MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
MARCH 30, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Emergency Management Director Tom Hansen and Emergency Management Administrative Assistant Sue Faith: Training for National Incident Management System; and Severe Weather Awareness Week............. 1
Discussion: Johnson County Land Use Plan Review Committee Meetings (Informal or Formal)... 1
Discussion: Rescheduling Board of Supervisors Formal and Informal Meetings for the Week of the Iowa State Association of Counties Fall School of Instruction – (Wednesday, November 29th – Thursday, November 30th – Friday, December 1st).................................................................................................................................. 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 9:36 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Emergency Management Administration Assistant Sue Faith said that after September 11th the Federal Government wrote the National Incident Management System (NIMS). She indicated that more elected officials need to be NIMS trained. She said that the County has to indicate that they are compliant by the end of August 2006. She explained that it is important that someone from the Auditor’s Office, County Engineer, and Secondary Roads take this training. R. Sullivan said that it would help him to have recommendations of who should take this training. Emergency Management Director Tom Hansen said that they would recommend that the Board also be trained. He also mentioned Secondary Roads as well. Faith added that the Fire Departments and Law Enforcement have done this training. Stutsman suggested they put this on the agenda for a department heads meeting and an elected officials meeting. Harney said he would like to see some classes set up in the future, and have the department heads decide who should attend these classes. They agreed to work on this.
Faith announced that Severe Weather Awareness Week is April 3, 2006-April 7, 2006. She said that in September 2006 Johnson County was awarded a Storm Ready County designation by the National Weather Service. There are only five Storm Ready Counties in Iowa.
Lehman indicated that the Board had some discussion about whether the Land Use Plan Review Committee meetings should be Board of Supervisors meetings. The Board spoke with Assistant Planning and Zoning Administrator R.J. Moore and Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak about how the process had been done in the past. Dvorak replied that when they did the 1998 review of the Land Use Plan they recommended to the Board that at least one member of that area attend the visioning meetings. He said they encouraged those who didn’t have an area to attend at least one meeting as well, so that there was at least one Board member attending each of the visioning meetings. Beyond that, other members did show up, and the Board decided who would attend which meeting beyond the liaison. He said that this was their vision for this process as well.
Neuzil clarified that there would be five visioning meetings in five different communities, where a liaison and one other supervisor would be present. He asked whether all the Board members would attend the charettes. Moore said that it would be a good opportunity, but the County Attorney has recommended that they have it classified as a Board meeting. He said that in 1998 they went through a process with public input and public hearings held by the Zoning Commission. He said that there were a few elements of that Land Use Plan that the Board could not reach consensus on. The Board held joint work sessions with the Zoning Commission and work sessions amongst themselves. He said that they hired another consultant to come in and help facilitate that process. They spent another six to nine months working out the details, at which point they sent it back to the Zoning Commission, and it then came back to the Board of Supervisors. Lehman said that looking at the Land Use Plan book it highlights the meetings that were attended. He said that one of the concerns is that reading the minutes is not the same as attending the meetings. He said another concern was that if the Board was there as a whole, people might look towards them to direct the conversation, and they wanted to keep the meetings as open as possible to input from the public. He said that maybe ECICOG could take care of the minutes, so there wouldn’t be extra cost to the Auditor’s Office.
Moore said that one thing in the contract with ECICOG is that they will be providing a monthly update of how the committee is working each month. This information will be presented to the Board each month in an informal meeting. Stutsman said that if these are Board of Supervisors meetings, there has to be at least three members at the meetings, otherwise they can’t hold the meeting at all. She said that this would mean that the Board needs to make a commitment. Lehman said that on the other hand, if they are not designated as Board meetings, then three Board members cannot really attend. Moore replied that he wasn’t referring to the monthly meetings, and wondered if they were just discussing the charettes and the visioning meetings.
R. Sullivan said that he thinks that this is an important issue, and would like to hear what everybody has to say about it. He said that he doesn’t necessarily have any interest in saying anything at the meetings, but would like to hear what the public has to say. He said he hopes that they vote to make them actual Board meetings. Neuzil said that perhaps they could make sure that at least they attend the five visioning meetings. He said that if they go to the meetings but don’t talk, they still may have an influence. He said he did want to get together with the citizens on that committee, but he wasn’t sure that they needed to do this seven times. Moore said that the charettes and the visioning meetings are not going to be official meetings for the committee. He said they are an independent, public participation input process. He said that their actual charge will begin when they start holding their committee meetings. He said that the Board is influential, and State Code says the responsibility for putting together the Land Use Plan belongs to the Zoning Commission. He said that the Board just needs to approve or amend the plan. He said that what they are proposing is a lot different from anything he has ever participated in.
R. Sullivan said he saw it as the Board being as low key as possible, and doesn’t like the idea that he wouldn’t be allowed to go. Lehman said they could have the option of posting an agenda if it is useful. Neuzil said there would be citizens who would engage in a discussion about the Board’s decision, which is different than what would happen if Board members were not present. Stutsman said she could see both sides to this, and said they would get criticized either way. She said that she doesn’t want the focus of the meetings to be to lobby the Board to a specific point of view on how the Land Use Plan should go. She said she knows there is a lot of interest to be there to hear what the committee has to say. Lehman said the committee they are forming is a funneling process. He said that not all the committee members are going to attend each meeting either. Stutsman said that the other thing they need to think about is that this is a Land Use Plan for all of Johnson County. She said that many times at these meetings there are people who come who just have a specific interest in one particular area. She said it is difficult to stay focused on the big picture that affects everybody in Johnson County. Harney said that sitting through the meetings is an important part of understanding the formation of the Land Use Plan. He said that since they formed a committee and engaged ECICOG to do this process, he is not sure what the role of the Board is in this situation.
Moore said that as a compromise, the Board may just want to have one liaison that reports back to the Board as a whole, the liaison could be ECICOG Representative Chad Sands rather than a Board member. R. Sullivan said that the 1998 Land Use Plan is the most important thing the County has done since the 1977 Land Use Plan. He said that this is why people elect the Board, and they should be involved since it is so important. Lehman said that he is back to his suggestion that a couple of days a head the Board could decide whether to post an agenda or not. Neuzil said that this does set a bit of an image problem, and if it’s a Board meeting all members should attend. Moore said that this is the political side of the Land Use Plan. He said that they want as many stakeholders to be involved in this process, and when they aren’t involved it makes it more difficult. He said that the Board hired ECICOG to be in charge of the land use planning process, and Moore is the staff person who will deal with ECICOG. He said that ECICOG is the one who is holding these meetings.
Stutsman left at 10:13 a.m.
Lehman said he didn’t know if they could resolve it today. Neuzil suggested they try to get some kind of consensus about when it would be appropriate for the entire Board to be present. R. Sullivan reiterated that it is the most important thing that the Board will do, so he wants to be as involved as possible. Neuzil said that he would be fine with at least a couple of members attending the visionary meetings, and that the Board be collectively involved in one of the charettes and in some of the committee process later on. Harney asked Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell about whether it is possible to have more than two Board member present if at least one of them does not talk.
Chappell said that in his opinion, as a practical matter it is impossible. He said that there is some way to finesse it legally, but the problem is not just meeting the legal requirements. He said that whenever there is a majority of Board members present, the concern is that there is deliberation, which is not just speaking. He said that there are meetings where not all of the Board speaks, but there is still deliberation. He said that the County Attorneys Office position has always been that in any meeting of substance, the only way to avoid the appearance of not trying to circumvent the law is to not have three Board members present, or to have it be a meeting. He said that if there are three or more Board members at one of the meetings, no matter whether they speak or not, it won't be clear that they are adhering to the law. He said that he thinks they are nuts if they make these Board meetings. Chappell said that this would undercut the authority of the Commission they just appointed today. He said he understood what R. Sullivan was saying about being involved in the process, but said that if three Board members attend the planning meetings it would appear that the Board was taking control of the process. He said that the way they can best protect their interest on this issue would be to appoint the people they think are best on the Commission, and have some faith in them. He advised the Board to talk to County Auditor Tom Slockett and find out how much it would cost to have someone do a transcript of the meetings. Chappell said that ECICOG would tape the meetings if the Board asked them to do this, and that the Board could then have transcripts made. He said that he would encourage them to alternate to make sure that one Board member is present. He said that if they want to be involved there should be a liaison who could report back every week, or decide ahead of time which Board member would attend. He said that if they send two Board members, questions could be raised about the process, but not nearly as many questions as if these are called joint meetings and have the entire Board present. He urged them not to forget that there is a perception that this Commission hands their recommendations to Planning and Zoning Commission, and they are stuck with what they get. He said that they are welcome to reexamine anything they want, and are welcome to have Joint meetings with these Commissions to get all the questions they want answered. He said that they are far from powerless, and told R. Sullivan that he didn't mean to say that he was trying to lord over anyone, just that this could be the perception from those on the Commission.
R. Sullivan replied that this is a once in a life time thing. He said that he trusts the Commission, but since this is the biggest thing that Board members are going to do he wants to have a look. Chappell said that R. Sullivan is proposing to be there during the entire process to hear every word, and this seems excessive. R. Sullivan said that he was willing to call every member of the Commission and tell them that he just wanted to observe the process, and that he wasn’t trying to control the process. He reiterated that he thought this planning process was so important that he can't imagine not participating, and that he thinks this is why they get elected. Neuzil said that this is certainly an important issue, but that there are other important issues too and there are some ordinances in the County that would have more influence than the Land Use Plan. Neuzil said that if the majority of the Board wants to meet and listen rather than not listening he could support this. He said that he hopes his opinion that allowing a couple of Board members to sit in on the meetings isn’t interpreted as not wanting to be a part of the process. He said that he doesn’t think the Board needs to be as involved in the early part of the process as they do the later part. Harney added that after listening to Chappell, he agreed with most everything he pointed out. He said that his idea would be to send one or two Board members to these meetings, but would put a lot of weight in the report that comes back monthly from ECICOG and Planning and Zoning. He said that if they had concerns the Board could relay them and they could be taken back to the Committee. He said that they should trust the individuals on the Committee to come up with a good plan.
Moore suggested that they make one of the charettes a Board meeting, and suggested the second one as an appropriate choice for this. He said that then the Board would get to participate in a charrette. Moore said that one Committee member has already told him that they didn't volunteer to be a part of Board meeting Committee meeting, and thought they were going to be an independent committee. Moore said that the charettes are interesting exercises, and if they make one of them a Board meeting then the Board could participate.
Neuzil suggested that the Board designate one Board member to attend each planning meeting. Lehman said that Chappell's comments persuaded him to not want these Commission meetings to be called Board meetings. Chappell proposed that the Board appoint R. Sullivan as the liaison to the Commission. Lehman asked if they could get ECICOG to tape the meetings. Dvorak clarified that these meetings were less formal and it would be difficult to have a tape made.
Lehman said that it seemed like the resolution today is not to hold posted agenda Board of Supervisors meetings, but as they move along the process they may decide to designate the second charrette as an official Board meeting. Harney said that he doesn’t mind R. Sullivan being the liaison, but doesn't want him to be a participant and would rather that he sit in as an observer. Dvorak also pointed out that they were developing a website for this, and everything they do at the meetings will be on the web.
The Board agreed to hold the formal and informal Board meetings on Tuesday November 28, 2006 rather than Thursday November 30, 2006 due to the ISAC Fall School of Instruction.
R. Sullivan went on Planning and Zoning site visits, attended a citizens meeting about the impact of confined animal feeding operations, and the United Way campaign celebration.
Neuzil attended the ICAD group fundraising campaign, a Coralville City Council meeting, a work session with Coralville about land where the rainforest was going to be located, and announced an upcoming listening post.
Harney attended the 6th Judicial District Department of Corrections Board meeting, a Jail Facilities subcommittee meeting, a Chamber of Commerce Legislative forum, a League of Women Voters legislative forum, the ICAD campaign kick-off, Planning and Zoning site visits, and spoke with individuals about the proposed closure of Harry's Road.
Lehman attended a James Gang event at the Children's Museum, the Johnson County Beef Producers banquet, the Empowerment Board retreat, the Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development meeting, a Johnson County Safety Committee meeting, and mentioned that they would discuss trails at the next Board meeting.
Adjourned at 10:55 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary