MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
FEBRUARY 11, 2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chairperson Stutsman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 10:10 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
FISCAL YEAR 2006 COUNTY BUDGET
Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne said that there is $217,895 in the Technology Fund that could be used for new voting equipment. He added that this amount is bigger than they had thought previously.
Horne explained that for Soil and Water Conservation Contract Employee James Martin to be funded by the County health insurance pool the Board would have to pay a higher block grant to the Soil and Water Conservation Service then the department would repay that extra amount back to the County into the health insurance fund. Lehman, Harney, and R. Sullivan said they would like to increase the block grant amount so that Martin can get insurance if he needs it.
COUNTY SHERIFF’S FISCAL YEAR 2006 BUDGET (DEPARTMENT #08)
County Sheriff Lonnie Pulkrabek said that he received a letter from the Cedar Rapids Aviation Task Force requesting monetary support for their program. Harney asked how often this program has been used in the past. Pulkrabek said that he doesn’t have an actual number, but that he is not sure that using the $350 and hour as a guideline would come out to $3,000 for as much as they use the program. He said that he had been unaware that the FAA prevented billing by the hour. He added that he didn’t think the request was outrageous, but he wanted to get input from the Board. Neuzil added that even if it was only eight hours of use of the helicopter that would be at around $3,000. Pulkrabek said that he thought last year they used it twice. R. Sullivan said that his uncle provides the same service for Cedar County as a private citizen and that possibly they should look into a similar type of set up. Lehman said that if Iowa City and Coralville received the same letter, the County might be able to pay for it out of the Rural Fund.
Horne said that Pulkrabek made several large budget requests to him after the budget had already been drafted and Courthouse Security had already been committed to. Pulkrabek said that the main body of the Jail Alternatives is the cost of housing inmates in Linn County or other counties. He added that they are on schedule to go over the $400,000 that is budgeted this year and that he tried to come up with an average amount as to where it might go to for FY 06. Pulkrabek said that using electronic monitoring in some cases would be cheaper than paying $60-65 a day to house the inmates and he would like to take it out of the Jail Alternatives fund. Pulkrabek pointed out that when they budgeted two deputies for Courthouse Security, they also requested two deputies for jail staffing. Horne said that the maintenance contracts are already budgeted, and the other items such as gasoline, the uniform switchover, and the cellular phones are all still included.
Pulkrabek said that they estimated their revenue because they have asked two towns if they were interested in increasing the number of hours. Tiffin was one of them because the number of calls has increased. He added that he has visited with every city council and talked about the cost of living increase as the increase of 5% to the towns has not been enough to keep up with the increases given to the employees. Stutsman said that the budget that was presented was exactly the same as last year without any changes. Horne said that when he gave the books to the Board he had not yet received word from the Sheriff's Office that there were going to be increases. Pulkrabek said that along with the increase in the cost of living adjustment the agreement to provide law enforcement coverage to the Corps of Engineers has not been changed since 1991. He said that those rates need to be raised, and that they have always been covered by reserves and that the reserves have always been self-sustaining. Pulkrabek said that the $15,000 in revenue was a minimum increase in revenue.
Pulkrabek estimated that almost $600,000 is needed in FY 06 for jail alternatives. Horne said that he thinks the trends will taper off and that he isn’t sure yet if there will be a need for a budget amendment in FY 05. Pulkrabek said that the Jail Inspector pointed out that prior to transferring prisoners, Johnson County led the State in the number of violent assaults on other prisoners and prison employees so this has created a safer environment. Neuzil said that there could be an upcoming budget amendment if the amount is cut now, and that it is a consequence of not having a new facility. Pulkrabek said that another thing that could cause an amendment is that in FY 06 there are three long-term employees who will probably be retiring. He explained that if they are maxed out on their benefits they will take a combined total of over $68,000. One past employee took a pay out of $38,217.37. Pulkrabek said that they are required by contract to offer employees a pay out of their unused comp time twice a year.
Neuzil said that the Criminal Justice Committee chose to put $400,000 to Jail Alternatives to pay for housing. Stutsman asked if the numbers were adjusted because of the changes made because of collective bargaining. Horne said that it will be a change of about $8,000 from what is currently expected. Lehman asked if they were looking at not adding the $200,000 for jail alternatives. He asked how the Board feels about the additional deputies. Pulkrabek said that there are many reasons for needing a night dispatch supervisor. Pulkrabek explained that this would get them closer to being able to guarantee two employees on the evening shift, the busiest and most understaffed shift of the day. He added that because it is so difficult to get adequate help in that area there are even problems with allowing people their required breaks and meal times. Pulkrabek said that it can take a year to train a person well enough that they can be left by themselves in the dispatch area and have them count as a first chair.
Stutsman suggested that they reduce the vehicle replacement by half, include the night dispatcher, not include the two jail deputies, and keep the jail alternatives at $400,000. Neuzil asked what kind of impact reducing the vehicle replacement would have. Pulkrabek said that it will put the officers in danger because they are already running vehicles to higher miles than they used to. Lehman asked if they could make adjustments in the detective division to run their cars longer. Pulkrabek said that they already do that, and that as an example they have a jail car that will not be replaced this year that has 107,000 miles on it. Stutsman said that the jail car doesn’t require high speed chases. Pulkrabek said that is true and that is precisely why he feels it is okay to let it go a bit longer. Stutsman said that she doesn’t doubt that it is dangerous, but that there has to be flexibility. Harney asked if the Sheriff’s Office gets in on the State bids. Pulkrabek said that they usually beat the State bid as they are aware of that level and they allow several Chevy dealerships to bid. He said that is why they have not purchased cars locally because they could get a better price elsewhere. Pulkrabek also added that this year some of the vehicle replacement money might also be able to be returned, but next year many cars will need to be replaced. Harney said that it has been brought to the attention of the Board that some of the investigators have been driving sports cars. Pulkrabek said that he is concerned about some of the types of cars that are being used and that he is not looking for sports cars. He said that for the Civil Division they purchased Hyundai cars, they come with a 100,000 mile warranty. Pulkrabek pointed out that the detectives need a more solid built vehicle as they have to respond to emergencies.
Neuzil said that they have not asked other departments to make many trade offs. Pulkrabek said that he feels strongly against lowering the vehicle replacement line item and that he understands concerns from past behavior, but that he needs the Board to bear with him. Pulkrabek added that if the amount is cut in half the ability to keep up with maintenance and turn over will be damaged. R. Sullivan said that perhaps they should look at it a different way and just say $200,000 has to go and let Pulkrabek decide what to cut. Pulkrabek said that one of the things that could be given up would be the part-time cook in the jail, and possibly more but he is unprepared to answer that question without further investigation. Harney asked why the two jail deputies that were allocated a couple of years ago were not sufficient. Pulkrabek said that until the first of the year Captain Wagner was included in the daily minimums in the jail, but he cannot leave his office when he is there because of all of the duties he has. He said that because there are more programs being expanded such as work release they need another person to help with day to day operations so Captain Wagner can be freed up to continue his work.
Neuzil said that if they look at the past budgets for this department, vehicles have always been a part of the budget. He said that Courthouse Security has been an additional thing that was requested by the County Attorney and the Board of Supervisors, and has fallen to the responsibility of the Sheriff. Neuzil said that this means there is an increase of only $48,163 plus the additional $8,000, which is not unreasonable. He said that he thinks Pulkrabek should say the two courthouse positions should be cut because that is not a request being made by his office, it is coming from elsewhere. Lehman said that those positions were voted on last year and it is not new money. Horne said that it is new money this year though because $75,000 was authorized last year, and the real change is about $31,000 in the Supplemental Fund. Stutsman said that she thought there was a particular reason it was paid out of the Sheriff’s Office, and that it was the best place because they know how to train officers. Pulkrabek said that they can’t cut it because they have extended job offers. Neuzil said that this particular line item comes out of the Supplemental Fund. He said that he is just saying the reasoning is that there was really just an increase of $48,000. Pulkrabek said that if the Board wants them to get by with the current jail staff that would be okay, but that it is getting more and more difficult to do so each year. Pulkrabek said that adding the additional dispatch would mean that they could start limited medical dispatch. He added that Iowa City has medical dispatch, and that there is an opportunity for a citizen to bring a lawsuit against the County for not having medical dispatch.
FISCAL YEAR 2006 COUNTY BUDGET
The Board set a budget work session on February 18, 2005 at 8:30 a.m. The Board discussed setting the budget public hearing on March 10, 2005.
Stutsman said that concern was expressed by the GIS Committee over the direction the Board is taking of adding a full time Map Delineator in the Auditor’s Office and reducing the GIS staff request to one Technician and one Specialist. Lehman said that budget wise they could afford three employees but that they chose to put one in the Auditor’s Office and that they want to know if that will be sufficient to cover all of the work that is needed. Johnson County Assessor Bill Greazel said that his main concern is that maps are going to be kept up to date and that they haven’t been in the past. He said that they need some assurance that they will be completed and that moving GIS under GIS Coordinator Rick Havel was supposed to provide that assurance. Lehman said that they had a letter from County Attorney J. Patrick White stating that they needed to work with the Auditor to fulfill what he feels is his statutory obligations. Greazel said that if he had been given a copy of the letter he would have been able to talk about his objections before this point in the process.
County Auditor Tom Slockett said that it is the Auditor’s job to supply the maps and this is the fifth year in a row that they have requested help. He said that they have maintained an open relationship with Havel and Information Services. Slockett pointed out that he had been in favor of extra personnel going to Information Services, but it is the Auditor’s responsibility to produce the base maps. He said that the meeting with Sidwell went very well and Sidwell was impressed with the systems Johnson County has in place and wants to work with the County on this project. Slockett said that he thinks Havel will verify that Sidwell was very impressed with the staff and systems in place in Johnson County. He said that it is the Auditor’s job to do this and that they will work with Havel and his staff as well as the Assessor and other departments that use their base maps. Greazel said that they have been waiting for ten years for this system to be adequate and it has not been. He said that there have been many promises made but that he is still looking for quality maps. Slockett said that they have not been listening to empty promises, they have been listening to requests for additional funding that were never met and that now that there is help being offered they can get their job done and get caught up. Greazel said that the maps are old and no longer up to date. Slockett said that the lines have been checked by experts, they are correct, and the Auditor’s Office will do its job and do it right.
Horne said that there is nothing prohibiting the Board from putting a fall back clause in the agreement to ensure that the work gets done. Stutsman asked if it would say that if the goals are not met the Board reserves the right to reappropriate the monies. Neuzil said that they have that power every year. He said that there has been a request for five years and that now it can be funded he doesn’t have a problem with allowing the Auditor’s Office to do the work. He said that they need to be careful when saying that there are three GIS positions guaranteed because the budget has not been certified. Greazel asked what the Board considers current. Stutsman said that she wants to define the term current and figure out what adequate turn around times should be. She said that she wants to write a contract with specific expectations to assure that the work is completed. Lehman said that he thought the Assessor was willing to fund some of the work, but that if they do it this way the funding will not come through until July 1. Greazel said that he doesn’t feel that it is his responsibility to fund something in the Auditor’s Office because he has his own office, budgets, and responsibilities. He added that he certainly doesn’t feel an obligation to fund a catch up program that should have been done to begin with. He said that he can’t go to his board and say that this is one of his responsibilities as the Assessor.
Lehman said that he thinks Greazel is saying that his offer is off the table if the Board gives a position to the Auditor’s Office. Neuzil said that there will be an additional $50,000 not spent by the Conference Board. Greazel said that when it came to light that they were so far behind he offered the office a one time deal to help them catch up, but that the help would be conditional on a policy change in the GIS department. Neuzil said that he understands that and if the offer is off of the table then the Board will have to find another $50,000 and that is potentially one of the GIS positions. Harney said that he thinks it is a matter of technology superceding the code requirements. Stutsman said that the $50,000 was going to come out of this year’s budget because they want to get caught up now. Slockett asked if they were planning on funding Sidwell with the $50,000. Horne said that they were going to fund Sidwell up to $50,000. Slockett said that they have come up with the amount of accounting and real estate salaries that were paid for elections work and that it is $75,000 so that can be put into the General Fund. He said that they have worked very hard on being innovative in the field and that it would be unfair to take it away at this point after they have done so much. Greazel said that he doesn’t care what the reasons are. He said that he doesn’t have any accountability for what is done in the Auditor’s Office.
Deputy Auditor Mark Kistler said that every minute of time in GIS and Real Estate is going into a database. He said that they started doing manual time keeping in March, but that it takes times to set up a good system. Kistler added that they can look up anything they need in it. Slockett suggested that they could print off regular reports for the Board from the time keeping system if they would like them. Stutsman said that she would like to have the GIS Committee draft expectations and outline when tasks should be done. Harney said that it should have what is expected out of all departments. Stutsman said that would be a good idea, but for now they just need to outline some specific goals.
Stutsman said that she has heard talk among the Board that they may not fund three GIS positions so she wants to know what impact it would have if they don’t fund a position. Stutsman said that it looks like it would be the technical position under Havel that would be cut. Information Services Director Jean Schultz said that they need the specialist because they have no back up for Havel right now, and that they had requested a specialist last year that was not approved. Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak said that he would support the specialist as well, but that he was confused about the technician from the beginning. He said that they supported the two technicians because that was needed and that those positions were going to go under Havel. He said that if it will still take two delineators or technicians to get the work done, then they should be in the same office. Stutsman said that she thought the technician was supposed to work with the departments to develop the overlays. Kistler said that they can use the help. He said that when they get to the tax roll up there are going to be many parcels that will need to be brought online. He said it will be helpful to receive help from Havel’s staff. Dvorak said that he thought that the two delineators plus Map Delineator John McKiness would be what is needed to get the job done. He said that he is now hearing that the technician will be support for the other offices. Schultz said that originally that was how it was supposed to be, but by putting the tech somewhere else it can help other offices too. Dvorak said that they really didn’t need two map delineators then. Slockett said that they need two to get the base map caught up and keep it caught it up. Kistler said that this way if the third position was under IS every department could use it. He explained that many departments need assistance with their data and this position could be flexible enough to take care of those problems. Dvorak said that he would support a shared position.
To clarify what the plan is Greazel said that the Auditor’s Office will have sufficient staff to keep everyone up to date and that the turn around time will be limited. Stutsman said that she would like to put discussion about reasonable expectations for turn around times on a GIS Committee agenda. Harney said that as long as everyone understands what their part of the job is and each department does its part, the work should get done. Dvorak said that he doesn’t know of any department that goes out on its own without going through Havel. Greazel said that he just wants to make sure that everything continues to go as well as they think it will and that if it turns out that the Auditor’s Office needs more help, they will speak up right away.
Harney asked if part-time hours will be able to be cut after July 1, 2005. Slockett said that if they are caught up with Sidwell that would be possible. Kistler added that they would also need to be caught up with the QA/QC as well. Lehman said that they are working in a budget and that something needs to be cut somewhere and that if part of that could be offset be some part-time hours, he would like to do that. Slockett said that the key is if Sidwell will be done by July 1, 2005. Kistler said that they don’t even have a time estimate yet. Schultz said that they could use the shared position to help finish the quality control. Kistler said that they shouldn’t cut the part-time hours too much because then there will be trouble keeping up with other real estate duties. Lehman asked if Greazel is going to fund a portion of the switch. Stutsman said that Greazel took it off the table, but that Slockett has it in his budget.
Horne said that he has been having some trouble with GEMS but that he has gone through some payroll revisions and has come up with some funding. He said that this extra money can fund Capital Projects back to a million dollars.
Harney said that they are getting to the point where the Sheriff’s Department might need to be partially funded by the Rural Fund. Neuzil said that the new computer program being implemented in the Sheriff’s Office will make it easier to track where the patrol is. He said that this would help demonstrate how many hours are actually used for rural areas and how many are used for cities. Horne said that there is only a dollar left in the rural levy and it will be used quickly. Stutsman said that they need to remember that it is a tax increase that will be imposed over fewer taxpayers so it will have a bigger impact. Stutsman said that almost half of what is being taxed is going to the Sheriff’s Department. Stutsman said that Pulkrabek is a new sheriff and that he has to understand that he needs to manage a budget and that he cannot come to the Board and get the money. She added that there is flexibility in the line items and that if they have money left over in the vehicle funds this year then it is ridiculous to give him his full amount next year. Lehman said that it will take him time to understand. Neuzil said that a $48,000 increase is not unreasonable. He added that jail alternatives should not be out of the Sheriff’s budget and that it should be a separate line item because if they ask the Sheriff for a percentage cut then that item will be cut first like it was a few years ago.
Neuzil said that a night dispatcher position is more important than a third technician in GIS. Stutsman said that she is in support of the night dispatch position but they need to look at the budget as a whole to decide. Lehman said that he would give him the night dispatcher but that he doesn’t necessarily need the two deputies. Neuzil agreed. Stutsman suggested they reduce the vehicle amount to $100,000. Neuzil said that maybe they could fund the dispatcher position to begin January 1, 2005. Stutsman said that she wants Pulkrabek to realize that he needs to look at the vehicle replacement situation to reduce costs and if they continue to fund it at the full amount it won’t send the message.
Stutsman asked why the cellular phone bills are so high. Horne said that they are getting away from using radios and instead favoring the cell phones. Stutsman said that they need to be sure that they have the best coverage. Neuzil said that this is basically Carpenter’s budget. Horne agreed. Lehman said that there is time for Pulkrabek to manage the budget. Stutsman said that the medical expense is going to be a problem, especially if they are going to have to be responsible for all of Oakdale’s inmates. Harney said that he doesn’t think the County can be held responsible because it is a State prison. Stutsman said that she thinks there is a loop hole that they are trying to work out so that it will happen.
Horne said that he is hearing that they are trying to find room for the supervisor, but take out one of the techs. Neuzil said that he thinks they should take out the tech adding in the supervisor and whatever the difference is between the salaries should be subtracted from the cars budget. Horne asked about taking the difference out of the inflation estimates. Stutsman said that would be okay. Neuzil said that by taking it out of cars he will recognize that there is some wiggle room at the end of the year. R. Sullivan said that they will give him a bottom line but they are basically just telling him what they think should happen. Neuzil said that cars come out of the capital expenditures fund and that it won’t show in his budget, and by taking it out of cars he will get more of a wash because he will have some carryover from this year.
Lehman asked if the $75,000 was already in the budget from Tom Slockett. Horne said that he had not put it in because he had not heard that before. Harney said that it really irritates him that Slockett has $75,000 that he can reclassify. Neuzil said that it bothers him that the problem was a priority of the Assessor and that it no longer is. Stutsman said that he was willing to put the money in for maps that he could use and that when he felt the maps were not going to be usable, he didn’t want to fund it. Neuzil said that he can still use the maps, but that now they have to come up with $50,000 to cover the difference.
Stutsman said that they need to talk about wages. Horne said that he has budgeted for 4.5% and 3% for the elected officials and deputies. Stutsman said that she is comfortable with 4.5% for the Board, and what the percentage is for other non-bargaining. Neuzil said that it is 4.25% plus merit, plus longevity. Horne said that they have to maintain a 3:2 ratio, and that would be 3.75% and 5%. Horne said that they should meet again to go over the changes that they are making today. Neuzil said that if Slockett has $75,000 and $50,000 will go to Sidwell that should leave $25,000 for carryover for next year. Horne said that they would increase the technology transfer by $50,000 and decrease Slockett’s budget by $50,000.
Adjourned at 12:17 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary