MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
OCTOBER 19, 2004
ELECTED OFFICIALS MEETING
TABLE OF CONTENTS
County Supervisor Carol Thompson called the Johnson County Elected Officials Meeting to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 1:30 p.m.
Elected officials present were: County Attorney J. Patrick White; County Auditor Tom Slockett; County Recorder Kim Painter; County Supervisors Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, and Sally Stutsman; and County Treasurer Tom Kriz. Staff present were: Board of Supervisors Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne, and Auditor’s Office Recording Secretary Casie Kadlec.
DISCUSSION: SECURITY IN COUNTY BUILDINGS
Lehman asked Facilities Manager David Kempf for an update on what is being installed in the Administration Building. Kempf said that the installation of security measures in the Administration Building is 98% complete. There have been fourteen video cameras installed. Key card access has been installed at the front and back doors, the lower level conference room, and the Auditor’s Office back storeroom. The additional doors to the back storeroom have been changed to a lock with only two keys that can’t be duplicated by anyone but County Auditor Tom Slockett and himself. Kempf said that key card access to the Administration Building will begin by Thursday. He will send out emails to all department heads asking for a list of who has and/or needs keys to the front doors of the building. Kempf will then issue proximity keys to those who are on the lists and re-key the front and back doors so the old keys will not work. Kempf said there are still details to be worked out with Slockett as to how key cards will be monitored in the Auditor’s Office and how to assure proper procedures are followed with so many people needing access to those areas.
Harney asked if the card reader on the front door is a card slot. Kempf said that it is a proximity reader. The card has to be within 4-6 inches to read the card and unlock the door. Kempf added that the reader is designed to be billfold or purse height so that the card does not actually have to be removed to be used. Stutsman asked if they still need keys for the interior doors to get into the offices. Kempf said that they do need their keys but that they are looking into expanding the system so that the keys will no longer be needed. Stutsman asked who to call if the key cards do not work. Kempf said to call him. Lehman asked if the cards will log who used the card and at what time. Kempf said that it will be logged into a server in Information Services.
Lehman pointed out cameras in the Board room and asked if they are cameras to monitor absentee ballot counting. Kempf agreed and said that there are four in the Board room, there is one on the wall that covers the back of the elevator, there is a camera outside of the Auditor’s Office that shows the stairwell and the conference room door, there are two cameras placed in the lower conference room, and there are three located throughout the Auditor’s Office, as well as one in the back storeroom. Lehman asked if the cameras are active now. Kempf said that they are all active and recording. He explained that the cameras are motion and light sensitive so at night they do not record. Neuzil asked if the cameras also record audio. Kempf said that it is just video. Neuzil asked if they have to worry about the cameras in executive sessions. Kempf said they would have to talk to Network Support Technician Bill Horning about that. County Recorder Kim Painter asked if the cameras will be recording continuously or only during election cycles when ballots are being counted. Kempf said the way they are set up currently is to record onto a hard drive and the information from elections will be kept as long as the other elections information is kept. Slockett said that for Federal Elections the data needs to be kept for 22 months.
Neuzil asked if any other offices are interested in having any of these security measures as they could be added in the coming year’s budget. County Treasurer Tom Kriz said that a couple of years ago they had a proposal to have cameras installed by their safe but gave them up because of cost. Kempf said that he had the installers put leads into that area for Kriz so the wiring is already there to add more cameras. He said that it will also be very easy to add cameras to Painter’s area because she is in close proximity to the Information Services department.
County Attorney J. Patrick White said he isn’t sure what kind of quality these cameras are but that he would like to replace the cameras at the Courthouse. Kempf said that this system can be the host for the Courthouse, the hardware would just have to be purchased. Neuzil asked if the swipe cards are done for the Courthouse. Kempf said Horning will be starting on that in the next couple of weeks. Neuzil asked about cameras for the Courthouse. Kempf said that no money has been budgeted for them but it is something they are looking at for the future. Neuzil asked about other Courthouse security measures. Kempf said there had been a question about tinting the windows in the lower level courtroom but concern was voiced by the Sheriff’s Department that if the windows are tinted so that people cannot look in, in the event that something were to happen, the police would not be able to see in either. Kempf said they are upgrading the external lighting around the perimeter of the Courthouse. Mid American energy will upgrade the front lighting from 450 watt lighting to 1000 watts and bury the cable under ground. The two security lights in back will be upgraded from 250 to 450 watts. This will all be done at no charge to the County.
Neuzil asked White about the progress with deputies staffing the Courthouse. White said that he met with County Sheriff Bob Carpenter and Sheriff’s Major Keith Slaughter and staffing got off to a miss-communicated start, which has been overcome, but it set the system back three to four months. White explained that they are in the middle of civil service testing and need to add two officers to avoid cut backs on patrol or at the jail. White said that they have one slot reserved at the Law Enforcement Academy for the January session and one for the April session and are trying to move the April session slot to January. April 1, 2005 is the target date for having someone in uniform certified as an officer at the Courthouse. White said there are going to be some collective bargaining issues. There is a proposal from the unions that a security division be established. White said that Carpenter and Slaughter do not think that is a good idea. The prediction is that the Courthouse security officers will be senior officers who would like daytime work. White said they have in mind some specific training for the officers selected before they start work and on an ongoing basis. The Courthouse security officer’s supervisor will be the Jail Administrator. The theory is that the jail interacts with the Courthouse so much that this is a logical choice. White said the officers will report to duty at the Courthouse and that this could pose a problem because they will need parking and parking is at a premium for the Courthouse. White said the pay can be coded so there will be no real problem tracking spending for security even though the officers will be in the jail division. White said that three months were lost due to misunderstandings over the budget. Neuzil asked if that is phase one. White said that is what the Committee envisioned, but that he thinks they should let it work for some time before moving ahead.
Neuzil asked if the officers in the Courthouse are going to have wand style metal detectors. White said that his thought is that the wand will be used on occasion but they need to talk with Kempf about the feasibility of installing permanent devices. Kempf said that he and Slaughter tested the metal detector to make sure it was working correctly and it is. He said that the plan is that once the officers are in place, to get it in the Courthouse so it can be brought out and used in the event that there is a trial that would require such measures. Kempf said that there isn’t a plan to funnel everyone through metal detectors each time they enter the Courthouse. Harney asked if the unit is as sensitive as newer models. Kempf said that it is still functional and very sensitive. White said they tested the wand at a Security Committee meeting and it worked very well. Kempf said that a lot of the effectiveness has to do with the training of the operator. Neuzil asked if there are rules regarding pocketknives and like items in the Courthouse. White said the Chief Judge has a standing order that everyone in the Courthouse is subject to search. Iowa’s general law prevents people from carrying concealed weapons and a knife with a blade of five inches is considered by definition a concealed weapon. Lehman asked if there should be signage in the Courthouse to remind people that they may be searched or asked to empty their pockets. White said there are signs saying that people are subject to search but they are in need of an upgrade. Harney said he would like to see it a little stricter with signs saying no weapons of any kind. Lehman asked what the procedure is for someone trying to enter the Courthouse with a knife. Kempf said that generally Linn County asks people to take the items to their car. White said as a practical matter there is some uncertainty in the Sheriff’s Department so some of the issues would be better served if they waited to address them after the New Year. Stutsman asked if Slockett had had any inquiries from other Auditors as to the security measures being put in place. Slockett said that he did let people know that the security measures were approved.
REPORTS/INQUIRIES FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS
Slockett reported that registration numbers have increased 12.6% over the close of registration in 2000. Democratic voter registration has increased 20.5%, Republican voter registration has increased 11.3%, and no party registration has increased 4.9%. There have been 12,343 new registrations since June 1, 2004. 8,238 or 66.3% of those are 18-24 year olds. Currently there are just over 20,000 requests to vote early and by the end of the day there will be more absentee ballot requests than those that voted early in 2000. White asked what the vote was four years ago. Slockett said about 39% voted early. White asked if they have reached the point where they are going to predict turnout. Slockett said it will be a record.
Stutsman asked if there have been any irregularities with the registrations or early voting requests. Slockett said there is a change in the way registrations are processed. There used to be two classifications of registrations: active and inactive. Now there are seven classifications: active, inactive, pending verification, pending identification, local, local inactive, and pending inactive. Slockett said that now all mailed registrations must have their ID numbers verified. The ID numbers now must be either the Iowa drivers license number, and if the person does not have an Iowa Drivers’ license, it has to be an Iowa a non-drivers id, and if they do not have that then the last four digits of the Social Security number has to be submitted. The Auditor’s Office is then required to verify all of the numbers and do so through the DOT and the Social Security databases. If the person has a number that does not verify but comes in-person and gives the office the same number they are automatically active voters because in-person registrations do not have to be verified. Slockett said this has had an impact on older people who move into or within the State that do not have Iowa drivers licenses and young people who go to school in Iowa but do not have Iowa drivers licenses. Slockett said that to verify the Iowa drivers license number or the non-drivers id, the number gets typed into the database and the person’s name, date of birth, and id number are shown. The name must match in order to verify the person. Slockett said the name often changes or there may be discrepancies due to hyphenation of names. He said all of the Auditors he is in contact with are matching just the first name and the date of birth as well as the number to verify the voter. Slockett said that in the Social Security database the names are required fields so the names must be typed in to get a match. One third of the social security numbers are not matching which will cause people to need to register in-person before Election Day.
Slockett reported that there are also many problems with the new definition of a vote. Slockett pointed out that in the Secretary of State’s new Administrative Code, if a voter writes in George W. Bush for President and marks the Bush/Cheney ticket it will not be counted and instead, marked as an over vote. If the voter marked the Bush/Cheney ticket and wrote in George W. Bush and Dick Cheney it would count as a write in. Slockett said he believes that this could be highly controversial and if this election is close this would be the sort of thing that would upset people. Slockett said that if a voter circles the name of a candidate, in a recount it would count as a vote, but then the question is what constitutes a circle. A voter may also cross out the names of all candidates except for the one they are voting for and that would count as a vote for the unmarked candidate. Slockett said that somehow the State had good laws that affirmed votes on Election Day but now vote totals will not be known unless there is a manual recount. Slockett said that he strongly objects to this new process. There will now only be vote estimates on Election Day and Slockett feels that this will be begging any candidate in a close race to ask for a recount, which would be very costly to the voters. Slockett said he feels that the State has imitated the problem that Florida had by creating laws that mimic Florida when the State had a much superior system before the changes were made.
Lehman asked if the ballots that went out with candidates omitted will create problems for the absentee vote count. Slockett said there were 201 people sent ballots that lacked Senate District 40 in the Scott Township and West Branch Annex precincts. Slockett said the ballots have been segregated and new ballots have been sent out with a request to return the old ballots. Slockett indicated that some of the voters do want to vote at the polls and in order to do so they will have to return the ballot at the polling place. Slockett said the absentee ballot computer program tracks the ballots and each person can get up to three ballots issued to them if they make mistakes. If an administrative reissue needs to take place, the voter still has the opportunity to have two more ballots issued if they make a mistake. Slockett said the first thing the Office did when discovering the problem with the ballot was to keep the Office open the following Saturday to allow voters to come into the office to clear up the problem. He said office staff called as many of the affected voters as they could, but due to a home football game there was little response of people coming into the office that day. Slockett said that the office has kept track of the absentee ballots and there are lists available to candidates and party members so that they can also keep track of how many ballots were issued and to whom. He said he hopes to get the lion’s share of the ballots straightened out before Election Day. Slockett said that this is a one vote process and only one ballot per person will be counted. Slockett said that statistically people with absentee ballots are less likely to vote if they wait until Election Day. 98% of the people who request an absentee ballot vote it and of those planning to go to the polls only 75% or less get there. Neuzil thanked Slockett for his report.
DISCUSSION: SPACE NEEDS, COUNTY CAMPUS PLAN AND GSA PROPERTY
Stutsman asked if everyone understands that the Board agreed to a Capital Improvements Plan that focuses on acquiring the block north of the Administration Building and that the Board gave directions to the real estate negotiating committee to begin acquiring the properties. Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne said that Stutsman and Harney will discuss the plans at a Space Needs Committee meeting on October 27, 2004. Neuzil asked if Iowa City Community School District Superintendent Lane Plugge is aware of the interest that the County has in the GSA property. White said yes. Kempf said the GSA property is attractive enough to the County that it warrants looking at more closely.
DISCUSSION: JOHNSON COUNTY STRATEGIC PLAN, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Neuzil said a couple of months ago the Board looked at the Johnson County Strategic Plan and discussed how they can improve it by tying it closer to the budget. Horne said that they did not make wholesale changes to the plan, just changed some wording, which he will go over with affected department heads. Neuzil asked that the Strategic Plan be posted on the Johnson County website. Neuzil encouraged the Attorney’s Office and the Auditor’s Office to join the strategic planning process.
Horne said that the budget process will be very different this year as they are now using the GEMS system. Originally Horne was going to have departments enter their own budget information into GEMS but he is now going to have departments submit their forms to him. Horne said that in the future having the department heads enter their budget information may be the way to go but for the first year it would be difficult to have that done. Neuzil asked about the budget timeline. Horne will be giving departments until Christmas to get the forms done.
White said that there is a gap in the budget process and that it is important to keep the department heads informed as to what is going on. He said he doesn’t know how to fix the gap in information but feels the only way he can understand what is going on with the budget is by asking Horne or one of the Board members to sit down and go through it with him. Horne said that is a problem but he doesn’t feel like he can send daily emails explaining things to people because it may be different the next day. Stutsman agreed that the budget changes daily throughout the process. She said that another problem is that department heads will hear something is being cut from their budget and then lobby the Board for it to not be cut, which is not fair to the other department heads.
Stutsman asked if any direction has been giving this year regarding the budget. Horne said that the Auditor’s Office is so busy that he cannot get numbers from them. He said they could start with the assumption of 3% growth but that could be fairly conservative. Stutsman praised department heads for sticking to their budgets. White asked if anybody had read the October Iowa County tax reform proposal and asked what they think about it. Stutsman said that the proposal probably won’t get past the Farm Bureau but it’s good that there is something on the table. White asked if Stutsman had seen the section of the proposal regarding taxing non-profit entities. Stutsman said that needs to be looked at because it was a good idea that has gotten out of control, like TIFs, and everyone pays the price for it. Stutsman asked White what kind of feedback he is getting from the proposal. White said that not much has come in so far and the effort has been understated. He said that the plan was a joint city and county effort and the League of Cities has not yet taken final action. White said that they had a joint meeting between ISAC and the League of Cities in July 2003 and agreed to write a property tax reform proposal and do their best to cooperate with the Tax Implementation Panel, which has since disbanded. In the spring of 2004 there was another joint meeting between the ISAC Executive Board and the League of Cities Executive Board where a joint committee of 30 members was established to develop a proposal. White said that the ISAC Board of Directors voted to approve the proposal at last month’s meeting. The League of Cities has not yet passed the proposal because of disagreement over the non-profit issue. White said there are three cities that have reservations with the issue, Des Moines, Dubuque, and Cedar Rapids. White said that he met with members of the League of Cities in an attempt to convince them to move forward and adopt the proposal. White said that they are out in public with the proposal because they feel that they owe Senator Iverson a timely report back and would like to get a pre-session bill drafted and authorized by him before the Legislature convenes. Stutsman said that she did not realize that hog confinement buildings were not taxed. White agreed. Stutsman said that she thought that Des Moines was doing a surcharge on some of it’s non-profits for services such as police and ambulance. White said that the non-profit proposal is to assess and tax real estate at 20%. They were given the example of a church in downtown Des Moines that sits on real estate that if the fair market value were applied the taxes would be extremely high.
REPORTS/INQUIRIES FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS
White said that the office is swamped with two murder cases and five vehicular homicides. Neuzil asked if any progress is being made acquiring the block north of the Administration Building. White said that the progress is slow. He said that they underestimated relocation costs. White explained that he and Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan met with a DOT relocation expert. The relocation expert felt that he would be able to train Sullivan to fill out and calculate relocation expenses. White explained that the Board authorized condemnation in the Larson case but that hasn’t been filed because the Attorney’s Office is in the process of doing lien searches and trying to get an abstract so they are sure who to file against. There are no willing sellers in the block north of the Administration Building, White explained, but Hawkeye Lumber comes the closest. Hawkeye Lumber has been the most receptive to talking and has given a ballpark value that although is much higher than the appraised value, is still up for discussion. White said that he and Sullivan agree that the first acquisition goals are the Lumber Company and the Larson property. The Larson property is of interest for many reasons previously discussed with the Board during authorization of condemnation. The Lumber Company is attractive because it is the biggest property and they are the most receptive to discussing a sale to the County. RT’s, Ya-Ya’s, and the used car lot are unhappy about the plans. White said the largest stumbling block could be the owner occupied house as she does not answer the phone or the door. White said that the owners of the used car lot have a recorded valid option to purchase the owner occupied housing property at much lower than the appraised value. White said that an owner occupied dwelling has a lot more rights in terms of retaining possession and relocation. He said the DOT relocation expert said that it is not unusual for it to take two or three years for owner occupied dwellings to be acquired. White said the difficulty will come if they have to make a decision whether or not to put her out of her house when they assemble all the other property and it is time to build a building. Harney said they might be able to work around that by having her house be part of the parking lot and not part of the building.
Painter said that today they had a routine visit from the Department of Public Health. Painter said she has received a lot of good feedback about the website. The Recorder’s State website should be launched in January in compliance with new legislation passed last year. White said that the Recorders and the Treasurers are on the cutting edge of e-government and they have done remarkable things with their systems.
Kriz said that they got through the first half of tax season really well. Kriz said that e-commerce is making a big difference in everything they do. He anticipated that by next year $100,000 worth of renewals will be done each year over the Internet, which is about 8% of the renewals. Kriz said the system is very efficient and gives the taxpayer the opportunity to be served by the County twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. Kriz said that banking is changing terrifically in regard to Check 21 which goes into effect October 26, 2005. Kriz explained that before checks went through the Federal Reserve and now those documents will be destroyed and it will all be done with an image. Now, if a check is taken into the bank in the morning, the money will be gone from the account by 7:00 p.m. that night, Kriz said.
Kriz said that his office continues to field a lot of complaints from the public that the County websites are not being updated. Kriz said that there are address changes and GIS data that need to be updated. Kriz said that people will stop using the sites because it doesn’t serve their purpose. Neuzil and Harney suggested meeting with Slockett once the election is over to work on expediting action on the GIS backlog.
White said that it may be appropriate for the Board to consider in the next budget cycle using Central Services to provide funding for occasional staff. White said examples would be somebody to fill in for someone who is out on medical leave, or somebody who is trained and willing to work intermittently to help get caught up in an office. White explained that with a Clerk II position the person could float between many offices in the Administrative Unit. White said that if someone was facing maternity leave from a critical employee they could request funding. Kriz agreed that there is a lot of merit to something like that.
SET NEXT MEETING DATE and TIME
The next Elected Officials meeting was set for January 11, 2005 at 1:30 p.m.Adjourned at 2:47 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By: Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary