MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
FEBRUARY 9, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Discussion: Johnson County Human Rights Ordinance.............................................................. 1
Reports and Inquiries from the Board of Supervisors................................................................. 6
Executive Session to Discuss Status/Prices of Acquisition of Campus Plan Properties: RT’s, Ya-Ya’s, and Parking Lot....................................................................................................................................... 6
Chairperson Lehman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 6:07 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Lehman said that the Board discussed the Johnson County Human Rights Ordinance several months ago, and had many comments from the public encouraging them to investigate this. He said the Board of Supervisors has had different discussions with the County Attorney’s Office about this. There was an interest by the majority of the Board to move forward with something. He asked Assistant County Attorney Janet Lyness to outline some of the options they Board may be interested in approaching.
Lyness said that when the Board first talked about the Human Rights Ordinance, her understanding was that they had some concerns about costs. She said that there are a variety of different things the Board could do. She said that a Human Rights Ordinance is something that they can pass in the County. Stutsman asked Lyness to explain what a Human Rights Ordinance is, and how it is different from what the County already has in place. Lyness said that a Human Rights Ordinance would be setting forth as a policy for the county that people in the county would not discriminate against people, and they would then set what classifications they want to have covered that prohibit discrimination. She recommended that they use what the City of Iowa City currently has in the ordinance, which restricts and prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, color, creed, disability, gender identity, marital status, national origin, race religion, sex, or sexual orientation. She reiterated that the ordinance would cover all of those categories, and the Board would say that that was not permissible in the County, looking at areas specifically like employment, housing, public accommodation, credit, and education. The ordinance would indicate that employers in the county or in the unincorporated area would not be allowed to discriminate on these bases, and if they do they would be in violation of a County ordinance. She said that some of these are covered by State and Federal law, but having it at the County level is making a statement that is saying that discrimination will not be tolerated locally. She said that it will also give the County the ability to enforce it locally, and how they want to do that is up to the Board of Supervisors.
Lyness explained that if the Board passes a Human Rights Ordinance they could have a Human Rights Commission, and hire staff to do that. They could also refer complaints to the State because there is a State Civil Rights Commission who currently enforces many of those categories of discrimination. She said that the City of Iowa City expands what areas or classifications are covered by State law, and this is what the Board could include for the County, which would include sexual orientation, marital status, and gender identity. The City also has a slightly broader definition of employer. State law covers employers who have fewer than three employees. There are some other exceptions to that as well, such as if you are employing someone in your home, there are bona fide occupational qualifications such as, you want a woman if she’s going to work in the woman’s dressing room at the swimming pool. They basically expand the number of employees that would make someone an employer under the State law. Lyness said that the Board would set forth a principle for Johnson County saying that the County opposes discrimination on the basis of these classifications. She said that this is an important statement for the County to make, and how they want to enforce it is something they could look at next. She said that they could decide whether to adopt the ordinance, and decide how to implement it afterwards. Lyness said the County could hire their own person to do it, or could contract with the City of Iowa City to have their civil rights personnel and staff do the enforcement work, or they could have the State take over for the areas that the State covers. Lyness said that one thing the Board could do that would be less expensive, is to have any violations of the ordinance referred to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission to have them do the investigation and enforcement of it. She said that if there is a classification that the County has, such as sexual orientation, that is not covered by State law, then she would recommend that enforcement be done through the County Attorney’s Office.
Lyness said that she talked to the staff at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission who were very excited about that option. She said that the Civil Rights Commission would be delighted if Johnson County hired an additional person, and to have a lot more enforcement going on locally, but she was very excited about the possibility that Johnson County might even adopt a Human Rights Ordinance, just because of the statement that makes for a County. Lyness communicated that they said that it would be acceptable for the County to forward any complaints to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, and they expressed their willingness to assist the County in training or in other ways.
Harney said that he liked Lyness’s recommendation as far as using the State resources. He said that Iowa City files their complaints locally and with the State, but if they come to an agreement the State will drop theirs and accept their recommendations. He asked if Lyness foresees any problems in having the State do part of it and the County do the other part. Lyness said that if there was a case which addressed sexual orientation as well as race, the County could work with the State and get that resolved. She said that it would depend on the individual case. She said that talking with the State, she didn’t think it would be a problem in terms of coordinating the cases.
Stutsman clarified that the first step would be to draft the ordinance, which would be done by the County Attorney’s office. She said that she and Harney visited with City Manager Steve Atkins to get a better feel of how they handle their complaints. She asked whether they would work out details as far as how the commission would handle complaints after they passed the ordinance. Lyness replied that they could decide to have a commission, but this wouldn’t be necessary. She said that if the Board decided not to have a commission, they would have to set up specific procedures so that there could be an investigation, and there would be a couple of people in the County Attorney’s Office working on this, but she said she thought that it was doable. Lyness said that the numbers of cases that would lead to complaints that are not covered by State law are not going to be extensive. She said that in talking to former Iowa City Human Rights Coordinator Heather Shank and current Iowa City Human Rights Coordinator Stephanie Bowers, the numbers that they had in cases that were not covered by State law are not that numerous. Therefore, Lyness thinks that this is something that is feasible for the County Attorney’s Office to handle these cases.
Neuzil said that this was the question of cost. He said that his assumption is that if it is limited and the County Attorney’s Office can handle it, when the Board has a chance to communicate with the County Attorney, he thought that Lyness’s time plus some additional training dollars and then the actual cost of dealing with any incident that occurs in the unincorporated areas would be the cost part of this. He said that the process seems to be going towards Lyness and the County Attorney’s Office in drafting an ordinance, and once that ordinance is drafted, bringing it back in front of the Board. Neuzil said that what he’s heard seems extremely reasonable. He expressed his hope that once they pass this in Johnson County, that the other communities within Johnson County will pass a similar ordinance, and that it will lead other counties across the state to pass it, which will send a message to the State of Iowa that sexual orientation and other things should be protected across the state. He said that this is the kind of thing that they are doing today in Johnson County that could send a message all across the state. Lyness said that at the state level, Iowa Civil Rights Commission employee Mary Cowdrey feels like if Johnson County passes this, they are taking a leadership role in the state. Lyness agreed that this would be a good leadership role to take.
R. Sullivan said that there is some discrepancy in terms of the County doing an ordinance that would include the whole County versus doing an ordinance that would include only the unincorporated areas. He asked Lyness to talk about these jurisdictional issues. Lyness said that what the Board of Supervisors has jurisdiction over is the unincorporated area. She said that if there are other cities in the County that want to adopt this, Johnson County might have to hire staff and do more education and enforcement, which would be a great idea, but for now they would just adopt the ordinance for the unincorporated areas, because the cities would have do it for themselves. Stutsman said that right now, Iowa City is the only one that has a Human Rights Ordinance. Lyness agreed.
Lehman said that it is the Board’s responsibility to make sure that if they pass this ordinance, the mechanics are put in place so that complaints can be addressed. Lyness said that she needs some guidance from the Board before she drafts the ordinance. She recommended that they decide on a date today for when they want a draft. Harney asked how long it would take her to draft something. Lyness replied that many people from the community have offered to help. She said that she could present something to the Board within a month. R. Sullivan asked Lyness to discuss the process that the Board of Supervisors would have to go through to adopt the ordinance. Lyness replied that there are several different steps, and it does take some time. She said that if they look over a general draft in a month, they could start the process of publication and public hearings at that time.
Stutsman thanked Lyness and the County Attorney for working with the Board on this. Stutsman was glad that they were able to move along with this, and to find out that it wasn’t going to cost as much as they thought. She conceded that money shouldn’t be the only criteria when considering something like this, but when they are dealing with a constrained budget, it did enter into the discussion. Lehman said that the City does have a lot of violations, and they may have been basing their cost based on their current work load. Lyness said that if they find out that the number of complaints is much higher than they thought, or complaints that are not able to be resolved in mediation, she will have to come back to the Board and ask them to allocate funds to this.
Lyness said that she enjoyed working on this, and was looking forward to having a good ordinance for the County. Stutsman said she called ISAC to see if there were any other counties who had such an ordinance. She said that if she does get back information from other counties she will communicate with Lyness. Lyness said that there are no other counties who have a Human Rights Ordinance, but there are some cities who have one.
Janelle Rettig said she had some materials for the Board, which she distributed. She said that she has been a resident of Johnson County for 16 years. When she moved here, she knew that Iowa City had a civil rights ordinance that included sexual orientation, and that was why Iowa City was the only place where she and her partner considered living. They were afraid to be an out lesbian couple anywhere else in Iowa. She said that about seven or eight years ago, adding a Human Rights Ordinance to the County came to the attention of the Board of Supervisors. She said that one of the people who brought it forward was former Supervisor Carol Thompson. At the time it was discussed, there was no second on the Board to move forward because it was considered not reasonable to do because it only covered unincorporated areas. She said that unincorporated areas in Johnson County now make up about 21,000 and growing. She said this is the second largest group of citizens in the county. Rettig said that passing a Human Rights Ordinance that would only apply to 21,000 people is well worth doing. The City of Decorah added a Human Rights Ordinance, and they are a much smaller population. She went on to say that there are now eight cities that have civil rights ordinances that include sexual orientation, but there are no counties. Some counties have non-discrimination statements in their employment, which Johnson County currently has. Iowa City added sexual orientation in 1977, and added gender identity in 1995. She said that having the two, along with marital status, makes a statement about what is valued in the county and how they believe that all of the citizens should be protected.
Rettig said that the other thing that was brought up last summer when the Board discussed this issue was that it would cost $41,000. She said that Lyness gave the Board a solution that would not cost this much. However, she said that they don’t know how much it would cost. She said that protecting even one citizen from discrimination, or giving them an outlet for recourse, is worth any amount of money. She said that the County actually spends more than that on animal control in the rural parts of the counties. She said that in August the Board discussed that the State of Iowa should do this, which she agrees with. Rettig explained that the State has had a bill that would add sexual orientation pending before it for about 18 years. She said there has been a vote on the bill twice, but neither time was in the last 15 years. She said they now have a bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity for about six or seven years, and they have never once been able to have a committee chair to allow them to have a vote on that. She said that with a growing number of sponsors of that bill, they still don’t get a vote. Rettig said that with the eight cities joined by Johnson County, there is a momentum building that will eventually pass this in the state. She said that if that happens, their cost will be virtually nothing.
Rettig said that Board members had also objected because this ordinance would not cover the smaller communities, which she said is correct. She asked the Board to consider that if Coralville, North Liberty, Solon, Lone Tree and other places began to understand that having human rights is an economic development issue, that when all of their citizens are welcome, more people will want to live there. She said that if these towns decide they want to do adopt a Human Rights Ordinance, it would be a great time to revisit the issue and consider combining Iowa City human rights with the County human rights, and at that point a citizen’s commission would be valuable. She said that right now, she would recommend that they don’t have a citizen’s commission.
Rettig mentioned that when the Board discussed this issue in August, they also talked about a couple of issues that have had no action on them since then, which she wished to address. One was that the Board adopt a resolution that would be sent to the State Legislature, which she recommended that they still do. She said that she is aware that some Legislators wrote the Board asking them to adopt this ordinance, and she said that she thought it was only fair that the Board turn around and write the State Legislators and recommend that they do the same. She thanked the Board for their work on this, and urged them to vote on this ordinance in a month.
Lehman thanked Rettig and the other members of the public who had given feedback on this issue. The Board also thanked Lyness for her work on the issue.
Harney attended the DVIP Souperbowl Supper, the Coralville Chamber of Commerce Committee meeting, a meeting with the Stemm Brothers regarding stray dogs, a Johnson County Trails meeting, and a meeting with residents regarding Harry’s Road,
Neuzil attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting. He will be having a Listening Post on February 10, 2006 at the North Dodge Hy-Vee.
R. Sullivan attended the Johnson County Trails meeting and the DVIP Souperbowl Supper. He encouraged the public to pay attention to the budget discussions. He called the Board’s attention to some fundraisers coming up this weekend: the Tiffin Fire Department Soup Supper, and the Sutliff Bridge Authority’s annual fundraiser.
Stutsman attended a meeting with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the City of Coralville, and ISAC regarding having an ISAC conference at the convention center, a JCCOG subcommittee meeting looking at JCCOG programs and whether they are addressing the concerns of elected officials, and she attended the Chamber of Commerce Washington D.C. trip.
Lehman attended the Chamber of Commerce Washington D.C. trip.
Recessed at 6:50 p.m.; reconvened at 6:58 p.m. with Lehman absent
Motion by Stutsman, second by Sullivan, to enter into Executive Session at 6:58 p.m. to discuss purchase of RT’s, Ya-Ya’s, and parking lot under section 21.5(1.i), Code of Iowa, “To discuss the purchase of particular real estate only where premature disclosure could be reasonably expected to increase the price the governmental body would have to pay for that property.” Roll call: aye: Harney, Stutsman, Neuzil, Sullivan; absent: Lehman.
Motion by Sullivan, second by Stutsman, to leave Executive Session at 7:20 p.m. Roll call: aye: Harney, Stutsman, Neuzil, Sullivan; absent: Lehman.
Adjourned at 7:20 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary