MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
MARCH 25, 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne: Monthly Report For February, 2004
Discussion: Requested Sanitary Sewer Easement Through County Farm Property
Minutes Received: East Central Iowa Council Of Governments For February 26, 2004
Chairperson Neuzil called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:32 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, absent: Carol Thompson.
Public Health Director Ralph Wilmoth said that this item is based on the Board of Supervisors request for the Board of Health to review all permit fees and update them to accommodate the actual cost of the programs. He said that as part of that review, Assistant Public Health Director/Disease Prevention Manager Kot Flora recommended rescinding this regulation and fees due to the existing Department of Human Services regulations addressing day cares and Public Health’s initiation of new day care programs, which make this regulation duplicative. Stutsman asked about the public’s opinion of rescinding this regulation. Wilmoth replied that only one member of the public spoke with a concern with losing efforts to improve day cares. Flora said that she also received comments from a day care director who’s supportive of rescinding the regulations due to changes in the DHS regulations as well as new National standards. Harney asked who enforces the State regulations. Wilmoth replied that they’re enforced by DHS and the National Health and Safety Performance Standards require Public Health’s oversight with the use of pass through funds. Stutsman asked if the State is able to keep on top of day care monitoring. Wilmoth replied that the State has been able to and the County will begin its own program in addition to what is currently in place. He said that the new County regulated national program will provide technical assistance. Stutsman asked for assurances that day cares will continue to be monitored. Wilmoth replied that members of the Board of Health asked the Attorney’s Office to review the regulations to make sure that rescinding the regulation would not lose any oversight. Flora said that Disease Prevention goes into every day care center annually for immunizations. She said that while in the past, the County’s regulations filled a void, the State’s regulations now include those areas and the new national regulations are very comprehensive. She said that currently the regulations only require one hour per center per year. The Board agreed to place the item on next week’s agenda for formal action.
Neuzil said that the Wapsi Avenue project right-of-way acquisitions include contracts with the following: Mar-Gil Farm Corporation for $4,832.50; Lowell L. Baker and Helen A. Baker for $8,700.00; Arden Kasper And Alice Kasper Trust, Arden Kasper Trustee and Donald K. Werbach-CP, Nancy J. Werbach-CP And Charles R. Werbach-CP for $2,800.00; Kathryn M. Hall and Hall Family Trust, Kathryn M. Hall, Life Tenant, James R. Keele, Trustee for $6,600.00; Patricia D. Welsh Trust, Patricia D. Welsh and Joseph M. Welsh, Trustees and Carmen Dougherty-Heim Trust, Carmen Dougherty-Heim and Erwin J. Heim, Trustees for $3,400.00; Robert N. Baker and Twyla Burdene Baker for $7,025.00; Elmer J. Galloway, Jr. and Virginia R. Galloway for $4,815.00; Lyle S. Law and Lois R. Law for $7,680.00; Patrick J. Flynn and Alice T. Flynn for $1,600.00; Harry L. Baker and Phyllis L. Baker for $2,950.00; and James C. Ronan A/K/A James C. Ronan III for $739.00. Assistant County Engineer Al Miller explained that there are 3 more parcels needed for the project, which he anticipates having before the Board in the next few weeks. He said that the project is still scheduled for bid letting in July and should begin in July. Stutsman asked if the contracts are in line with what the County usually pays for right-of-way. Miller replied that the cost is based on a local appraiser’s compensation estimates and calculated by a standard linear foot cost based on comparable sales in the area. The Board agreed to put the Wapsi Avenue right-of-way contracts on a future formal agenda for approval.
Neuzil said that the Sand Road project right-of-way acquisitions include contracts with the following: Phyllis W. Kelso for $6,072.00; and Russell L. Winborn A/K/A Russell Winborn for $15,100.00. Miller explained that there are a number of parcels left to be appraised. He said that these values are also based on comparable sales in the area. Harney commended Miller for taking the initiative to obtain a $500,000 grant for the Sand Road project. The Board agreed to put the Sand Road right-of-way contracts on a future formal agenda for approval.
Miller requested that the Board set a bid letting on April 27, 2004 for a bridge replacement project on Sand Road. The Board agreed to put the item on a future formal agenda for approval.
County Engineer Mike Gardner said that the seed and fertilizer bids were received March 16th. New Horizon’s Farm Servicing supplied that lowest of the 6 bids, totaling $18,274.90. He said that this bid will cover all of Secondary Roads’ seed and fertilizer needs for projects this summer. Lehman said that some bidders remarked that this price would have been below their cost. Gardner replied that the seeds will be subject to testing once received. Stutsman asked if New Horizon’s has received the contract before. Gardner replied that they had not recently. The Board agreed to put the item on a future formal agenda for approval.
Gardner said that per the Board’s direction, Secondary Roads repeated the Department of Transportation’s traffic counts in order to determine whether certain roads will be included in the dust alleviation safety program in the future. He explained that the program states that any road with a traffic count of 150 or higher will receive dust alleviation applications. Gardner said that after the new counts, there were 3 roads that exceeded the 150 mark and 5 that dropped below 150. He said that Secondary Roads verified that 1 of the 3 roads the DOT said exceeded the 150 is actually exceeding that mark. Gardner said that of the 5 roads the DOT said no longer exceeded 150 vehicles, Secondary Roads verified all but one road no longer exceeded that mark. Lower West Branch Road will be added to the program and Echo Avenue will remain in the program.
BUDGET COORDINATOR JEFF HORNE: MONTHLY REPORT FOR FEBRUARY, 2004
Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne said that 2/3 of Fiscal Year 2004 is finished and expenditures and revenues should be around 67%. He said that revenues continue to come in above budget in many departments and expenditures are in line with the correct levels. He said that departments have done an outstanding job of staying within budget. The following is a summary of departments that have items of note:
Ambulance (Department #01) The Ambulance Service is running well under budget on expenditures at 58% and well over budget on revenue at 82%. Call fee adjustments and increasing call volume contribute to the increase. Horne said that they should be able to revise the revenue budget in this area in the coming years, which will further offset taxes.
The Sheriff’s Department (Department #08) has expended approximately $192,000 of the $400,000 budgeted for jail alternatives for out of county housing of prisoners, and that accounts for much of the reason the County is at only 60% of budget year to date.
Medical Examiner (Department #10) The Medical Examiner budget is over 90% of budget approaching April. An amendment will be required to complete the year. The revenue budget is currently over by approximately $30,000. If that is amended back into the expenditure budget, it should cover the remainder of fiscal year 2004.
Recorder (Department #11) Revenues for the recording of instruments continue to come in above budgeted levels. Through February the department has collected 22% or 150,899 more than anticipated. This will help offset any loss of credits and replacements in the General Fund during the current fiscal year and Fiscal Year 2005.
Central Services (Department #18) The County has not received any of the personal property replacement for the current fiscal year, a loss of $360,000 and it has been taken out of the budget in the future. Horne said that the conservative financial position the County has taken will help minimize the impact.
Institutional Accounts (Department #41) expenditures have leveled off and there has been only a slight decrease over the last month. Horne said that the budget has been increased for Fiscal Year 2005 and hopefully another amendment won’t be needed for the current fiscal year.
Secondary Roads (Department #49) has only expended 51% of its budget year to date, which will allow the department to have plenty of room left as they approach the construction season.
Horne said that the Fiscal Year 2005 budget process is completed. The budget was approved by the Board of Supervisors on March 11 and sent to the State from the Auditor’s Office. Horne said there will be another budget amendment sometime in early to middle May. The Vehicle Committee will start meeting in April. He said that they will target October to wrap up the process so something can be presented to the Board for the FY 2006 Budget process. Horne said that he will be working on getting contracts with agencies that are County funded. Horne will start with the Fair Board, and should have all of them completed by the end of the Summer. Horne explained that international events will impact the County. For example, China’s large consumption of steel is driving up prices, which affect the County through Secondary Roads’ use and any possible building projects in the future.
JOHNSON COUNTY COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANNER BRAD NEUMANN: RESOLUTION APPROVING THE EAST CENTRAL IOWA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS REGIONAL COMPREHENSIVE INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN 2004-2010
Johnson County Council of Governments Solid Waste Management Planner Brad Neumann said that the County must approval a regional comprehensive solid waste management plan every 3 years. He said that this plan is required by all planning areas in order for landfills to get a permit to operate. Neumann said that an 18 member committee including representatives from the County, cities, and private industry met to update the goals of this plan, which had not changed a great deal from previous plans. He said that he is here to seek the Board approval of the plan. Stutsman asked when the plan needs to be approved. Neumann replied that it should be approved by the first of April, but since they need to get approval from all the different entities instead of a waste authority, they need to have the plan in sometime in April.
Stutsman said that one of the main points that affects Johnson County is exploring strategies to reduce illegal dumping and exploring composting options. Neumann said that he’s spoken with Secondary Roads and they don’t indicate large problem areas in the County regarding illegal dumping. Stutsman replied that she doesn’t agree with that because on Meyer Avenue, she counted 22 tires and 10 gas tanks, which appeared to have been tossed from the back of a truck. She said that Secondary Roads has to then pick up the items, take them to the landfill, and then every tax payer in Johnson County has to pay for it. Stutsman said that she’d like to see the Board discuss increasing fines in order to discourage illegal dumping. Neuzil agreed that there are certainly problem roads in the County. Neumann said that he’d speak with Secondary Roads, the Conservation Department, and the Sheriff’s Department to discuss possible strategies. Stutsman asked to change the plan to reflect the necessity of exploring this problem. Neumann said that he would bring those people together to discuss possible solutions.
Neumann explained that during the County Clean Up Weeks, the landfill has concerns because in the past by limiting the clean up to a week, they’ve had lines of people out to the IWV Road. He asked the Board if it would be possible to change the format to a series of Saturdays, instead of confining it to a week. Lehman said that many times the best time for rural residents is during the week. Neumann replied that the landfill would prefer Saturdays because their commercial traffic is less. Stutsman said that the Spring Clean Up is scheduled for the April 1st agenda, so they can discuss it then. She said that spreading out the dates over a longer period of time would work well for County residents as well.
Recessed at 10:11 a.m.; reconvened at 10:19 a.m.
DISCUSSION: REQUESTED SANITARY SEWER EASEMENT THROUGH COUNTY FARM PROPERTY
Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell explained that in order for Mike Speer to develop his property south of the County Farm, he will need an easement through the County Farm property to hook to the sewer trunk line, which runs through the property. He said that the Board wasn’t willing to discuss an easement in the past because they had not adopted a plan for the County Farm, which they now have in place. Chappell said that there were several questions at the last meeting regarding what the City of Iowa City would prefer and questions the City needed to answer. He said that Speer has been very cooperative in obtaining the information the County has asked him for and will do what it takes to continue his development. Chappell explained that the easement area is not in the area the County currently has slated for potential development and would not affect row crops planted in the area either. He said that even if the County changed the County Farm plan, the easement would not prevent them from developing that land.
Chappell explained another issue is capacity of the sewer line running through the County’s property because if they allow Speer an easement, then the County may not be able to develop its own land without higher costs in the future. He said that the numbers they received from the City are a worst case scenario. The estimation of Speer’s development and a possible County development exceeds the capacity of the current line. Chappell explained that it would be possible to upgrade a section of the line that limits the capacity because there have already been improvements to other sections of the line. Neumann said that replacing the limiting section would increase the capacity of the line by 45%. Chappell said that one idea is to limit the size of Speer’s remaining 100-acre development, 35 acres of which are in the natural drainage area. Speer explained that there’s a possibility of another line running south of Rohret Road, but this development would not be included in the design. Chappell said that from his office’s perspective, the limiting development option is not desirable because then there are concerns about ownership changes in the future.
Chappell explained that in response to the County’s previous questions, the City anticipates further development west of the County Farm property. Stutsman asked if the trunk line would then be increased to accommodate that development. Chappell replied that it would be, but not in the near future. Speer commented that the current development does access this trunk line farther east as well, but the access was designed too small. Chappell pointed out that the City is accounting for the 50 acres the County was slated to develop in the County Farm Plan, but the number was amended to 25 acres, which makes the capacity issue look better. He said that the City does not want a parallel line, so they would prefer Speer update the limiting segment. Chappell explained that currently there are no additional options that Speer could consider because the City does not plan to upgrade the line on its own any time soon. He explained that when a line reaches capacity, the City works with residents to replace them and charges hookup fees in order to recoup expenses in improving these lines. Chappell said that if the line reaches capacity and the County wants to develop, they probably would not need to pay the entire cost of upgrading the line.
Chappell said that Speer would like some direction as to when and how the County would be willing to grant an easement to develop the property. Harney asked if there are requirements as to how the line would be maintained. Chappell replied that the City owns the line, so they would be responsible for fixing any problems and restoring any damaged property or compensating the owner for things like crops. He said that he hasn’t looked at the current agreement with the City, but he doesn’t know of any specifications not requiring the County to pay for any upgrades in the future if the land is developed. Lehman said that if the developer is required by the City to pay for upgrades to sewer lines, then it would decrease the value of the County’s property. Chappell said that there has been some discussion of the City developing a park in lieu of the County’s preservation area, which could allow for some negotiation on some of the development topics.
Stutsman asked if Speer would pay to put the new line in if the Board grants him the easement. Speer said that he would prefer to add the new line and wait to see if the City upgrades the trunk line before a problem occurs. However, the Attorney’s Office isn’t comfortable with that, so he is proposing to pay to upgrade the trunk line and then work with the City to be reimbursed in the future. He said that adding the new line would give the County land’s developer more options. Speer explained that when they first started the development, they didn’t know that there was a capacity problem, so they built community areas like the pool ahead of time in order to encourage development. Since the development’s growth has been restricted, maintaining those areas have been costing more than originally thought, but the community has pulled together to help decrease those costs. Stutsman asked if the County would be responsible for replacing anything damaged when maintaining the new line. Chappell replied that the City would replace anything damaged because the easement would be the City’s as well.
Speer said that his group is trying to make the development very recreation friendly, which goes along with the County’s plans. Neuzil asked what impact adding a new line would have on the County’s land. Speer replied that it shouldn’t affect the crops or have a large impact. He said that in order to upgrade the existing line, the City said he would need to have an engineer design the new line and show its capacity. He said that he would need both City approval and County approval for a construction easement in order to upgrade their trunk line. The Board agreed that they would be willing to grant the easement if Speer upgrades the trunk line. Stutsman asked if they will hold a public hearing. Chappell replied that they will. He explained that if there’s a consensus to move forward, they would need to wrap up any additional questions, then create a proposal to dispose of an interest in real property, publish a notice, and then have a public hearing on the proposal.
Lehman asked if the new line would be built larger than necessary for Speer’s development. Speer replied that it would be built larger because the City requires it to be a size that can be used by others. He said that the cost does not change unless the size increases to the point where the line’s material changes. Chappell said that one thing the Board needs to consider is the cost of the easement itself and the corresponding appraisal. Harney asked if development along Slothower Road would tie in with Speer’s development. Speer replied that the next phase of his development will grow towards Rohret Road, because he does not want to connect to Slothower until the City decides how they will proceed in developing the road.
Speer said that he really believes in developing this neighborhood because it is a unique concept that is not currently available in Johnson County. He said that having private amenities like a pool and a kid’s soccer field takes pressure off of public areas. Lehman said that the Board of Supervisors likes to see growth in the County as long as it doesn’t impact the County’s investment in the County Farm.
MINUTES RECEIVED: EAST CENTRAL IOWA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS FOR FEBRUARY 26, 2004
The Board received minutes from the East Central Iowa Council of Governments for February 26th, 2004.
REPORTS AND INQUIRIES FROM THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Lehman attended the North Corridor Plan residents meeting, the Department Head meeting, and a liaison meeting with Human Resources Director Lora Shramek. He also visited Washington County and spoke with several members of their County Government. Lehman mentioned that the WMT Radio discussed government consolidation, which included input from County Attorney J. Patrick White. He suggested that the Board attend a City of Iowa City work session regarding building designs.
Stutsman attended the following meetings and events: liaison meeting with Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak; a meeting with Bob Lenz at Earth Tech regarding a possible consulting agreement; Targeted Case Management Advisory Board meeting; North Corridor Plan residents meeting; MH/DD Planning Council meeting; Department Head meeting; and Hills Bank agriculture appreciation breakfast.
Harney attended the ICAD Board of Directors meeting, a Secondary Roads box grader demonstration, Jail Facilities Subcommittee meeting, a Secondary Roads recognition gathering for Andy Hoyt and Ron Haight, the Iowa City City Council work session presentation, the Iowa City Chamber Committee meeting, Planning and Zoning site reviews, a meeting on utilities with residents and several utility companies, an Emergency Management training exercise at West High, and an Emergency Management Board of Directors meeting. He said that the Armory proposed readiness center update will be held in the Boardroom April 19, 2004 at 10:30 a.m.
Neuzil attended the ISAC Spring School of Instruction, the 2003 United Way Honor Roll and Volunteer Recognition Ceremony, and the Hills Bank agriculture appreciation breakfast.
INQUIRIES AND REPORTS FROM THE PUBLIC
Irene Murphy informed the Board that Reach for Your Potential is having an estate planning meeting on April 3rd, 2004 at 9:00 a.m.
Motion by Harney, second by Stutsman, to enter into Executive Session at 11:29 a.m. to discuss “Allen vs. Johnson County” under section 21.5(1.c), Code of Iowa, “to discuss strategy with counsel in matters that are presently in litigation or where litigation is imminent where its disclosure would be likely to prejudice or disadvantage the position of the governmental body in that litigation.” Roll call: aye: Harney, Stutsman, Neuzil, Lehman; absent: Thompson.
Recessed at 11:30 a.m.; reconvened at 11:40 a.m.
Harney left at 12:48 p.m.
Motion by Stutsman, second by Lehman, to leave Executive Session at 12:57 p.m. Roll call: aye: Stutsman, Neuzil, Lehman; absent: Thompson, Harney.
Adjourned at 12:58 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary