MINUTES OF THE JOINT LEGISLATIVE MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND LINN COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
NOVEMBER 27, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Property Tax Overview.......................................................................................................... 1
MH/DD Issues....................................................................................................................... 2
Public Health Issues............................................................................................................... 4
State-wide Beer Keg Registration............................................................................................ 6
Funding for Joint Communications Expenditures and Operations................................................ 7
Funds for Trails...................................................................................................................... 8
Dedicated Funding for Housing Trust Funds............................................................................. 9
Authority for County-wide Hotel/Motel Tax to Include Incorporated Areas................................ 9
Heath Care Through Community Collaboratives...................................................................... 10
Land Use Issues................................................................................................................... 10
Chairpersons Lehman and Houser called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors and Linn County Board of Supervisors to order in the Community Response and Environmental Training Center, Kirkwood Community College, at 7:38 a.m. Johnson County members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan. Linn County members present were: Lu Barron, James Houser, and Linda Langston. Also present: Senator Joe Bolkcom, Senator Bob Dvorsky, Senator-elect Rob Hogg, and Representative Ro Foege.
Linn County Finance Director Dawn Jindrich presented handouts regarding facts related to the budget. The first page was a countywide tax evaluation growth. The next sheet highlighted the rural taxable evaluation base. The last handout was regarding the residential rollback. Jindrich explained that there is a rollback on a portion of the taxable evaluation on residential property every year. This gets released each November 1 by the Department of Revenue, and this has an impact on the tax base. So far, it has not had an impact on Counties because they levy the taxes they actually need. The only impact is who is paying it. Jindrich said that currently, residential taxes are staying pretty much the same, while commercial taxes are going up in the neighborhood of 3.5%, with a little reprieve last year because there was a commercial rollback. Every other year there is a slight commercial rollback and then it reverts to 100% in the even years. Jindrich said that the issue isn't really a County issue, but is more of an issue for the legislature. Jindrich noted the issue is who pays and who should be paying.
Jindrich next went over a handout showing revenues by source and expenditures by service area. She explained that 44% of County revenues come from property taxes, and 42% is inter-governmental, meaning that the money comes from other government agencies. The next portion indicates expenditure by service area, which is pretty standard across the State. Jindrich said that 29% of the budget is being spent on mental health and 21% on public safety. Finally, the last page is the composition of taxable values. Slightly over half of their tax base is residential at 53%. She said that 31% is commercial, when it used to be 29% commercial and a little more residential, but that has shifted over the years. Jindrich said that the last handout notes the combined Fiscal Year 2007 tax rate. Jindrich said that a Cedar Rapids resident in the Cedar Rapids school system would pay 16% of their tax bill to County taxes, so the County is not a big piece. She said that 41% of their taxes would go to the school district, and 40% would go to the City of Cedar Rapids.
Jindrich said the last thing that Linn County Supervisor James Houser mentioned was the General Basic Fund County tax rate of $3.50. In Linn County, that is not a problem for them at this time because they aren't bumping up to that limit. She said that when they do their borrowing they finance through the Debt Service Levy. They levy anything that can be levied through the General Supplemental Fund, which is not limited. Johnson County Supervisor Mike Lehman said that Johnson County is bumping up against the $3.50 limit in the General Basic Fund. He said that they do try to put away money for capital projects, but the limit handcuffs them. He noted that he isn’t sure what the answer is. He suggested raising the levy with an inflationary value.
Senator Joe Bolkcom said that the second bullet is to combine the tax rates. He asked if that is a thought about combining the General Basic and the General Supplemental tax rates as one. Jindrich said that wouldn’t be a problem for Linn County unless a limitation was put on that. Bolkcom clarified that the Supervisors would like the levies left alone, but the cap increased on the General Fund. The Supervisors agreed.
Linn County Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Director Craig Wood said that regarding MH/DD funding issues, he thinks he is preaching to the choir because all of the legislators present were helpful last year when they had their funding shortfall and were faced with service cuts of a million dollars. The legislature did come through with five million dollars extra to the allowable growth appropriation for Fiscal Year 2007. This helped them restore most of the cuts that they had planned to make. Wood explained that the legislature does the allowable growth appropriation two years in advance. For Fiscal Year 2008 the appropriation that was voted in during the last session did not include the five million dollars. So, they are looking at another one million dollar shortfall without adding that five million dollars that was added to FY 07 into the FY 08 allowable growth appropriation. Wood said that Sue Lehrdahl thinks it will probably be seen as an oversight and would be written into the budget. Wood said he hopes that this does get written in. He said that as they are starting to do their budget for FY 08, they are looking at another one million-dollar shortfall. They hate to start publicizing that they are going to be cutting before anything is certain. He said that they are debating how to handle this because nothing is certain until the legislature meets in January and makes the decisions. If they publicize the fact that they are going to be making cuts, it could get consumers and family members upset. On the other hand, it was these people who helped last year by contacting legislators and reminding them that these services are needed. Wood said they are debating whether or not to publicize this shortage now or not.
Wood said the next issue is whether or not the Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities (MH/DD) System ought to be completely operated by the State or by local entities. The Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) has developed a pamphlet that indicates why they think MH/DD should remain a County-managed system. Primarily, this is because they think the County Board of Supervisors are a lot more accessible to families and consumers, and local officials can make on-the-spot decisions and changes based on local requests. It is a much more responsive system. He noted that Iowa exceeds most other states in the accessibility of MH/DD services. Wood said that the waiting list in Florida has 20,000 people waiting to get services, which makes Iowa's system look really good. Wood said that Iowa doesn't have these kinds of waiting lists and it is because the programs are County-run. As Jindrich indicated, Wood said that 29% of the County budget is still MH/DD services, which is a significant chunk. They still have about $8 million dollars of property tax in the system. This provides an incentive for them to develop local services and keep the finances local so that it benefits the local economy. He said that they think the County-managed system should stay in place and that they do need the additional appropriation for allowable growth.
Johnson County Supervisor Terrence Neuzil said that one of the problems with the last issue and now with MH/DD is the ability for County government to have more local control, particularly with the idea of providing residents with services. Often, the Counties want to provide their residents with services but there is a limit to what the State of Iowa is letting them do. He said he isn’t necessarily saying that they should take away all of the caps, but it seems that if local leaders want the ability to increase taxes to provide services for their residents, then they ought to have the ability to do that. He said that they are still frozen at 1996 levels, and it is ten years later. Neuzil continued that Johnson County is at the General Fund limit, so they either need the ability to raise that limit or let them have other opportunities to levy from the General Supplemental Fund or anywhere else so that they can provide the services that people want. Neuzil said that the State has taken away the ability for local government to do more, and they would like to change that.
Bolkcom said that there is an interim study committee meeting for the funding issues regarding MH/DD. The legislature is trying to find more flexibility and more investment in the system. He would hope that they could come to some conclusion that would be a shared responsibility between County property tax payers and the State contribution. On the issue of control, he does not see the State going away from a County-driven system. He hoped that if there is going to be a greater State investment, then they can put the issue of legal settlement on the table. He said that it is a big issue in Johnson County where they have people coming to the urban centers, and it is probably the biggest thing that has been unaddressed at this point.
Bolkcom said that backing up to the property tax issue as a whole, he thinks there is reluctance to raising property taxes. He said that the community colleges would like to capture a few more dollars for their needs, and then there is the push by businesses across the State. He thinks that the commercial property tax issue is going to be one that is going to get attention. Governor-elect Chet Culver talked about a tax force on commercial taxes. Bolkcom said he thinks that the State needs to find more resources to support the MH/DD system. Houser said that it would help if they could just raise the residential rollback 50%. Bolkcom said that they offered legislation last year to set a floor on it, and other legislators talked about freezing it. He said that property tax issues are pretty involved, thorny issues. Bolkcom said he would support trying to give a few more cents in the levy for Counties for MH/DD services. He doesn’t think it would take a lot of new authority financially for those Counties that are strapped to fix this problem.
Wood said that one of the suggestions they would make, which also might be easier to sell, would be to go back to the levy rate of Fiscal Year 1997. If they did this, Linn County alone could raise another $2.5 million. He said that they were frozen at a dollar amount rather than a levy rate. If the rate were the same as it was, they would have $2.5 million more to spend. He said he didn’t know if that would be an easy sell or not, but it seems like with the increase in population and increase in value of the property, it would make sense that that would go along with an increase in the amount of income. Bolkcom asked if it would provide more flexibility if they did that for every County. Wood replied that there were 16 Counties that might be hurt by that, so they were going to suggest that it be optional.
Public Health Director Ralph Wilmoth said that he is using three of the advocacy statements from the Iowa Public Health Association to talk about food protection program issues. The three points in that statement are to increase the fees. He explained that Johnson County subsidizes the food inspection program by about 50% with tax dollars. This should be a fee based program. The food code is several versions behind, so that needs to be updated. Also, the program was going to be moved to Public Health. It passed in the Iowa House and the Senate, but the Governor vetoed it. Wilmoth said that they would be happy if any part of that got passed in any session, but the fees are the most important from a financial perspective.
Wilmoth said that if they raise the tobacco tax by $1, there are a substantial number of folks who either don’t start using tobacco products or will quit. They all would like to see those dollars go to fully fund tobacco prevention activities and to help offset some of the health care costs to the State of Iowa. It costs about $7 in health care for every pack of cigarettes that is sold. Wilmoth said that non-smokers shouldn't be paying the price for others to that product.
Wilmoth said the last issue relating to tobacco is that Iowa City passed an ordinance that prohibits smoking in restaurants. A couple of years ago, through funding from Phillip Morris, five restaurants in Ames challenged that decision at the Supreme Court, and the decision was overturned. This, in effect, overturned the ordinance in Iowa City. They believe from a public health perspective that communities that should be able to decide what is appropriate for them on a community by community basis. They also know that the tobacco industry can most effectively defeat any effort at the State level as opposed to fighting those efforts at the local level. Wilmoth said that they would like to see the ability to determine their own smoking exposure policy.
Linn County Public Health Director Keith Erickson said that another Public Health issue is ambient air quality. There are new national ambient air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter which brings Linn County to within 95% of the standard. If they go over the standard, that dramatically influences economic development because they become a non-attainment area. Linn County might be exceed the ozone standard. He said that there are two things they can do preemptively. They can start regulating open burning more strictly. They might also have to look at the vapors emitted from gasoline stations. The reason this is important beyond Linn County is that when pollutants are generated in one place it affects other communities' air. He said that this should be a statewide effort. Once they go non-attainment it cuts off economic development and growth in industries.
Erickson said that there has been a trend in the last 15 years to remove nurses from schools. His recommendation differs from the statement offered by the position statement of the National Association of School Nurses. He would ask for one school nurse or health professional for every 750 kids. He also suggested that school nurses should be under Public Health, not reporting to the school principal or superintendent. This is one of the single most important things they can do to improve the health status of families. If they grew up with a system that had a school nurse, that nurse knew the students, their siblings, and the parents. Regarding funding, an elementary school of 300 or 400 kids has three janitors, and they find money for that. Instead, they have secretaries with no medical training dispensing prescription drugs. He said that the last two governors have called themselves the education governor. He would contend that they cannot educate children unless they have healthy children. There is a lot of information that indicates that if they have school nurses, the progress of the student learning goes up, and absenteeism decreases.
Cedar Rapids Mayor Kay Halloran said that she has a City Council that has been ready to vote for no smoking in public places, but they cannot do so because the State law is in their way. Halloran urged that this be fixed. Houser recommended that the legislature give Cities and Counties local control. Senator-elect Rob Hogg said that the most persuasive story he has heard on that issue is of the constituent who told him that a pregnant woman was serving tables at a smoke-filled restaurant. He thought this really shows how unfair smoking in public can be.
Bolkcom asked if the DNR Committee that has been working on ambient air quality is going to make any recommendations. Erickson said that there will be recommendations. Erickson said that they have restrictions and a permit system on open burning in Linn County, but this will have to be expanded.
Houser said that he and Neuzil serve on the Criminal Justice Public Safety Steering Committee for ISAC. State-wide beer keg registration is an issue that their committee has brought forward and will be proposing to the legislature next year. The City of Marion has a beer keg registration permit process. Linn County has been considering a keg registration system. Houser explained that Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller wanted to wait to see what the legislature was going to do, but they didn’t do anything. The Statewide Committee's recommendation is for individual Counties and Cities to begin enacting their own keg registrations, and this would promote the State to take this on state-wide to make it uniform. Houser said that this is a health issue. They are trying to control binge and under-age drinking. Johnson County Supervisor Sally Stutsman said that in Johnson County, they thought about a keg ordinance, but it would be pretty ineffective because they don’t have that many establishments that sell kegs in the unincorporated areas. Houser said that it would be in effect in Iowa City unless they enact their own. Stutsman said that there is a difference of opinion between County Attorneys. She said that Johnson County's understanding is that it would only affect the unincorporated areas and individual Cities would have to enact their own. She said that it would be a lot less work if there was a State law. Houser said that they were told by their County Attorney that when they passed the pseudoephedrine legislation that unless Cedar Rapids would pass it or any of the other incorporated cities, then the Linn County policy would be in effect for the entire County. Stutsman said either way they would like a statewide policy.
Neuzil asked who is blocking a statewide policy. He thought that grocery stores actually bought into it, and the Sheriffs Association is behind it, and the County Attorneys are behind it. He said that ISAC will also be behind it. Neuzil said that it doesn’t seem like the administrative costs are going to be that different. Wilmoth said that Hy-Vee has publicly supported it. Bolkcom said that they have to get 26 votes and 51 votes in the two bodies, and he isn’t sure that there is a high enough awareness level about this issue. He said that people who sell beer would not be very interested in registration. Lehman said that when people go in to buy a keg with a tap on it, there is some registration and a deposit. Lehman said that it wouldn't take much more work to do it. Houser agreed. Bolkcom said that passing in places where there is sensitivity about it, there ought to be the authority to move ahead. Bolkcom said that the likelihood is that this will remain a local issue. Houser asked if they would suggest that they move forward and adopt their own policy. Bolkcom said that if they want to have control in this area, they should pursue their own local ordinances. He said that if the State should act and supersede, then they can remove the policy.
Harney said that Johnson County and Iowa City are looking at putting in a combined communications center. It could be bonded through the County or through one of the Cities, but then they have the problem of trying to pay back the bonds. Johnson County and some of the cities are up against their caps in levies. What they were looking at very strongly was going under the Emergency Management levy fees. This would cover all the townships. Under the communications system, they would have to put radios in all of their townships fire trucks and EMS vehicles and so on. In order to get it equal, they don’t know how they would get the money to provide those people with proper equipment. Basically, the only way they can do this effectively and efficiently so that everyone pays a fair share is to put it under Emergency Management, but they found they cannot do that. Traditionally, the way the law is written, communication falls under fire and law enforcement. Emergency Communications cannot go under Emergency Management because that is just Emergency Management Services. In talking with Johnson County Attorney J. Patrick White, changing a sentence or two in the Code of Iowa regarding the Emergency Management structure would allow this to occur. He said that everyone wants a chip of the communication system, but there is no way to finance it. In order to bring it together, they have to find a way, unless they can come up with another levy that could be changed or put into place.
Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said that he supports the change. When they think about emergency management, they think of tornadoes and natural disasters, and that is exactly where communication is most important. He said that it is a natural fit for communications to be funded under that levy. It would be equal where everyone pays the same amount. Harney said the communications system would also include the expansion to 700 frequency where the State troopers could talk to the Sheriff. It also puts in towers countywide so there wouldn’t be any dead spots. Pulkrabek said that it also encourages the regional approach. If Johnson County needs two towers at the north end of their County, then Linn County may need two towers at the south end of their County. The two Counties may be able to share those same two towers. He said that the State has been asking for more regionalism, and he thinks this goes along with that goal. Bolkcom asked if the proposed levy would be just for joint projects. Harney said it depends on how it is worded. Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan said that it wouldn’t have to be a new levy, they could just change the wording in the existing Emergency Management structure. Bolkcom said that he understands that, but the levy would be going up. He said he is sympathetic to the notion of figuring out a way to fund joint projects, and this seems to be reasonable approach.
Houser said that this goes into the State level for what the legislation is allocating to the Department of Public Safety for their needs for the troopers and equipment including the communication system. Right now, the State is on VHF high band, and for it to be an effective system the frequency bandwidth needs to be changed, then the State needs to have money allocated to make this change. Houser said that if they are going to have a shift in frequency allocation, the State has to be the lead. Bolkcom asked if someone is advocating that on the State level. Houser said that he doesn’t think the State patrol is advocating that because for the last few years they have been upgrading their VHF high band system. He said that they have been shortsighted on funding and have been making due with what they have. Houser said that it is going to be an expensive project. Pottawattamie County had a consultant come in and look at their system, and came back with a $24.5 million price tag for just that County. If the State funded the backbone infrastructure, it would help lower the cost to the individual Counties. Harney said that if they are able to put together a system, SEATS and the City Transit Service could use the radios on a different frequency. Pulkrabek said that it could include the school buses too. If law enforcement needed to communicate with the school, the new system might allow for that.
Administrative Services Director Mike Goldberg said that in the last session, they had inner-operability legislation that was setting up a statewide infrastructure for looking at coordinated inner-operability needs, but that legislation did not pass. Houser said that a lot has happened technologically in the past couple of years. Systems are available now that can make communication systems talk together, and that wasn’t possible two years ago. There was a project in Dallas, Texas that blended nine systems together. They don’t have to carte blanche change everyone’s system, but they can combine them. That is allowed now through Homeland Security FEMA dollars.
State Representative Ro Foege and Linn County Supervisor Linda Langston entered at 8:25 a.m.
Harney said that they are under the gun to get something into place. He said that Iowa City has to do something in the next couple of years as does the County Sheriff. Hopefully, something will be done this session, if possible. Bolkcom said that the State needs to have a roll in this. He said he likes the notion of a funding stream to encourage joint communication.
Stutsman said that she thinks it goes without saying that they are ready to move ahead with a trail program or process, and they need additional funding. Stutsman said they would support any additional funding that the legislature could put into trails. Johnson County has been working collaboratively with Linn County in developing a regional trail system with all the other cities in both counties. Linn County Supervisor Lu Barron said that she echoes those thoughts and said that they will be taking the trail issue to Washington D.C. and lobbying for more funds there as well. Houser said they have a great system that they have been working on since he has been on the Board for fifteen or so years. They had a lot of obstacles to overcome over the years, but now there is more public support. Hogg asked if they have a specific amount that Johnson County or Linn County needs for trails, he would like to know that. Also, if they have the money, is there something that they can tangibly show within two to four years. Barron said yes. Bolkcom said that he thinks it will continue to be a priority of the corridor legislators to help on this issue. He said that they do need proposals to apply for funding. Bolkcom noted that they doubled the funding from one to two million dollars last year, and they should try to do it again. Stutsman asked if the legislators would like a presentation with a proposed trail and cost, similar to what they present to in Washington D.C. Hogg said yes. The Linn and Johnson Supervisors agreed that they would provide the information. Senator Bob Dvorsky said he doesn’t think they are at the top of the list for trails funding.
Stutsman said that they have previously discussed the success of housing trust funds in the different counties. She said that there are more and more housing trust funds, and the need for affordable housing has been identified across the state. She said that this is not only a social issue but an economic development issue. Stutsman said that they had a very successful housing summit last week that reinforced the economic development part and what a need there is. Stutsman said that they need the flexibility on the County level to be able to take monies from the real estate transfer tax, if the County so chooses, and apply part of those funds to the local housing trust fund. Also, they would continue what has been already put into place. She applauded the legislature for their commitment to housing trust funds and hopes that they continue to fund that part of the budget. Linn County Supervisor Linda Langston said that Linn County should have their housing trust board in place by the end of the year. Sullivan said that they estimate that by the end of the year 80 out of the 99 counties will be served by a housing trust. The money can go just about anywhere. Interestingly, Sullivan noted, the places that are booming economically are finding a real need for this because there are jobs that are not high wage jobs, and those folks have to have a place to live. In addition, counties that are struggling need this as well.
Goldberg offered a graph from 2004 and said that there has been legislation several times since then for county-wide hotel/motel tax to include incorporated areas. He explained that they are suggesting a hotel/motel tax that applies throughout the County including unincorporated areas. A regional hotel/motel tax would give a funding stream to help the growth and economic development in those recreational activities within the county. He said that when they first say county hotel/motel, they think unincorporated, but that is not what they are suggesting. They are suggesting a tax that includes the incorporated areas and is in addition to the current local hotel/motel tax. Goldberg said that the tax could be used to help fund regional efforts that Counties are being asked to participate in, such as Vision Iowa. When cities ask for Vision Iowa Funding, the Vision Iowa Board wants to know how much the County is contributing. Houser said the Vision Iowa Board came back to the City of Center Point and said they would give them a grant for their park expansion but only if they get $200,000 from the County toward the application. House said that the only place Linn County has to take that money from is property taxes because they don’t have that money sitting around. He added that the City of Cedar Rapids needs $250,000 from Linn County for their Vision Iowa grant. He said that Linn County and Johnson County are two of the only counties that do not have gambling proceeds or local option taxes. This would be a simple change in the code. He said that in other parts of the United States, there are County taxes on hotels/motels.
Dvorsky said that the concept is probably a bad concept. He asked why the County should have the authority to tell Coralville what to do with hotel/motel taxes. He said that this is taking home rule away from the cities. Houser said that they are only asking for the ability to add on top of what is already there, and that portion would go only to the Counties. He said that it wouldn't take away from what the cities are doing. Dvorsky said he isn’t saying he is opposed to it; he is just offering a question. Neuzil said that TIFs do that to them all the time. He said that they might be able to have the legislation if the community buys in to the concept. Bolkcom said that Iowa City wants their hotel/motel tax increased by 2%. Bolkcom asked if this is an issue for the League of Cities for this session. Houser asked if they would propose that they separate this out and just ask for a Countywide hotel/motel tax. Dvorsky said that they need to check in with their local cities and the League of Cities. Neuzil said he would think the cities would be interested since most of the Vision and CAT grants are coming from cities and they need the County contribution. Dvorsky said the issue in the meeting in Des Moines was not whether or not people wanted this tax but to whom the money would go. Houser said they hate to be the ogre and say that they cannot support these CAT and Vision Iowa projects, but when they get cut by a million dollars by the legislature as they were two or three years ago, it limits their flexibility. Dvorsky said that the person on the Vision Iowa Board who asks for a County contribution is a former County Supervisor.
Linda Langston said that she is exploring some of the models being used in Michigan, Georgia, Texas where they have done a community collaborative that has essentially given 100% access to health care for the local citizens. The collaborative is paid for by employers and employees but it takes cooperation from the State to receive Federal match funds. She said that she is working on a proposal to give to the legislators.
Goldberg presented materials from the Linn County Planning and Zoning Department. Barron said that the issues from Planning and Zoning mirror a lot of the discussions they had in the Land Use Commission from years ago. She said that nothing has been done with these issues. Dvorsky said that the last time they changed annexation laws was in 1991 or 1992.
Bolkcom wondered if they should have a broader conversation about the issue of transportation in the corridor. He said that there are 5,000 or 6,000 citizens moving between the two counties per day. Also, as they talk about housing in these areas, transportation is a huge issue for working people that might not have a lot of resources to get to a job in Cedar Rapids, for example. He asked if there is interest in the next year to strike up a conversation about a mass transit system that would not be a train. Houser noted he was going to suggest high speed rail. Bolkcom said that they don’t have a million dollars a mile to spend, but he thought they could do something with buses or express vans. He said that the counties are running transit systems that are already pretty efficient and effective, so they could also try to include the cities. Houser said that states that surround Iowa are putting a lot of money toward high speed rail. He said that Amtrak is growing tremendously in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. They had a proposal from Amtrak to come toward Iowa from Chicago, but the State Legislature in Iowa has not been receptive to that. They are also looking to run an excursion from Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, to Amana. That will ultimately need to have some State support in order for the Feds to look at it favorably to elevate that throughout the years.
Dvorsky said that one of the initiatives that the Department of Transportation is excited about is a rail initiative for freight, but they could look at passenger trains. Houser said that there was a proposal on the books by Amtrak to go through Chicago through the central part of the state over to Omaha, Nebraska. This got dropped when the Federal funding got dried up. Bolkcom said having Amtrak trains from Cedar Rapids to Chicago would be awesome but the notion of high speed rail between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City is a pipe dream. He said that the train would have to go 200 miles an hour to compete with drivers. Houser said that when gas becomes more expensive, this might change people’s minds. Bolkcom said this could be a long term prospect. In the short run, having a flexible fleet of vehicles that drive 70 mph down Highway 380 is more viable.
Goldberg said that a Linn County workgroup is working on an RFP to put together a public/private partnership to go wireless up and down the corridor to encourage people to take public transportation. People could get in an extra 30 minutes of work time on the internet if they were to commute, he said. Langston said that a lot of cities nationwide are doing this such as Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco. Bolkcom noted that he spoke to East Central Iowa Council of Government Executive Director Doug Elliot about the commuting issue. Elliot suggested that they have vehicles that are currently under utilized and could be used in a transit system. Dvorsky said that North Liberty is trying to work in both directions toward Cedar Rapids and to Iowa City.
Lehman thanked everyone for attending, especially the legislators. Ro Foege apologized for being late because he went to Marion by accident.
Adjourned at 8:50 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary