(UPDATED) Day 6: Judge Blatz Gets Caught Up on Paperwork

Update: Wednesday, July 6 at 5:24 p.m.: Special Master Kathleen Blatz is using Wednesday to “catch up” on paperwork and make the most recent documentation available to the public, she told reporters on Tuesday evening.

Among that documentation is the official petition from The Arc Minnesota which “helps adults with disabilities of all ages move to homes of their own.”

, The Arc Minnesota was heard last Friday by Blatz.

In an letter accompanying the petition, The Arc Minnesota CEO Pat Mellenthin explains, “Minnesotans who are homeless not only experience risk to their safety; they are vulnerable to losing their lives.”

Mellenthin continues: “The Arc’s Housing Access Services program is essential to complying with US Supreme Court decisions that uphold the right of people with disabilities to live in the least restrictive setting possible.”  

Blatz has yet to rule on any petitions she has heard since taking over as Special Master, but her decisions are expected to begin coming in by the end of this week.

A retired Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Blatz was chosen by Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin on June 29 to oversee petitions for funding for “core critical” state services during the government shutdown.

Blatz will begin the third day of special hearings on Thursday at 8 a.m.

First Post: Hennepin County Administrator Richard Johnson said much of the county’s state funding, particularly that used for critical human services, will likely be distributed during the state government shutdown.

Johnson spoke Wednesday at a special meeting of the Hennepin County Board. Commissioners discussed their next steps during the state government shutdown, including any special requests commissioners would like to make before Judge Kathleen Blatz, the special master of the court proceedings.

Blatz will issue recommendations to Ramsey County Chief District Judge Kathleen Gearin as to which items of state spending fund "critical" functions of state and local government. Gearin is widely expected to adopt Blatz's recommendations whole.

“She took the zoo and the racetrack petitions on Friday, and ruled over the weekend,” Johnson said of Gearin. “She’s been pretty expeditious (with her rulings), and I think the Justice recognizes the criticality of these issues.”

Gearin would make her rulings regarding Hennepin County, Johnson said, long before the next state aid payment to the county is due, in another few weeks.

While it isn’t a done deal, the commissioners agreed with County Attorney Mike Freeman’s recommendation not to petition Blatz. Presentations by officials from Ramsey County, the Association of Metropolitan Counties and the Metropolitan Inter-County Association had already covered much of the same ground, he said. Judges, he added, typically don’t like hearing the same information again.

In response to questions from Commissioner Gail Dorfman, Freeman said Hennepin County still will have an opportunity to appeal Blatz’s recommendation should she decide against funding counties, or if her recommendation doesn’t cover all the funding streams for human services and mental health programs.

Board Chair Mike Opat suggested this approach to the shutdown may take the pressure off legislative leaders and the governor to compromise on a budget agreement.

“The clients (of the county’s social services) will feel the effects of a shutdown, of course,” he said. “But their family won’t, necessarily, and they’re the people who need to start pressuring legislators. The easier (the shutdown] is, the longer it will go on.”