MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
MARCH 23, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
County Engineer Greg Parker and Assistant County Engineer Al Miller: Right-of-Way Acquisition for a Bridge Replacement Project on IWV Road SW, Section 17, T79N, R7W, Union Township, Johnson County Project BRS-C052(63)--60-52............................................................................................................... 1
Commerce Bank National Account Representative and Vice President Denyse Waugh: Presentation Regarding Centralized Credit Card Account for County Departments.................................................................... 1
Discussion: Rescinding Resolution 08-10-89-2; Establishing Procedures of a Road Resurfacing Policy for Residents Requesting a Private Agreement....................................................................................... 5
Discussion: Appointments to the Johnson County Service Area Advisory Board......................... 5
Discussion: Appointments to the Johnson County Land Use Plan Review Committee.................. 5
Reports and Inquiries from the Board of Supervisors................................................................. 7
Inquiries and Reports from the Public....................................................................................... 7
Chairperson Lehman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 11:46 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
County Engineer Greg Parker said that he has attached copies of the contracts that give the total breakdown of the dollars for the acquisition of the right-of-way property for the bridge replacement project on IWV Road SW. The Wehrle’s, who are on the north side of the project, have an acquisition cost of $1,900. The land was valued at $5,000. Parker said that the other acquisition on the south side will cost $2,999. The appraisal for the property is $5,000, and the County is paying for a temporary easement of $145, which is valued at $500 an acre. He mentioned that the County is also paying some incidentals for replacement of fencing and rods. Lehman asked if there is any anticipation of when the road will need to be redone. Parker said that the design that they have out there now would accommodate any future designs that would take place on IWV Road. Lehman said that he thinks they were told that they couldn’t put another surface over it unless they did some major reconstruction. The Board agreed to put the right-of-way contracts with the Wehrles and the Seelmans on a future formal agenda.
Stutsman asked National Account Executive Vice President of Commercial Card Services, Denyse R. Waugh if County Treasurer Tom Kriz or someone else asked that she come in and present to the Board. Waugh said she spoke with Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan and Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne. Waugh thanked the Board for inviting her. Waugh said that she would present with the goal of explaining why the County would consider implementing a commercial credit card account for departments. She said there are efficiencies and cost savings. She said that she had examples of other municipalities that they service and can get that list to the Board. Waugh noted that they have a contract with the State of Iowa and about half a dozen counties and a number of cities. She has seen the benefits that are available for using these programs.
Waugh said that the efficiencies and cost savings are the most important areas to consider. The three areas are purchasing, accounts payable, and the general ledger process. She said that she is not going to replace purchase orders, but one of things that they have found is that businesses tend to process a $50 invoice the same way they process a $50,000 invoice. So, she thought they could take out some of the processing steps without losing any key information. She noted that 70% of the work in an account’s payable area is for 7% of the dollars because of that fifty dollar invoice costing as much as the $50,000 one. The next area is to streamline accounts payable by reducing the check volume. She said this is the largest hard dollar savings area. Waugh said that in the check volume reduction, the County can get a hard dollar reduction because they are not issuing the checks, using envelopes, postage, and fees. Waugh added that anywhere from 89 cents to $1.28 is the average cost of issuing a check. She said that the County issued over 15,600 checks in 2004.
Waugh also discussed how to make the general ledger process easier. She said that the County can use defaults instead of manually coding all of the invoices. This saves a tremendous amount of time. Waugh said with Commerce, they offer monthly revenue sharing, which is similar to a rebate. She mentioned that there is no card issuance fee or annual fee for the cards. She said that the County can do a monthly, biweekly, or weekly invoice with varying grace periods of 7, 14, or 25 days. Waugh said that they can structure things around the Board meetings to make sure that the Board has the information that they need. Lehman asked if the grace period affects the revenue sharing. Waugh responded that it does. She said that she usually brings that up, but she didn’t want to take too much of their time.
Waugh said that regarding controls and information access, the County will be able to put purchase limits on the card based on number of transactions or dollar amount by day or by month. She noted that any merchant who accepts credit cards is assigned an MCC, or Merchant Category Code, and the County can decide that it wants its card to be able to be used at certain merchant groups and not others. They could have a vehicle card that is only allowed to spend $50 per transaction and only be used at the automated gas pumps. Waugh added that there is a declining balance card, which allows for a predetermined spending limit for a certain period of months. For example, she said that they might have $500 for office supplies in a given area, so the card can be limited to office supplies only and begins with a balance of $500 that reduces as the County spends. This allows the County to know where it is at in the budget at any point and to access that information quickly and easily, Waugh explained. She said that information is available online within 48 to 72 hours of that purchase. She also explained that the details are available to the cardholder but can also be made available to managers or supervisors upon approval. Waugh said that web-based application software makes it easier to use but also very secure.
Waugh said that when she met with Claiborne, they discussed the option of feeding a file from the software directly into the general ledger. She said this can be reviewed and changed, but they would not have to manually code off of each and every invoice. If there are any out-of-pocket expenses, the County could use one tool available to users so that the approver gets one document that has the GL defaults and is part of that upload interface. Waugh stated the individuals who are designated as the program administrators have the ability to increase and decrease credit limits, cancel cards, request cards, change the merchant category groups and so on--all in real time on-line. This allows for businesses to handle emergency situations even on the weekends. She also mentioned that the program can look at declines in case employees are trying to make transactions that they should not. She said that there are benefits available at no expense.
Waugh said that the abuse or misuse of cards is very, very minimal, less than one percent. She said that the County will have protection against unauthorized use so that if someone has a lost or stolen card, it can be cancelled and another card can be reissued. Waugh’s company would then identify if the transactions on the lost card are legitimate or fraudulent and the County will not be charged with any of the fraudulent charges. The County would also have $100,000 of protection against employee misuse. Waugh said that this is the Visa waiver liability insurance that is $100,000 per card with the stipulation that the employee be terminated. Waugh said that if any car is rented using the Visa card, Visa’s insurance will be the primary, not the employee’s personal insurance nor the County’s. She said that they will also have $300,000 travel accident insurance for any kind of public transportation that is purchased with the card.
Waugh explained that customer support at Commerce Bank includes an implementation specialist, a systems technology person, and a program specialist who will help the customer on site for two to three closes until the customer is comfortable with the process. Waugh said that Commerce is the only bank that she knows of that offers ongoing support through a program administrative center. She said that the customer service support desk operates 364 days a year, 24 hours a day. There is also a relationship account manager like herself. She said that there is a whole team that is dedicated to the implementation and on-going support of the card service. Waugh said that cost savings, controls and information access, general ledger defaults, ongoing support, and a revenue sharing opportunity are all reasons to go with Commercial Card Services.
Harney mentioned that the County has sometimes been incurring late fees because payment does not get approved by the Board on time even if the paperwork has been completed. He wondered if there is anything in place through Commerce that could protect against these kinds of fees. Waugh responded that the bills are not individual bills but one overall County bill, so she would work with the County to get the timing of the billing so that the invoice can be taken care of on time. She said that one group she is working with that has a twice a month billing on two very specific dates so that they can get the charges approved by their Board. She said that she would work with them to make sure that the grace period coincides with the timing of the Board meetings. She said that there are also options in terms of forms of payment. The County could pay by check or ACH initiated by the County, or an ACH initiated by Commerce. That is another way to avoid any late fees. Waugh also said that one of the things that people don’t always realize is that if they have a transaction that comes through to the point that it is being invoiced and there is an issue with that transaction like a dispute, the County would have three months to process that.
Stutsman asked if the service is for all County purchases or just for ones done on credit card. Waugh replied that it would be on credit cards, and they could use that service to get rid of some of their check volume. Waugh said the areas that seem to like using the cards are law enforcement agencies, fire departments, human services, and informational technology. These areas in particular tend to like the card because of the speed of the transactions. Lehman said that an employee could go get seven dollars worth of office supplies without having to do the whole reimbursement process if they had access to the card. This is the soft expense that the County would save, said Lehman.
Waugh said that the next step after establishing interest is to request a vendor file to identify how many of the merchants accept Visa cards. Then, she can get an estimated volume of what the County can place on a card and then give a valid revenue share. Stutsman asked how much the service costs. Waugh said that the implementation fee varies depending on the software chosen. She said that two types are $1,500 and a third is $10,000. Waugh said that she would only recommend the latter one if there was a lot of volume going through on the AP side. She anticipated that for the County’s needs, one of the $1,500 types would be suitable. Outside of that fee, there is no fee for card issuance or an annual charge, she noted. She said that the only other fees that would apply are late fees, though they should be able to design the program so that there never are any. She said that if the County chooses to have cash advances or international currency conversion or a rush card, these would have fees.
Lehman said that he wonders if Kriz, the Auditor’s Office, and Claiborne should sit down and work out the details and bring a recommendation back to the Board. Stutsman asked Deputy Auditor Dana Aschenbrenner if he thinks the program is workable. He said that he missed the first part of the presentation, so he isn’t sure yet. Lehman suggested that this would be something to be addressed by the Finance Committee. Waugh said that M. Sullivan wanted to make sure that this is something that the Board would like to consider. Lehman said that they should set up a different meeting time to discuss this proposal in more detail. Harney asked if there are limits on what the cards can be used for. He wondered if they could only be used for purchases regarding operations. Waugh said that they would develop templates identifying which merchants the customer wanted that card to be able to go to, but in general, the County could have the card open to any place that accepts Visa or could choose to narrow that down.
R. Sullivan said that he, M. Sullivan, Secondary Roads Maintenance Supervisor Kevin Hackathorn, Parker, Assistant Planning and Zoning Administrator R.J. Moore, and Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak are all a part of a committee that is looking at chip seal road policies. He said that there is a resolution that the Board passed on August 10, 1989 which is a chip seal road policy. Built into it are construction costs that are not accurate based upon 2006 numbers. It seems as though the intent of the resolution was to be a five-year pilot project and is expired. Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell suggested that the Board rescind the existing road resurfacing policy for residents requesting a private agreement. At this point, there is nothing to replace this policy, but for now, R. Sullivan recommends rescinding the resolution. The Board agreed to rescind the resolution at a future formal meeting.
Lehman said that the recommendation is for Stutsman and Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia to serve on the Service Area Advisory Board. Stutsman said that the Service Area Advisory Board is a communication tool with those counties who are in this particular service area. They meet quarterly with Service Area Administrator Marc Baty who brings them up to date about child welfare funding and other things. It is a chance for Supervisors to air their concerns. She said she wouldn’t mind serving again and Correia would be the appropriate person to go to those staff meetings. The Board agreed to put this on the formal agenda for next week.
Lehman asked Moore to give a summary of the role that the appointees would be asked to perform on the Johnson County Land Use Plan Review Committee. Moore said that the Board and the County staff decided to appoint a Land Use Planning Committee as part of the process of updating the 1998 Land Use Plan. He explained that the role of the committee is to take information from the visioning meetings, the charettes, East Central Iowa Council of Government’s (ECICOG) review, and the existing Land Use Plan to come up with some recommended policies for changes to the current Land Use Plan. He said that staff feels that it is important once the committee is appointed that the Board of Supervisors give them a mission. He said that once they formally appoint the committee it would be proper to bring them to a meeting and have the Board give them their mission.
Lehman said the Board came up with 17 people with three or more votes for appointment to the committee out of the 25 applicants. He said there has been some discussion about how large it could be. He said there were 13 people who received four votes. He said he was surprised that there weren’t more individuals who applied to be on the committee. Moore said the staff was surprised by the low numbers as well. He said that out of the 25 people who did apply, they were very qualified and diverse. R. Sullivan said that all meetings will be open to the public, so even people who are not on the committee can participate in the planning effort. Moore agreed that they want this to be a grassroots, bottom-up planning effort. They will help make the Land Use Plan that they will live with for hopefully another 20 years. He noted that ultimately, the Board will be the ones who adopt the Plan, but it starts with the citizens. Neuzil said that those who did apply and aren’t on the committee should feel welcome to participate. Moore agreed and said that the more people who are involved the better the plan will be.
Moore noted that he has been working with Information Services to build a dedicated area on the County web page for the land use planning efforts. Lehman said that the print media and radio connections will help the public know about the meetings so they can attend in person or listen to the meetings. Moore said that there will be five visioning meetings starting in mid to late April. Before that, the County will send out press releases to publicize them.
Stutsman said that she would be supportive of appointing the 17 candidates who received three or more votes. These include: Jim Dane, Roger Boldt, Ellen Kapp, Joe Holland, Alan Peters, William Albrecht, Ryan Olson, David Long, Pat Cancilla, Dawn Terrell, Glenn Siders, Dean Oakes, Larry Wilson, Steven Conklin, Terry Dahms, Paul Hanley, and Ryan O’Leary, said Stutsman. Lehman asked Moore if he will be notifying the people who have and have not been selected. Moore responded that he can work with M. Sullivan, but he thinks that the letter needs to come from the Board. He said that he would like the Board to invite the new committee to one of informal meetings. Lehman said they will set that up after they take action. Moore said that the first meeting would be in Solon on April 18, 2006 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The other meetings will be in Swisher on April 24, 2006, in Frytown on May 2, 2006, in Lone Tree on May 16, 2006, and Coralville on May 25, 2006 at the Coralville Public Library. These are the visioning meetings. The charettes will be May 30, 2006 at the Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A, and June 6, 2006 at the North Liberty South Slope facility.
R. Sullivan mentioned that the meetings need to be official Board meetings if all Board members are going to be present. Stutsman said that the Board needs to discuss that. If they do say that it is a Board meeting and only two of them show up, then the meeting is cancelled. Moore said that if it is a Board meeting then it is top down, rather than bottom up. R. Sullivan said that he is thinking that Lehman calls the meeting order, then Planning and Zoning takes over, and then when the meeting is over, Lehman gavels it. He said that the only reason for that is that the Board of Supervisors should really be at the meetings so they can get feedback. Moore said that the committee wants the Board members on the committee. Stutsman said they need to put this on the agenda for next week. The Board agreed to name these members for the committee next week and to put the Board’s attendance at the committee meetings on the agenda.
Harney reported that April 1-7, 2006 is Severe Weather Awareness Week.
Linn County Soil and Water Conservation District Representative Stacey Johnson said that she has some bad news, good news, and great news. She said that when she made a presentation to the Leadership Summit, it was about a grant that she was writing, that did not get funded. Johnson said that the good news is that the Izaak Walton League is having a training session via the internet. She is trying to work with the Department of Transportation and local Izaak Walton League, and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts to host a web cast so that everyone can learn about water quality and storm water management from a highway design perspective. She said that this is timely given that County just approved their 5-Year Road Plan. Johnson also discussed a new program called Earth Gage that includes meteorologists, KCRG TV 9, Joe Winters, and others to give a water quality tip during the weather report once a month or more. She said that research suggests that 80% of people tune into the news for the weather, so this is a good place to reach people for education on water quality. In addition, they are going to be able to take a local angle on water quality and put that information on the back of the weather page in The Gazette. She said that her hope is to get the Board’s support on these projects and for permission to use their name on the group’s publicity of these events as supporters. Johnson said she would work with M. Sullivan to have this on the agenda for next time.
Harold Smith said he has been involved in the North Corridor projects since last September. Smith said that he has the highest respect for Greg Parker. Smith said that all that they have asked the County Engineers to do is to look at what other counties in Iowa are doing and what other states are doing to figure out what is a safe design. The engineers have refused to do that. They have not bent since last September with their 30-foot paved top, which is a major County highway section which will destroy the environmental aspects of the area. He said if this is such a high-growth super planning area, then let the planning study tell the County that before they move ahead. He said he tells his people that one two million dollar house is worth ten of the $150,000 houses that the County officials think people are going to rush out and build out there. He said that he has talked with the County Engineers and they have not been very truthful with him, and he has not been able to get good information. He said they have done soil borings, and he has been told that there is a twelve to fourteen inch oil-stabilized gravel base under both of those streets. He suggested that the Board maximize their Road Use Tax dollars. Other counties are doing concrete white topping and staying on top of the existing structural roadway. They want a 35 mph roadway that is not unreasonable given that there are County roads all over Iowa that wind and bend. Smith said that he as shown Johnson County engineers pictures and asked them to contact Polk County. According to Smith, the Johnson County engineers say that they have. The standard design for county roads that gave been built and designed over the last ten or twelve years are two, eleven-foot lanes with a two-foot paved shoulder. That is standard. He said that even in Williamson County in Texas that has 1.5 million people, the County rural roads have that same exact cross-section. If these kinds of roadways are safe all over the country and in many parts of Iowa, they are going to be safe in Johnson County, said Smith. He said that they are never going to be able avoid deer accidents, drunk driving, or slipping on ice. Smith requested that the Board send the engineers back to the drawing board before the Board crashes ahead with this major County roadway. He said that the Board ought not to let their engineers embarrass them any further on this issue. He suggested that they bring in three or four other engineers from other states to evaluate whether or not the Johnson County engineers’ design is good or not. Smith said that he would like to see the Board maximize the Road Use Tax funds since they have 50 other roadways out in Johnson County that need work more than these two roads. He does not understand why the Board is hell bent on making these two their number one priority.
Gary Sanders said he has been involved with the lawsuit against the City of Iowa City about the rezoning and sale of public land for a Super Wal-Mart. He said that this is all part of the same issue, which is land use planning and which he thinks will be the issue of the future. He said that the Board has done what the Iowa City City Council has done and looked to the past for answers instead of the future. He said that people’s homes and lives are going to be affected for no reason. He thought that people who are elected sometimes get an idea in their head that gets set in stone. Sanders urged the Board not to take this personally, but he hopes that they will think about why so many people, including ones who do not live in the North Corridor, are opposed to this. It is the whole rationale. He suggested that the Board put their ego aside for a second and that simply because they said that they have been saying for a long time that they are going to do does not mean that they cannot change their mind. He went on to say that it is interesting that the Board’s Road Use Plan has to go to the State for approval on April 15, 2006, the same day that Titanic sank. He believes that if they sail on the Land Use Plan, they will crash on the iceberg of the June primary.
Mike Dooley said that he has been going over the results of the Bear Creek Archeological Survey, and he assumes that the Board has received the same results that he has. He said that a common recommendation is avoidance of the site in and around the Newport area. He said he understands that Newport has been taken off the 5-Year Road Plan, but he is curious why there have been no archeological surveys done off of Prairie du Chien Road or Newport Road where the County is talking about taking trees out and so on. Dooley said that much of Prairie du Chien Road existed since before the American Revolution and so is historically valuable. He said that he wishes the Board would think about the value of this area and its heritage before they pave over and destroy the area.
Mary Ferentz had a question for Greg Parker on behalf of her neighbors. She said that they had a surveyor from Anderson Bogert there yesterday who gave them some information that is inconsistent with the information at the Citizen Advisory Group and other meetings. She wondered where the County’s official ownership of Prairie du Chien Road ends. Parker said the end of the project is going to be about 370 to 375 feet beyond Saddle Club Road or the access to the Ferentz home. Ferentz asked if this area is owned by the Corps of Engineers. Parker said that the County is not going into Corps property. Lehman asked if this conversation could continue on a private level. Ferentz said that if she could get some satisfaction on a private level, she would be totally in favor of that, but this is something new and inconsistent. She said that Lehman made a comment about the design as a whole separate thing from the 5-Year Road Plan. Lehman said that he said at some point it is, but he thinks this is not the venue for this topic because it is not on the agenda. Moreover, to insinuate that Parker is not cooperating is out of place because she has not yet asked Parker to cooperate concerning this new information. Ferentz said she is sorry for jumping ahead to a different topic without alerting the audience. She said that her question is what is the status of the Prairie du Chien Road design. She explained that she knows that there is informal and formal talk at meetings and privately between residents of Newport Road, but still wonders what is going on with Prairie du Chien. She said that it is her understanding that there have been no changes. Then, the concerned citizens find out now that the road is going to continue 375 feet beyond what they all thought is the official end of Prairie Du Chien. All of the talk has been it ends at Saddle Club Road and all of the writing has said that it will end at Saddle Club Road, when it seems it is actually affecting property ownership beyond that. She said that no one has been notified. She asked if they need archeological or environmental impact inquiries. Or, do they need natural resource inquiries. She said that it seems like the process is moving along fast and then boom. She said that it is the first thing on the agenda so she is really worried about that road. Lehman clarified that he did not say that the project would be done to the satisfaction of everyone. Ferentz apologized and said that those were her words. Lehman said that the Board has interest in trying to compromise, and they have tried to listen and to accommodate as many perspectives as possible, yet, they cannot satisfy everyone. Ferentz thanked Lehman.
Harvey Henry directed the Board’s attention to today’s Press-Citizen. He said that there is a tremendous editorial there and urged the Board to read it. Henry also indicated that the front-page article of the day gets at the things that the residents are striving for. He said that they must get the Land Use Plan done before the County begins paving roads. Part of the Land Use Plan has to do with average daily traffic, which was established at 1,000 vehicles per day for the roads at hand in 2002 or 2003. The present traffic is considerably less than that. The build up traffic figures were based on the anticipated development that would be coming into the area once the roads were done, said Henry. He pointed out that the development in that area has been modified drastically by the building of Coral Ridge Mall and vast amounts of other commercial development as well as residential development.
Neuzil left at 12:51 p.m.
Henry said that the developers that he has talked with have indicated that they are interested in developing in those areas rather than the ones along Prairie du Chien and Newport Road. He said that the average level of traffic is unlikely to exceed its current level. By the same token, there are roads in various parts of the County that have 6,000 vehicles a day. Henry thought that the County needs to establish priorities, one being establishing the Land Use Plan. That means that the County should delay the paving of Prairie du Chien Road and of Newport Road until the Land Use Plan is under control. He said that he went to a November trails meeting. One of the trails goes on Prairie du Chien Road from Newport Road out to the Coralville dam. He said that he and Terry Dahms talked about this, and both feel that there is a need for a separate trail for that area since children and elderly people will be using the trail. He said that the engineers who are working on this are hell bent on paving a 30-foot section of paving because they think there needs to be two, eleven-foot lanes with four-foot shoulders on either side. Henry said that the experienced cyclists do not ride on the shoulders; they ride where the cars go. That is what they like, said Henry. So, a separate, 8-foot trail would work just fine. That way, the experienced bicyclist can ride on the vehicle area and the leisure riders, walkers, and so on, can use the trail. The eight-foot trail can be done within the 60-foot right-of-way, but if the County were to put in 30-feet of paving, then they cannot put the trail in or get right-of-way for trails. He is upset that the County would ram a 30-foot section of paving through a residential area. He said that the Citizen Advisory Meetings were one of the biggest shams that he has sat through. He sat through almost every meeting and almost all of the suggestions made by the citizens were disregarded by the designers and engineers. He said he isn’t happy with the County engineers at all. He said that as an architect, he has worked with many, many engineers over the years, and if it were up to him, he would have fired the County engineers.
Kathy Gable said that on March 7, 2006 Anderson Bogert came to her house and met with her to show her and her husband their final design. She explained that Anderson Bogert said that they could not make any changes on this final design. Gable wondered if any Board members have met with Anderson Bogert since March 7, 2006. Lehman said that he has not. Gable said that Lehman emailed her yesterday telling her that he wants to pass the 5-Year Road Plan but is still interested in the design especially near the Gable curve in order to be the least intrusive on the land and the trees. She said that the road is still going to be really intrusive. She wondered when Lehman and the Board were going to look at the design and make more changes because she isn’t seeing the changes. She said that as of two days ago, the company staked out the area that was going to be devastated. She said that she would like the Board to stay true to their word and try to design the road differently to save the trees.
Stutsman left at 12:55 p.m.
Mary Ellen Hill said that she has been gone for two and a half months and it was a good period because she was not subjected to the stress that she has when she is here. For the past seven years, her life has been nothing but a battle for this road. She said that the County did listen to some suggestions and not to others. She noted that the road is not a necessity. She said that she went to the sessions and listened to Anderson Bogert. One thing that the advisory group was not at all in favor of was the removal of all of the trees on the Gable corner. She said that she has a place down in Georgia where she goes in the winter. She mentioned that some people think that Georgia is maybe a little backwards, but they are not at all backwards about the environment. She said that they cannot even cut down a branch because the trees are so necessary to the quality of life there. Yet, here, the County is talking about taking out 300-500 trees that are 100-150 years old. She said that the citizens are intelligent enough to recognize the total long-term effects of today’s action of tomorrow’s quality of life. Hill noted that she dreaded coming back to Iowa City and was a little embarrassed to say that she was returning to a place that does not value their environment. She said that Dr. Hansen from the National Institute of Sciences was on 60 Minutes last night and said that contrary to what some may think, they have only ten years to change their way of life. After that ten years, global warming may have reached such a point that they cannot change it. She said that this relates to the hundreds of trees that absorb carbon dioxide in the face of traffic. She also stated that this issue is more than a road or more than some trees, but a quality of life issue. It is their future. She said that they need to preserve every tree. She wonders what the citizens have to do to get the Board to realize the long-term effects of their reckless decisions. She said that the Board represents the citizens, not just the developers.
Stutsman returned at 1:00 p.m.
Hill continued, saying that the Board members are not puppets to be manipulated. They are the citizens’ neighbors. The citizens have the right to expect them to be responsible and to responsibly represent them. When 200 people show up at an afternoon County Board of Supervisors meeting, that should be telling the Board something. That is telling the Board that there are an awful lot of people who are unhappy with what is happening. She finished by stating the Board should keep in mind the old television commercial that says, “Don’t fool with Mother Nature; She may fool with you.” She said that she was a little concerned about the comment about challenging Board members who wish to vote “no” on the 5-Year Road Plan. If these Board members do not have the right to vote freely, they may as well be robots in their chairs. The Board members are elected representatives. Hill also mentioned the mental health issue discussed earlier in the formal meeting. She said that it bothers her that the County does not have the money to meet people’s health needs but does have the money to build roads that are not needed.
Ray Gordon said that he has been in contact with Neuzil and the County Engineer about a snow plow coming by and whacking his mail box on Sugar Bottom Road. He said that it was a personal issue for him at that time, but since then, he found out that snow ploughs average about 400 mailbox strikes a year. Yet, the County is only liable for $22.50 for each large mailbox. They will come out and put in another mailbox, but this does not compensate for the box that is already out there. Gordon said that he was told that he may own a mailbox that is decorative, but it is just a plain plastic mailbox that costs $70 plus tax. The snow plan that he looked at does not mention the amount of compensation but says that affected homeowners would be compensated as long as they report the incident within two days. Hill said this is unrealistic. He asked that the Board look at the snow policy and try to come up with something that is more fair as far as compensation for damages done during snowy conditions.
Yota Yubride said that she was also a member of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee, which she also feels was a sham. She said that a lot of lip service is being paid to the fact that everyday citizens are going to be invited to participate in County decisions. Just knowing what happened with the advisory committee for Newport and Prairie du Chien Roads, Yubride really doesn’t have hope that there is going to be meaningful involvement. She said that the Board should’ve been involved in this. She urged the Board to be participants in the review of the Land Use Plan so that they can hear personally what people have to say. She said that if the Board had gotten the full picture on either the Newport issue or the Land Use Plan, they might have made a different decision. She said that with so much control and power, the Board should have humility, a vision for the future, and be able to think outside the box. They should listen to the people. She said that according to Lehman there is still some room for design changes on the project and urges the Board to really look at Gable Road. Yubride said that she worries that when historians look at how County governments have been operated, they are going to be appalled. She is very glad to have sat through the MH/DD talks around cutbacks for a very vulnerable population. It is wrong for such vulnerable populations to go without services while there is money available to put into roads that don’t need to be upgraded. She said that the mentally disabled population is not necessarily going to know that someone from the State or Federal government is coming down to cut their services. She thought that people should always come first, especially people who cannot speak for themselves. She encouraged the Board to have a vision of preservation rather than destruction so that in 30 years, they can still have beautiful rural roads.
Jim Sedlacek asked where the money came from for the Bear Creek Study. He asked if that was paid for in the consultant fees. He said that he received a letter from them indicating some significant finds on his land. He noted that other people have as well. He said he doesn’t understand why some places were studied and some were omitted. He wanted to know what happened to the information and if it influenced the Board at all.
Adjourned at 1:10 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary