MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
FEBRUARY 23, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak and Senior Building Inspector Ruben Arsate: Mobile Home Park Building Permits............................................................................................................................ 1
Johnson County Historical Society Director Margaret Wieting: Johnson County Historical Society Museum Capital Needs FY 2007 Through FY 2010................................................................................................ 3
Johnson County Sheriff’s Captain David Wagner: Johnson County Jail Inspection Report............ 5
Reports and Inquiries from the Board of Supervisors................................................................. 6
Chairperson Lehman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:07 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak said that in August, he and Senior Building Inspector Ruben Arsate came before the Board to discuss permits for mobile homes and moving in and out of mobile homes. He said that the Building Code allows them to do that. When they presented this to the Board, the Board supported the idea and wanted Planning and Zoning to move forward. During that time, he then created a letter and fees schedule and sent it out to all of the mobile home park owners. He said that they had no response other than one call from Larry Wilcox and one call from the State Building Code Department about whether the County would enforce their code the way that they would regular homes as far as licensing electricians and plumbers. At that time, he was going to check with the State Attorney to see what they thought. He was going to send them a letter and then Dvorak was going to share that with Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell. It has been over a month and they have not received a letter, said Dvorak. He stated that they are still moving forward. He said that he gave the Board a copy of the minutes to bring the Board back up to speed as well as a copy of the fees and the letter. In the August discussion, they looked at how many mobile homes are affected. At that time, in talking with County Treasurer Tom Kriz, they estimated 20 to 30 a year. He mentioned that they also met with Tom Wolfe at Lake Manor Mobile Home Park and went over his process of placing mobile homes in his park as far as foundations and so on. They asked if he had any concerns, and he had none. Dvorak said they envision starting this on March 1, 2006 and will keep the Board updated on the status and what they are finding in the parks. Arsate said that the fees were a concern. They decided on charging the park owner who would collect fees from the appropriate people.
Neuzil asked if they are talking about new mobile homes or ones that are being moved. Dvorak said it is if the homes are being moved or swapped out. Neuzil said that some of the mobile homes are deteriorating to the point of being unlivable. Harney said it is a step in the right direction to say that anyone moving a mobile home into the park must have their home meet the criteria, but the problem is that some of the existing courts are having problems. He said he isn’t trying to eliminate any low-rent housing. R. Sullivan asked if they have a complaint-based process set up. Arsate said that they do. They will also be doing a visual inspection for obvious infractions by current residents. He said they can also do occasional drive-through inspections. Arsate noted that he does monthly drive-throughs of problematic areas just so that residents can see the Johnson County logo and see that they are monitoring the conditions. He stated that there has been a lot of improvement.
Neuzil asked what the regulations are for homes that are unlivable yet still lived in. Dvorak said that they can’t do anything if the home just appears unsafe in terms of how it looks. Neuzil asked if they can do anything about homes where they drive by and see that the windows are broken out and the door is off the hinges. Dvorak replied that they can’t do anything, but it is a different situation if the home is abandoned. Chappell said that the home would have to be in an extremely dilapidated condition. He said that the program that Dvorak and Arsate are talking about includes inspecting the connections to the utilities, how they are tied down to the foundation, and so on. The homes come in with a State stamp, and once they come in with that stamp, those homes are not subject to inside inspections to check the walls and such. He thought that the potential is certainly there for a lot of problems to be caught and corrected when they are checking the tie downs and utilities. A lot of the complaints that they heard about the mobile home in the southern part of the county was that the utilities were not up to par. Chappell said that he agrees with Arsate that the drive-throughs have been successful. He noted that the owners seem to know that ultimately, they have responsibility. Chappell said that if a home is bad enough, it can be inspected.
Harney said he is not trying to dictate how someone should live; he is concerned with the safety. Dvorak said that they work closely with the Public Health Department, and that department has more authority over nuisances than the building code. Neuzil said that he knows they have a burned out mobile homes in one of the parks that children are playing in. Stutsman asked if this affects independent homes that are on a lot outside of a park. Dvorak said that they have always done those inspections. The manufactured housing parks are a new area for them. Harney asked if farms are included. Dvorak said that farms are exempt unless they want an inspection. Chappell said that part of that is connected to how mobile homes are taxed. If they are in a park, they are taxed as mobile homes, but if they are on a farm or private lot, they are taxed as real estate just like a house. That means, an assessor is out there and there is more involvement.
Lehman asked if this would include permanent garages or storage sheds. Dvorak said it does not because there are limitations on the Code itself. They don’t issue building permits for any structure that is under 200 square feet. That would take care of the majority of the accessory buildings in the manufactured housing parks. Also, he noted that with decks, they are not attached to the structure, so they fall under the 200 square feet. He said that there is going to be further discussion to look at other types of buildings in the parks. He said that they have always issued permits for the shelters and offices and so on. They cover about 90% of the structures in the mobile parks.
Lehman wondered if they anticipate having to continue driving through and if they anticipate cooperation from the owners of the parks to let them know when something needs to be replaced. Arsate said so far the result has been positive. Lehman said that the people who live there can put some peer pressure on the people around them. R. Sullivan said that he thought the Treasurer was in favor of Planning and Zoning doing these inspections because they are not getting updated records. Dvorak said that the parks are supposed to send in a quarterly inventory of what has moved in and what has moved out for tax purposes. When Dvorak told Kriz that they were doing this, he was very excited about being kept up-to-date. Stutsman asked what Wilcox’s concerns were. Dvorak said that Wilcox only had questions, and not concerns. Wilcox had installed some paths in some electrical stuff and wanted to know if he would be exempt. So, basically, he just wanted clarification of the standards. The Board thanked Dvorak for the report.
Johnson County Historical Society Director Margaret Wieting said that she and Historical Society Representative Del Richards are here to express their appreciation for the Board’s support over the past 15 years. They believe that the Johnson County Historical Society (JCHS) is an important entity as a public center of learning about the historical and cultural heritage of Johnson County. JCHS is a repository of over 10,000 artifacts that preserve and tell the story of people, places, and events in the county. They also have an oral history program and various tour programs including a country school tour, cemetery tour, and barn tour. They have a summer history program and an award-winning curriculum project at the 1876 school house for 5th graders. They also have a history for lunch program and other special events that provide outreach.
Wieting explained that JCHS is at a critical juncture in its organizational history. An opportunity for institutional identity and a venue to more fully live out their mission and to serve the County is at hand. A museum where they can spotlight the communities of Johnson County and encourage visitation is a plan in the works. Wieting said that this will be a place where history can come alive in new and creative ways through art, music, theater, and interactive exhibits. Much of this is in the conceptual stages of planning, but the building is the vehicle for this.
Richards said that the Coralville City Council will probably approve a lease for the Johnson County Historical Society and the Iowa Antique Car Museum to take over a building in the old industrial area of Coralville. He stated that the City of Coralville has made available a 32,000 square foot warehouse. This is an opportunity to have the county story to be front and center in Johnson County’s newest tourist attraction, the Marriott, where many people will be coming. The museum will be right outside of the Marriott, strategically located in a place where people will be coming. One of the unique things available to them is that the museum will be the only show in town for a number of years because the other buildings there are gone. JCHS has a 15 year lease on this building, and Richards imagines that in the future there will be a new building in the same area that they are likely to have a place in. This is not a permanent place but a permanent relationship with the City of Coralville. The important thing for Johnson County is that this gives them an opportunity to point to the asylum and the poor farm, which has been one the main focuses in their relationship with the County. They won’t be giving that up. They will still have the asylum and the farm equipment. This facility is going to enhance their ability to point to the poor farm as a significant location. It also eliminates the need for coming to the County for a contribution for a facility at the poor farm which has been discussed with the Board over the last several years. It is likely that they will have to do a major fund drive over the next four or five years. They are going to have to build in money for all of their projects which will include the poor farm. Richards noted that they will be talking to the Board about their decision making with the poor farm. He said he knows there is a discussion still incomplete, but this will take some of the pressure off of that issue a little because the farm won’t be a major priority in 2006. But, they will be ready to talk about the farm again in 2007 and beyond. Richards said that they don’t know what their capital needs will be later on. The point of this meeting is to get a pre-announcement to the Board so that they will know what is going on and have a chance to ask questions. He said that they will have capital needs for its replacement, for their permanent home, and later, for the poor farm. He said they don’t have anything specific they want to ask for, but wanted to make themselves available for questions.
Richards said the walls are being framed as they speak. He invited the Board to take a look if they are out there. JCHS will have about 7,000 square feet of the 30,000 square feet. Plus, they will have a 1,200 square foot meeting room, restrooms, large offices, and places to keep their collections for exhibition and for storage. They are anticipating that this is a temporary situation for three, five, or fifteen years. They are going to be working on a permanent plan that will probably be larger. This is a marvelous transition opportunity, said Richards. Stutsman applauded Coralville for their planning efforts with this area. She said that the idea was to get some things for people who are staying at the Marriott to do, and it is to their credit that they have had the foresight to put that together. R. Sullivan asked where they are currently located. Richards said that this is really phase 2 or 3 of a several phase plan with the City of Coralville. The house next door was phase 1; Coralville bought the house next to the school house so they could move out of the school house. Phase 2 was the old Bockmeyer interior building, which is where they have been for a year and a half. This is a transition phase into phase 3, which is the warehouse. Phase 4 is a permanent location, said Richards. Wieting said that the warehouse is a building, but it is a vehicle through which they can be a venue to help other organizations that don’t have a place. For example, Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation did a wonderful exhibit illustrating a watershed some years ago. They put it in the Old Capitol Mall location so that others can see it. She said this is a wonderful opportunity to make this as inclusive as possible and get people to go out and visit other place in the county. R. Sullivan said that their County Engineer recently approached them about road documents that they have that are about 100 years old, and they aren’t sure how to store or preserve them any longer. They are talking to the State about transferring the documents into other formats. Wieting said that they have a lot of Johnson County documents when they moved to microfilming and so on. The Board thanked the Johnson County Historical Society for their presentation.
Lehman asked how often they have the inspections. Johnson County Sheriff’s Captain David Wagner said that they have them every year. Lehman asked them to highlight some of the areas that were addressed. Wagner said that their inspection was on January 31, 2005. Mike Richardson is the jail inspector. He goes into every cell to make sure they are in compliance with the jail standards, said Wagner. He explained that after the inspection, they sit down and do paperwork regarding fire evacuation, staff training, etc. are in order. At the end, they go over paperwork, and Richardson makes recommendations as far as things they need to look at now or in the future. Wagner reported that Richardson said that they need to continue to transport people out of County when it is apparent that they have a separation issue in the jail. They are required by the Code to make sure that certain people are not housed with other people. Given that they only have nine cell blocks, that gets to be a challenge. Thus, movement of people to other counties can help with that. People that they can’t house with others are ones who have violent tendencies, have health risks, are sexually deviant, or people who are likely to be exploited by other inmates. Richardson’s recommendation was to continue to be cognizant of those things, and if that means having to move people to other counties, then that is what they have to do.
The other point that Richardson mentioned relates to the exercise room, noted Wagner. He explained that the American Correctional Association’s standards and the jail standard’s requires a minimum of 500 square feet for an exercise area in newly built facilities. He said that theirs does not meet that. If they were to build a new facility, they would need to be sure that the exercise area was at least 500 square feet.
Wagner also mentioned Richardson’s concern about some of the mattresses. Some of them are cracked, and the jail is in the process of replacing those. Also, at the control center, some of the areas that the cameras look at are not as clear and distinct as Richardson would like. Wagner said that he has contacted the company that they have a contract with on cameras, and they will see if there is something they can do to enhance the quality of the images on those particular views. Wagner said that overall, he thought it was a good inspection. Neuzil said that it sounds like it was. He added that since 2001, when the Code started requiring not housing certain inmates together, the assaults on officers and inmates have gone down. Wagner agreed. He explained that the environment is much safer for the inmates and the staff. He added that since their last general inspection, the shower area in the booking room that had not accommodated people who find it physically difficult to maneuver in that space now has grab bars and lower buttons and a shower chair. County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said that another thing they did was cut out a concrete lip that had to be stepped over so that a chair can be moved in and out.
Lehman said that over the past couple of years, they have painted and done some other upgrades. Pulkrabek said that they are still hoping to replace the flooring in the control center. He has talked with Facilities Director David Kempf about this, and Kempf is working on that. Lehman said it would be difficult just to do the carpet because they are 24/7. Harney asked what the out-of-county number is now. Wagner said today, they have 17 placed out-of-county. Pulkrabek said that at one time over the holidays, they had only 3 people housed out-of-county. Lehman said it is hard to identify why that number changes. Pulkrabek said there is nothing concrete they can put their finger on. Neuzil said he doesn’t think they are ever going to have that because if they get inmates who can’t be housed with others, then they have to move.
Stutsman asked where Mr. Bentley is being housed. Wagner said he is in general population but in the maximum security area. Wagner said that they go around every half an hour and physically check the cells. R. Sullivan said that it sounds like there was nothing regarding policies or procedures that the inspector had an issue with. Wagner said that on policies, there were some things, but those have been in the works for four years. Pulkrabek added that isn’t because of the facility but policy changes through the industry. Stutsman asked if the jail is still on virtual tour. Pulkrabek said yes and that there still seems some interest. He said that the more they can get the word out that people can look at the jail without having to physically go there, more people will take a look. Harney said that the facility is managed very well; it looks good and is well-kept, but they need more space. Pulkrabek said he thinks that is a credit to Captain Wagner and the staff. He said that the staff works very hard at cleaning the place. Pulkrabek said that an inmate did a great deal of painting including locker rooms and so on. He explained that it looks good and is run well, but the space is just not enough. The kitchen and booking room were designed for 46. They have had to adapt. Lehman said that Kempf keeps them informed about upkeep and has mentioned updating the locks and so on. He commented that Kempf said that finding someone to service those and to find parts is becoming increasingly difficult. Pulkrabek said that one company had to come all the way from Texas. Lehman said the jail inspector is a former sheriff and seems to understand what they have to work with and what the limitations are. He also seems to be aware that they are trying to get a new building up, said Lehman. The Board thanked the Sheriff’s Office for their report.
Stutsman attended the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Ag Committee meeting, the Johnson County Council of Governments bus tour, a Document Management Committee meeting, a meeting with SEATS Director Tom Brase about the Washington D.C. trip, and a meeting with Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia. Stutsman reported that the Federal Government is going to do an audit starting March 1, 2006 of case management services in Iowa.
Neuzil attended the Clear Creek special election canvass of votes and congratulated them on their $25.5 million bond referendum for a new high school and elementary school. Neuzil will be having a listening post on Friday, February 24, 2006 at the Senior Center at 10:00 a.m. Neuzil also attended the Cultural Diversity Festival at the University of Iowa Field House.
Harney attended the E911 Board of Directors meeting, the 6th Judicial District Department of Corrections Board of Directors Meeting, the Chamber Committee meeting, the MH/DD Planning Council, an ECICOG transportation meeting, the Emergency Management Board of Directors meeting, and the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce meeting on reorganization.
R. Sullivan attended a liaison meeting with Human Resources Director Lora Shramek. He attended the Cultural Diversity Day at the University. He also attended an Elected Officials Meeting.
Lehman said that he went the City of Riverside’s City Council meeting with about sixty people about the possibility of closing Harry’s Road for the casino and golf course. He also met with Information Services Director Jean Schultz
Adjourned at 10:21 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By John Deeth, Recording Secretary