MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
MARCH 28, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Human Resources Director Lora Shramek: Worker’s Compensation......................................... 1
Facilities Director David Kemp: Buying Bulk Paper.................................................................. 2
Discussion: Credit Card Purchases.......................................................................................... 3
Discussion: Language Line Services, Interpretation Services..................................................... 3
Reports/Updates from Department Heads................................................................................ 3
Scheduling Date and Time of Next Meeting............................................................................. 6
Chairperson Lehman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building as a Department Head Meeting at 1:30 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Department heads present were: Ambulance Director Steve Spenler, City Assessor Dennis Baldridge, County Assessor Bill Greazel, Facilities Director David Kempf, Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek, Information Services Director Jean Schultz, Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Director Elaine Sweet, Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak, Social Services Director Amy Correia, and Veterans Affairs Commission Director Leo Baier. Staff present were: Board of Supervisors Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan, Board of Supervisors Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne, Public Health Office Manager Becky Mills, SEATS Operations Supervisor Kathy Davis, Sheriff’s Major Steve Dolezal, and Auditor’s Office Administrative Secretary Casie Kadlec. Also present was Chief Juvenile Court Administrator Lloyd Smith.
Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek presented a memo regarding workers compensation procedures. She said that the procedure hasn’t changed but she wanted to remind people of it because a few employees have visited their own health care provider after a work related injury. Employees need to inform their supervisor immediately and no later than 24 hours after a work related injury occurs. The employer has a responsibility for the injuries and may direct the care. The County has a designated care provider through Mercy Occupational Health. Wellmark may deny the claim because it is work related. If Mercy Occupational Health is closed the employee needs to go to the Mercy Emergency room. Department heads, supervisors, or HR can schedule appointments. The County does not accept work restrictions or lost time from anyone other than the County’s designated provider. Mercy Occupational Health can refer patients to a specialist, which will then also be considered the County’s designated provider. An accident report form also has to be filled out. An OSHA recordable accident form has to be logged in three days. Department heads should consider reviewing the policy on an annual basis. Employees must provide all relevant information about the injury and submit all forms to HR.
Lehman asked if department heads have the accident forms on hand. Shramek said that the departments that have a higher frequency of accidents have forms on hand. Facilities Director David Kempf asked if the policy is covered in the new employee orientation. Shramek said yes, but that they do run across long-term employees who haven’t heard of the policy. R. Sullivan asked what advice could be offered to department heads who have employees with repetitive stress injury and at what time the department head should act. Shramek said that they don’t want to solicit a workers comp claim but the employee can initiate it at any time. Kempf said that when he has had people who have hurt themselves, it is easier to fill out the paperwork when it happens and not file it than it is to go back several days later and try to remember what happened.
Kempf said that the Board asked him to investigate the possibilities of bulk paper purchasing. Iowa Book and Supply came in with the lowest price. The agreement is for paper purchasing only. They would encourage people to look at the other items that Iowa Book and Supply has because their prices are often very competitive and often beat all of the other office supply retailers. There are three ways to order paper: online, fax, or phone. Kempf found the online ordering process very easy to use. Each department has a login and a password. They would like to realize soft cost savings, which are saving time in each department, so that the staff person who orders supplies doesn’t have to price shop and it will save the department time. Lehman said that some departments already had paper on order and are using that up. Kempf said that people have been placing orders. Kempf added that each individual department calls and does their own ordering and the bill will come to the department. Kempf said that it doesn’t matter whether someone orders one case or 50 cases. If ordering in the morning, they normally deliver the same day, and if not, they will deliver next day. Kempf said that this will also help alleviate storage problems. Kempf said that the savings will be around $1,600 or $1,700 per year, not including soft savings. Kempf said that other businesses will have the opportunity to bid again next year.
County Assessor Bill Greazel asked if they are considering doing other bulk purchases on items such as car washes, vehicle maintenance, etc. Kempf said that it is something that they could do but it will take time to investigate it. The Board directed Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne and Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan to investigate other avenues of bulk purchasing and volume discounts. Kempf again emphasized that there isn’t just a dollar savings but also a soft savings in labor and efficiencies in departments.
Stutsman said that the County needs to do a better job of managing credit card purchases and late fees. She said that with many credit cards there is a short turnaround period. She said that a person from Commercial Bank gave a presentation on credit cards to the Board last week. Stutsman suggested referring this issue to the Finance Committee for investigation and then bringing a proposal back to the department heads. Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak said that they have been beat up several times by late fees. Dvorak said that there is such a short window to pay the bills. Stutsman said that some credit cards will offer some grace periods but not on a regular basis. Stutsman said that there is room for a lot of discussion. She said that people can also go online and find out what their credit card bill is and submit bills early. Shramek noted that the County also has a credit card policy and suggested that the Finance Committee look at that as well.
Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan presented a handout from Language Line Services, which is for interpretation services. Sullivan said that it appears that these services have been used in the court systems. He said that if people would like him to check into it he will. Sullivan said that it is a volume based pricing model. Harney asked if the University has an interpretation service. Harney said that due to legal issues they should know more about the company. Shramek said that throughout the years they have received inquiries about interpretation and they normally refer them to the County Attorney’s Office, who uses interpretation services the most frequently. Lehman asked if any of the departments have a “press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish” on their phone system. Public Health Office Manager Becky Mills said that they have Spanish on the phone system and all of their materials come in English and Spanish. Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia said that some local human services providers use the AT&T language line and find it really helpful.
Spenler said that National EMS week is May 14, 2006 through May 20, 2006. This years EMS Awareness Fair is at Coral Ridge Mall near Best Buy on May 7, 2006 from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. He said that with prom season coming up they will hold Journey Unknown at West High on April 28, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. Lehman said that he attended the Journey Unknown in Lone Tree a few years ago and it is a sobering event. Spenler said that they sponsor the event but have gotten to the point where the kids at school put it on.
Shramek said that four collective bargaining contracts are settled and the fact-finders report has been accepted with the Ambulance Department. Shramek is working on the merit budget amendment. Shramek said that HR will no longer be working on the Communications Committee. They will also not be able to do the employee newsletter or organize employee gatherings. She said that they have other projects that they need to focus on, but it will leave opportunities for more county-wide participation in Communications Committee activities.
Veteran Affairs Director Leo Baier said that the Federal Veteran Affairs budget isn’t final yet, but that the President has proposed a figure. There are currently eight priorities of care for the Veteran Affairs system. They are considering invoking a $250 deductible and moving the prescription fee from $8 to $15 for some of the priorities of care. Service connected veterans will not pay any co-payments.
Dvorak said that they have started their spring building program and it is a little slower than normal. He said that quality of the housing starts and remodels are high, but the number of permits has decreased. Dvorak said that he invited Mary Wright from Synchrony to come in and explain to employees the full scope of services that they provide, which was very helpful. Dvorak said that on March 30, 2006 the Board will appoint a public participation group for the Land Use Planning Process. After that they will have meetings throughout the community. They are now working on a press-release about the process.
Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Director Elaine Sweet said that MH/DD services is a catch all for three major services. In a years time they normally fund services for 1,500 people. They continue to find out about budget cuts from the State and Federal levels. They have been in the process of amending their Policy and Procedure manual. They had a public hearing with the Board on it last week. The next step is to take it to the State in April for implementation on July 1, 2006. MH/DD will no longer be funding services for children, brain injury diagnosis, they will only be funding at 150% of poverty level, and people won’t be able to have as many resources as they have in the past. On the case management side they are working with Polk County. The third component of MH/DD is the Jail Diversion program. They have now diverted 28 people from the jail into community based services and have worked with 80 people. They have also been able to work with individuals in the jail to find different ways of funding medications, to get people into services to help stabilize them and reduce recidivism.
Lehman introduced the new Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia. Correia said that she has been doing a lot of work on the Decat project. Johnson County receives Decat funds that are designed to help prevent kids from going into the system. They are in the process of starting their FY 07 funding round. They have about $100,000 in carryover. They will have new administrative rules that will only allow one year of carryover. General Assistance is in the process of reviewing the burial policy rules. They have seen a lot more people coming to GA for help with prescriptions. Correia also works with the Juvenile Justice Policy Board and they have been looking at getting that Board going again.
Information Services Director Jean Schultz said that for people using the GIS system, they should notice that the maps are much more up to date. As of last week the maps are up to date except for Section 10 located in Iowa City, but there is a limit to the amount of people who can update any given section at the same time. Last week the Board approved a contract for new aerial photography. They are working with the County Attorney’s Office on a conversion to their new software system. They will be using the system live by May 1, 2006.
City Assessor Dennis Baldridge said that this is the time of year when they do their assessments and send assessment cards to property owners. He said that soon they will be busy with people protesting their property taxes.
Sheriff’s Major Steve Dolezal said that their computer system is being upgraded. Their civil department is slowly coming on line, as is the criminal division. They have met with Mike Hartley of the University to begin working on getting their dispatchers trained for Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD). Dolezal said that Sergeant Kevin Bell who works on the Clandestine Lab’s funding has been cut. The President didn’t approve the funding this year. They are going to try to fund his position through other grant opportunities.
Kempf said that they are finishing up winter projects, completing the reconditioning of chilled water circulating pumps, and are getting the air conditioning equipment ready for summer. They are also close to activating the key card access system at the Courthouse.
Claiborne said that the FY 07 budget has been filed. He said that it was a busy process and he enjoyed working with the department heads. He is now working on convening the Finance Committee.
Greazel said that they are sending out assessment notices, but it is an off year, so they aren’t sending out many. The County Assessor’s Office has had a multiyear project to scan all of their records. They ordered a new scanner that will be installed soon and it will help keep them caught up. Other than that they are finishing up commercial assessments.
SEATS Operations Supervisor Kathy Davis said that they are busy transporting 450 people a day. Davis said that they received five new vehicles from Iowa City, one from ECICOG, and have three coming.
Juvenile Court Administrator Lloyd Smith said that they are a test site for the ISYS II system. It is a new system for looking up criminal and court records. Both the Johnson County Courthouse and Juvenile Probation are working on that. They will be receiving a new telephone system at a time when they will be moving in a couple of years. The Detention Alternative Program is still keeping kids out of detention. In spite of its success Smith is worried about it because much of it is a hodge podge of County funding. They are also continuing to work on summer programs. Smith said that they are grateful for Correia and she is doing a great job.
Neuzil said that May 26, 2006 is the tentative date set for a County strategic planning retreat. They will meet with department heads in the morning, elected officials in the afternoon, and will have an outside presenter.
Lehman announced that National County Government Week is April 23-29, 2006. They will probably once again have a State of the County address.
The department heads and Board scheduled their next meeting for May 16, 2006 at 1:30 p.m.
Adjourned at 2:55 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary