**Subject to approval at a Future Elected Officials Meeting**
MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
FEBRUARY 11, 2005
ELECTED OFFICIALS MEETING
TABLE OF CONTENTS
County Supervisor Terrence Neuzil 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 Auditor Tom Slockett; County Recorder Kim Painter; County Supervisors Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan; and County Treasurer Tom Kriz. Staff present were: Board of Supervisors Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan, Board of Supervisors Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne, Sheriff’s Major Steve Dolezal, and Auditor’s Office Recording Secretary Casie Kadlec.
Motion by Painter, second by Kriz, to accept the minutes of the June 22, 2004 and October 19, 2004 Elected Officials meetings.
Stutsman reported that the Board has adopted the new County logo and suggested that departments with vehicles make arrangements with Secondary Roads Sign Foreman Gary Tigges who will apply the logos. Stutsman said that the logo is also available to be used on letterhead.
Stutsman said that the Communications Committee sent a survey out to employees discussing Communications Committee sponsored activities. The surveys will be reviewed at the next Communications Committee meeting. Attendance at some of the activities has been sporadic so the Committee wanted to get input into the activities.
Stutsman said when there is an illness or a death in a department HIPAA guidelines have to be followed. If it is OK with the individual the illness can be discussed, but blanket emails should not be sent and it should be handled personally. Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan said that it is not a direct violation of HIPAA, but if an employee’s name is going to be mentioned in relation to an illness there should be permission from the employee. M. Sullivan explained that HIPAA protects employees’ privacy.
Stutsman said that County Government Week is scheduled for April 10-15, 2005. The Communications Committee is planning a collage of different boards and commissions. Stutsman said that they are also planning on having a lunchtime speakers for Friday April 15, 2004: Stutsman will do a State of the County address, Senator Joe Bolkcom will discuss his work on the State Government Committee, and County Assessor Bill Greazel will compare Johnson County to other counties. They are also planning on publishing a flyer in The Gazette.
Neuzil asked how the elected officials feel the budget process is working. Lehman said that they’ve had comments in the past that departments don’t get adequate feedback from Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne about the budget process. County Recorder Kim Painter said that she is under the impression that if she wanted to meet directly with the Board she could. She said that there is money, there are requests, and then the decisions have to be made. Painter said that they are all operating under good faith that they are coming in with proposals that work with the office. She said that she likes the process and the electronic budget that comes to her that she can manipulate. She suggested they continue to communicate.
County Treasurer Tom Kriz said that he likes the freedom that the Board has given to Horne and hopefully it makes the Board’s job easier. Kriz said that Horne is good at what he does and has a good handle on where they need to be. Kriz said that a lot of department heads work very hard to keep budgets in line. He said that he has decreased his budget again this year, and said that it isn’t rewarded very well. He said that it is sometimes disappointing to see large amounts of dollars go to departments when other departments have tried to keep their budgets small. He suggested that the County reward property owners at some point. Kriz said that it is hard when the ability to tax is there but questioned if it is necessary to spend all of it. Stutsman suggested they recognize departments that have kept budgets low during County Government Week. Neuzil said that it is the ultimate question of business versus government, and governmental departments that do a good job of budgeting get smaller budgets. Painter said that collectively they are talking about an old paradigm that needs to be shifted. Neuzil said that if there is a need in the future for a department that has budgeted well, they could be put at the top of the list. R. Sullivan said that it might be a good idea to have a traveling County efficiency award trophy recognizing innovative ideas. Lehman said that he doesn’t want to slight other departments that have needs. Neuzil suggested that communication be kept open regarding the budget process.
DISCUSSION: COUNTY VEHICLE COMMITTEE
Lehman said that they continue to look at having a County car pool. Horne looked into renting cars and there were advantages. They discussed having a County car available for people to use. Lehman said that with rates as they are it would be advantageous to use rental cars when out of town. Lehman said that they haven’t reached any conclusions at this time. Neuzil said that the numbers could change if the Board raises the mileage rate.
Neuzil said that during the budget process they discussed elected officials’ salaries, how the deputies are tied to their salaries, and how the deputies aren’t keeping up. R. Sullivan said that when there is a difficult budget situation the public looks to the elected officials to be the leaders and not take a raise, but that affects the deputies. R. Sullivan explained that some counties have changed deputy titles. Kriz said that a lot of Treasurers have started to create administrative positions rather than deputy positions. He explained that this changes who has control over the position. Slockett suggested they have this discussion when County Attorney J. Patrick White is present. Stutsman said that the public doesn’t understand the concept that the deputies are tied to the elected officials. Lehman pointed out that if an elected official leaves office there is no job security for the deputies.
Slockett said that the Auditor’s affiliate has proposed for a number of years that the percentage limits be eliminated from the Code. Slockett said that a good place to bring this up is at the Compensation Board. Slockett said that the Compensation Board gave a larger increase to the Board. He said that it would be good if people would explain to the public the value of having well paid elected officials, the link of deputies’ salaries, and everybody supporting legislation that does away with the cap. R. Sullivan said that he wasn’t sure why the rule was created in the first place except to insure that the manager makes the most money. Harney said that they would like to see the deputies paid more. Slockett said that all kinds of methods have been used to demonstrate that to the public. Slockett said that it is good to explain to people the value of having good service. The elected officials agreed to keep discussing the issue.
REPORTS/INQUIRIES FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS
Kriz said that the new Department of Transportation system has been a challenge. He said that it might be a year or two until they get things to where they should be. Kriz said that the March renewals went out late with wrong phone numbers. R. Sullivan said that he has noticed that the DOT is taking abuse from the legislature. Kriz said that he has had a couple of calls from local people about the situation but that Treasurers weren’t given much input into the system. Kriz said that Polk County has asked for overtime money from their Board of Supervisors to work with the new system, which will not be funded by the DOT.
Painter said that it is boat renewal season. A snafu at the vendor level caused the fees to be wrong for a small group of renewals when the postcards were mailed. Painter said that real estate is a little on the quiet side but revenues will be within what was budgeted.
Slockett reported that the HAVA Policy Board made recommendations for distributing money for voting equipment. The money will come from HAVA 2002, which budgeted $3.5 billion dollars for upgrading equipment. Iowa’s share is $29 million. $17.5 million of it has been designated for upgrading equipment. A formula was developed that divides the counties by registration size and then allocates $2.95 per voter to determine distribution of the money. Johnson County’s portion was determined to be $607,000. The Secretary of State will make the final decision. There was reasonable consensus that this is a good way to move forward. $6.5 million will be used for new statewide voter registration software. Slockett has been appointed to the Iowa Voters Official Technologically Secure Elections and Registration System Committee. They’ve met once and worked on adapting the Oregon system to an Iowa system, which will be purchased from Saber Incorporated. Slockett said that they’re very concerned about what happened to the Treasurers and making sure that it doesn’t happen to the Auditors.
Sheriff’s Major Steve Dolezal reported that they’ve initiated alternatives in work release monitoring which will hopefully allow for a minor decrease in the budget. They’ve also worked hard to try to bring the numbers down on the inmates that are being housed in Linn County. Dolezal said that they are working on three grants to bring in equipment, and are working with the Iowa City Police Department on a drug task force grant application.
Neuzil suggested they collectively start thinking about strategic planning in regards to buildings because things aren’t getting done. They have projects for a new Health and Human Services building, a new jail, and remodeling the Administration building. He suggested that this item be placed on a future Elected Officials meeting agenda. Slockett said that he would like to see the Administration Building expanded prior to the next Presidential election. He said that during the election process it was clear how inadequate the building and parking facilities are. Harney said that the appropriation of funds for the new Guard building has been put on hold to 2008 or 2010. He explained that he and Stutsman are going on the Chamber of Commerce trip to Washington D.C. to try to get the funds unlocked.
Adjourned at 9:58 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By: Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary