duties he may perform in compliance with this article.
Mr. Collier has agreed to be considered for reappointment for one more two-year term and is recommended for the position by Mark Orlando, Sonoma County Veterans Service Officer.
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Prior Board Actions:
12/11/2018: Appointed Ron Collier for a two-year term ending 12/31/2020
9/12/2017: Appointed Ron Collier for a two-year term ending 12/31/2018
8/11/2015: Appointed Ron Collier for a two-year term ending 12/31/2016
1/20/2012: Appointed Ron Collier for a two-year term ending 1/31/2014
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 21-22 Adopted |
FY 22-23 Projected |
FY 23-24 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
|
|
|
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
N/A
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None