MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: JANUARY 8, 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
· Discussion: Draft of Johnson County Historical Society Poor Farm Lease
· Inquiries and Reports from the Board of Supervisors
Chairperson Neuzil called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 5:41 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.
Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Director Elaine Sweet said that Johnson County Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities is actually an umbrella organization that provides 3 different services: Targeted Case Management (TCM), Social Work for persons who do not qualify for Medicaid or Title XIX funding, and Central Point of Coordination (CPC) or the funding mechanism. She said that MH/DD has an 8.5 million budget and less than 1.5 million of that goes towards operating the MH/DD Department. The remaining 7.5 million is for direct services to providers. She said that MH/DD contracts with 22 providers who provide direct care because case management is not allowed to do that. A good portion of the 1.4 million was reimbursable through Federal funding in the TCM program. 68% of the overall expenditures came back as TCM revenues, or $970,000 for FY 03. She said that the greatest portion of the expenditures for TCM and for the department as a whole goes towards staffing. There are 25 approved positions in the MH/DD Department: 17 case managers, a clinical supervisor, and 4 support staff. She said that Chapter 24 of the Administrative Rules requires that there be a formal TCM Policy and Procedure Manual that is approved by the Board of Supervisors. MH/DD Services staff members have worked with the TCM Advisory Board and Planning Council committees over the past several months to develop a revised Policy and Procedure Manual which complies with newly revised Chapter 24 Rules. She said that the accrediting team will request a copy of the Board-approved TCM Policy and Procedure Manual for review in advance of their site review, which may occur as early as February.
Sweet said that the new administrative rules require changes in terminology. Old rules, policies, and procedures referred to "consumers" and "clients" and the new terminology is "individual using services". Sweet said they have to go through all forms, policies, and procedures and change the terminology. Sweet said another change in terminology is workers are no longer called "service coordinators" and are instead called "case managers". Sweet said that the policy and procedure manual is required to follow the administrative rules exactly in their order. She said that the order of the criteria in the administrative rules changed, as did the TCM policy and procedure manual. She said there are a few new items in Chapter 24 so there are policies and procedures to address them. Sweet said that the Advisory Board is recommending Board of Supervisors approval of the TCM Policy and Procedure manual with the understanding that they will continue to polish it as needed. Sweet said that the manual will be required for the accreditation review. Stutsman said that putting this manual together was a phenomenal task. She thanked Sweet and her staff for working on the manual. Sweet thanked the MH/DD Services staff and the TCM Advisory Board for their work on the manual. The Board decided that they would put this item on the January 15, 2004 formal agenda. Targeted Case Management Advisory Board Member Richard Twohy spoke regarding the manual.
Recessed at 6:00 p.m.; reconvened at 6:16 p.m.
DISCUSSION: DRAFT OF JOHNSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY POOR FARM LEASE
Neuzil said that discussion of the draft of the Johnson County Historical Society Poor Farm Lease is on the agenda to come up with a process to preserve the buildings on the County Farm Land. Historical Society Board of Director Member Dell Richard said a subcommittee met with Neuzil and as a result of that meeting Neuzil suggested that they make a proposal to the Board. Richard said that he took the Iowa State Bar form lease and added to it and submitted it to the Board as a beginning point for discussion. Richard said that one of his goals in putting the document together was in the preliminary recitals because he wanted to set out in that section some considerations that the Historical Society feels ought to be included in the relationship. Richard said he took the language almost verbatim from previous reports that the Historical Society made to the Board, which expressed their goals. Richard said that the Historical Society is uniquely situated to take on this task, Chatham Oaks has a role to play, and any public and private development ought to be coordinated and subject to the agreement. Richard said that they set out 5 major considerations: land consolidation, corner dedication, green space dedication, covenants, and reinvestment of proceeds.
Richard said that past the preliminary recitals the basic terms are that it is a 50 year lease for $1 a year with 5 options for an additional 10 years, so that there is a total of 100 years if they exercise all of their options. Richard said the amount of years isn’t critical but they want to set out the idea that the Historical Society is with the project for the long haul. He said that if they are going get the site identified as a national historic site, any applications for funding that they make are going to require that there is a long-term commitment that the site won’t revert back to the County and be sold. Richard said that the lease also sets out the use of the property. He said that wherever he tried to talk about duties and responsibilities he tried to be as general as possible. He said that it is an operational document and it leaves several places where terms will have to be negotiated because the Board will continue to own the property. Richard said that if development were to occur on the site it would all be subject to future agreements. Richard said that his goal was to create a basic document that would keep the historical society secure in the knowledge that they controlled the site but not necessarily define all of the relationships in the future. Richard said that he tried to identify the things that will go on at the site in the definition section.
Neuzil said that process is important. He said that this is the first of a number of meetings that the Board needs to think about in regards to moving forward on the buildings. Neuzil asked if the Board would like to have a subcommittee. Stutsman said that makes sense. She asked who was on the committee that drafted the lease. Neuzil said that he met with Richard. Richard said that Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell was not a part of the meetings. Chappell said that he is glad to hear the Board talk about process because it is hard to look at it without knowledge of what the Board’s goals and interest in the property is. He said that could affect what language ultimately ends up in the document. Chappell said he has concerns with the lease, but he knows that it is a preliminary document. Chappell said that there are a lot of policy decisions that need to be made before they get down to writing the lease such as, is a lease the form that the Board would like the agreement to take. He asked if they would rather have a more cooperative arrangement where the County retains ownership, or a 28E agreement. He asked if the Board would like to create a separate Board to look over the property. Chappell said that the options are limitless. Stutsman asked if it would be best to have a subcommittee meet with Chappell and with Richard.
Neuzil said that this discussion is stemming from a continuation of the studies that have been done over the last few years. He said it was recognized in prior studies that the buildings need rehabilitation and there is an organization that is looking for a project to assist in this and help with the interpretation of the buildings. Neuzil said the question for the Board will be do they want that to happen or not. Stutsman said that they do want that to happen but the question is how. Richard said that they were shooting in the dark on the document because they don’t have a clue about how the Board feels about the issue, other than the fact that Neuzil was authorized to meet with them. Richard said that in previous meetings the Board had expressed that they wanted to formalize the arrangement with the Historical Society and the lease is a start to how that relationship might exist. Chappell suggested that the Board put an item on the January 15, 2004 informal agenda regarding creation of a subcommittee to discuss management of the poor farm property. The Board agreed.
INQUIRIES AND REPORTS FROM THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Thompson toured the North Corridor roads with County Engineer Mike Gardner, attended the Library Taskforce meeting, and a liaison meeting with SEATS Director Tom Brase.
Lehman attended a liaison meeting with Brase, a Weather and Risk Presentation, and a Conservation Board meeting. Lehman reported that County Farm Manager Bruce Ahrens was named National Farm Manager of the Year.
Stutsman attended a Targeted Case Management Board of Directors meeting, a Communications Committee meeting, a liaison meeting with Facilities Director David Kempf, a Johnson County Housing Trust Fund meeting, and the Legislative Issues work session.
Harney attended the Legislative Issues work session, an Emergency Management meeting, and a Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meeting.
Neuzil attended the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meeting, the Library Taskforce meeting, the Legislative Issues work session, and an Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Local Government Affairs meeting. Neuzil reported that in 2003 the Johnson County internet site (www.johnson-county.com) had 420,000 pages viewed, which was an increase of 100,000 pages since 2002. Neuzil said that he is having a Government and You Listening Post on January 9, 2004 at 11:15 p.m. at the Board office and on January 13, 2004 at 11:15 in Rookies in North Liberty.
Adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary