**Subject to approval by the Elected Officials at a future meeting**
MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
APRIL 30, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Approval of Minutes............................................................................................................... 1
Space Needs For Administration Building................................................................................. 1
Health and Human Services Building....................................................................................... 1
Justice Center........................................................................................................................ 2
E-Mail Policy......................................................................................................................... 3
Buy Local Policy.................................................................................................................... 4
ISAC Innovation Awards........................................................................................................ 4
Strategic Planning................................................................................................................... 5
Reports/Inquiries From Elected Officials.................................................................................. 5
County Supervisor Terrence Neuzil called the Johnson County Elected Officials Meeting to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:06 a.m.
Elected officials present were: County Attorney Janet Lyness; County Recorder Kim Painter; County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek; County Supervisors Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan; and County Treasurer Tom Kriz. Staff present were: Facilities Director David Kempf, Board of Supervisors Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne, and Auditor’s Office Account Clerk II John Deeth and Administrative Secretary Casie Kadlec.
Motion by Stutsman, second by Painter, to approve the December 19, 2006 Elected Officials Meeting minutes. The motion was passed unanimously.
Neuzil said that Human Resources and Information Services will be moving to the Health and Human Services Building. This will free up space in the Administration Building. There might be a new Board room either in the Health and Human Services Building or Administration Building. Neuzil said that the Space Needs Committee is going to be meeting soon and will give a report to the Board of Supervisors.
Neuzil said that at a work session on May 2, 2007 the Board will decide on an architect and engineering firm for the Health and Human Services Building. Harney mentioned that Novak Design Group, Vantage Point, and Heery/HLM Design will be presenting to vie for this position. Stutsman noted that two of the companies are from Cedar Rapids and one is from Iowa City. Neuzil asked if they are still looking at the summer of 2008 as a completion date for the building. Facilities Director David Kempf said that is the goal. He said that in prior interviews the three firms have said that they should be able to meet that timeline. Kempf said that thirteen firms responded to the RFP. The selection committee interviewed five firms and selected three firms to present to the Board of Supervisors. County Treasurer Tom Kriz said that to keep the timeline it is imperative that the Board vote on the firm of their choice as soon as possible. The Board agreed to vote on the firm of their choice immediately following the presentations on May 2, 2007.
Kempf said that a consultant from Durrant will be presenting to the Joint Board of Supervisors and Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meeting on May 3, 2007. Durrant will be presenting on how they are planning on approaching the Justice Center project. Neuzil asked if there has been discussion about regrouping for strategic planning regarding the justice center. County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said that he was asking to revamp and/or expand the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee (CJCC). He said that they really need someone who works for the Board, him, or County Attorney Janet Lyness that can facilitate moving the project forward. At one point the Board was going to direct Executive Assistance Mike Sullivan to facilitate the project, but Pulkrabek noted that M. Sullivan might not have the time. Pulkrabek said that they need to have someone to call the meetings, do the agendas and minutes, make sure the subcommittees are meeting, and help maintain focus. Stutsman said they talked about hiring someone. Pulkrabek replied that was the recommendation from the justice system analysis.
Pulkrabek said that there are key players missing from the process and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee such as the Iowa City Police Chief and someone from the Department of Correctional Services. R. Sullivan said they could easily add those people to the committee. Neuzil said that a lot of the subcommittees under the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee have reached the point of reorganizing. Pulkrabek said the Board took all the right steps to get the CJCC started, but for it to be effective they need to have the main decision-makers at the table and someone who can guide and bring them all together. Stutsman asked if they should appoint these people to the CJCC now so they can help select a consultant, or should they hire a consultant who can decide who he wants on the CJCC. Neuzil said they should get this organized over the summer.
County Attorney Janet Lyness said that at the last Johnson County Bar Association Meeting, they voted to have the chair of the Bar Association appoint a committee to look at helping with the criminal justice system and publicity. She said that judges are aware that if there is going to be new courtroom space they need to get involved in the process. Lyness noted that it helps that Assistant County Attorney Anne Lahey is the Chair of the Johnson County Bar Association. Lyness said that the members of the Bar Association criminal justice committee will probably want to start attending CJCC meetings.
Stutsman expressed concern about the Bar Association appointing a committee without the County knowing what they are doing. Harney said that they will have to come together to figure out what their needs are and then forward that information to the County. Lyness said the committee is going to report back to the Bar Association about what is going on at the County level. They will also be available to provide information to the CJCC. Lyness said that it is not a matter of them coming up with their own separate plan. Stutsman said that she just wants to make sure that they are all speaking with one voice regarding the criminal justice center. Lyness said she will try to facilitate communication across the groups. Pulkrabek said that the CJCC point person could even sit in on the Bar Association meetings to foster communication. Pulkrabek suggested they hire a temporary position. Lyness said they might want to look at contracting for an employee instead of hiring a temporary employee that would be limited to only working on the project for a few months. R. Sullivan said that they need to get more of an idea of what the point person will do. He said that it is not clear to him whether this person would be a Secretary II or if they are in more of a leadership role. R. Sullivan said that some activities might be able to be done in-house. The Board agreed that more discussion on the job duties needs to take place. They agreed that this will be a good issue to work on this summer.
Lyness explained that if an email is sent to all five members of the Board of Supervisors and they all start responding by email, it is as if they are conducting a meeting outside of the public view. This should be avoided. Lyness said that if the Supervisors receive a report by email, that is fine, but they should not be responding to each other through email. She asked that the Supervisors not communicate with each other via email about opinions on a report or other policy matters. She cautioned that they want to avoid the appearance that they might be deliberating outside of the public eye. Lyness said that if Supervisors receive an email that they would like to respond to, they should put it on a Board meeting agenda rather than responding by email. Neuzil summarized that they can reply to emails that are sent to the entire Board, but should not use the "Reply to All" feature.
R. Sullivan said that recently M. Sullivan sent the Board an email about interest in attending an upcoming event. R. Sullivan said he responded only to M. Sullivan to say he could not attend, but did not respond to everyone. Lyness said the Iowa City City Council has a consent agenda on reports that they received. If anyone wants to come in and look at anything the Council received during the week, they can. Stutsman said that former County Attorney J. Patrick White was not okay with that, but if Lyness, as the new County Attorney is, they could start doing that. R. Sullivan said the Board sometimes gets emailed reports from department heads written in a very informal style. He suggested that before they move towards doing consent agendas and having those emails printed and available for the public they should let the department heads know so that they draft their emails more formally. Stutsman said that department heads are aware that all emails are public.
R. Sullivan said the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce will be coming to the May 17, 2007 Informal Board Meeting to give a presentation about the Buy Local Policy. They will eventually want the Board to vote to join the Buy Local campaign. Neuzil said the Chamber set the goal of buying 5% local. R. Sullivan that the Chamber would like entities to look at all of the money that is spent outside of Johnson County and find a way to move 5% of those purchases back to Johnson County. Stutsman asked if the Board would adopt a formal policy. R. Sullivan said the Chamber is encouraging that. Stutsman said the Board should think about whether or not they want to do this and if it is feasible. R. Sullivan said that the May 17, 2007 presentation will be a great time to ask those questions. R. Sullivan noted that the Chamber is using Coralville's policy as a model and giving it to governments that are interested.
Pulkrabek said that some buy local policies include the corridor area and asked if that is still the case. R. Sullivan said that currently the Chamber is only talking about Johnson County, but Linn County is interested in the policy. Pulkrabek said that the State puts out a bid for the Sheriff’s cars, and after that, the Sheriff's Department refines the bid for their needs and sends bids out again. Pulkrabek said that the local car dealership didn't even respond to the bids last year, and they ended up buying from McGrath. R. Sullivan said that the Chamber will assist the County in finding local opportunities. He explained that if the County is running into problems with local businesses not responding to bids, the Chamber will work with the local businesses to encourage them to participate. The Chamber isn't asking people to spend money they don't need to spend, but are encouraging people to not make buying decisions until they've researched if they can buy the item locally. Harney said that their hands might sometimes be tied with State bids. Neuzil said that it is only a goal, not a mandatory policy.
Neuzil suggested that Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne assist the elected officials and department heads in identifying some of the expenditures they are making outside of Johnson County. Pulkrabek said that would be great. Neuzil said that the Chamber will also help coordinate this. R. Sullivan said that when the Board approves the claims, the zip codes are listed. He said that they can scan the claims and see where the money is going. R. Sullivan said that all of these issues can be discussed with the Chamber at the May 17, 2007 meeting. The Board agreed to invite elected officials and department heads to the Chamber's presentation on May 17, 2007 to ask questions. Stutsman said that if the Board should adopt a formal policy she would want all of the department heads and elected officials to be on board.
Neuzil said that Johnson County has pursued some significant programs in the last year. Neuzil said that he has contacted the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) Executive Board and they are exploring how to administer the Innovation Awards. He said there hasn’t been enough recent interest in getting counties to pursue the awards. County Recorder Kim Painter said that this issue has not yet been on the ISAC Board’s agenda. Neuzil asked the elected officials to think of things the County has accomplished. He listed the Human Rights Ordinance, the Sensitive Areas Ordinance, the MH/DD Jail Diversion Program, the recent smoking policy, the proposed new employee handbook, the Johnson County Trails Plan, and the Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management Plan. Neuzil said that surely other counties would want to know about these items. He said that they need to find out what ISAC is going to do with the Innovation Awards, and then apply for those awards.
Neuzil said the Board has been talking about bringing someone in to guide the Board on strategic planning. He had hoped that M. Sullivan would be at the meeting to discuss this. He said that the plan could be for the Board in particular or for a larger issue like the justice center. If they go with a broader issue, they will make sure that elected officials are involved. Painter said it is important to have some kind of foundational, collegial conversation with everyone at the elected level. She said that they have enjoyed that in the past, and it has been helpful. Everyone, Painter explained, has a vision for their particular area, and it is good to get together and compare notes. They also have to project that to the public so that the public knows that their County officials are planning in long-term ways in addition to taking care of day-to-day tasks. Neuzil said that the Board will have M. Sullivan give them an update on where he is at with strategic planning.
Painter said that people have been hearing a lot about the housing market slowing down. The Recorder's Office is hitting its busy time of year. It is not as busy as normal, but not dramatically off either. Neuzil asked if the revenues are where they should be. Painter said that they should still hit their target. She added that they might even exceed their revenue projections a little bit. Painter explained that even if they have a decline in the overall amount of documents recorded, statutorily the number of pages of each document determines revenues. Painter also noted that the legislative session is over, and not much affected County Recorders.
Pulkrabek said that in the upcoming budget amendment the Sheriff's Office is going to be requesting more money for out-of-county prisoner transportation. They worked with Claiborne to amend their revenues which are significantly higher than they projected. He said that will hopefully soften the blow of their requested budget amendment. Claiborne said that their revenues are over their requested expense request. Pulkrabek said that when they hire out their officers for events like sports games or for house escorts, they are reimbursed for the officer's overtime, which has contributed to the increased revenues.
Pulkrabek explained that the Sheriff's Department is now in their heavy training period. They have just completed their firearms training at the Cedar Rapids range. The majority of the training is paid with overtime wages. Today they began rescue and recovery training. Pulkrabek noted that all of the local police chiefs are interested in finding a range for shooting practice that is more local. Cedar Rapids is having some controversy because area residents have clamped down on the new City Council regarding the number of dates and times people are allowed to shoot. The range has also asked people to decrease the amount of hours clients are using it. This is logistically difficult given the number of officers in the area. He said Iowa City is really interested in finding a range, and Pulkrabek would like to see the County partner with them if possible. Pulkrabek explained that the current range is near Ely Road and C Street. It is a nice facility but does not have the ability to accommodate rifles because it isn’t long enough. This causes them to send their special response team further away because they need a minimum 100-yard length. There are more and more houses being built near the range and this causes conflict.
Pulkrabek reported that Emergency Management Director Tom Hansen’s retirement party is today from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Sheriff's Office. Harney said that the Emergency Management Commission is in the process of filling the Emergency Management Director position. They have advertised for the position. All applications were due today. The Committee has started to look at setting up dates for interviews. R. Sullivan asked how much County representation is on the group that is doing the hiring. Harney said that members of the Emergency Management Commission are going to be doing the first round interviews and then the entire Emergency Management Commission will do the second round interviews when they have the candidates narrowed to three.
County Attorney Janet Lyness said that the Attorney's Office has two new staff members and three people in new positions. That is more than one-third of their attorneys in new positions. In March, they had a murder trial, which was very time consuming. The County Attorney's Office is dealing with the Prolaw system which is their new software. They are working on integrating it so they can exchange data with the Sheriff, the Department of Correctional Services, the Court System, and others. Lyness said that they are trying to move to a paperless system and have really appreciated the help received from Information Services.
Neuzil asked about the progress with pursuing drug courts. Lyness said that they did get funding for a drug court and will soon have a meeting to get started. The plan is to start the initial program in Linn County and then in six months begin them in Johnson County. The Department of Correctional Services will have some people in charge of this.
Lyness reported that the human rights legislation was passed at the State level last week. Some people from the Iowa Civil Rights Commission will be coming to the Johnson County Attorney's Office in the next couple of weeks to train some of the attorneys on human rights investigations. There will probably be fewer investigations locally since the law has been passed at the State level. Still it would be good for Johnson County Attorney's Office staff to get some training, particularly on small employers. They might be able to offer protection to the smaller cities in Johnson County by being a referral service. Assistant County Attorney Scott Finlayson, the new civil attorney, has been looking into any changes they might need to make to the County Human Rights Ordinance now that the State has passed its own legislation. Neuzil asked what the County will cover that the State does not. Lyness said she has not had the chance to review the new legislation, but will look into it. Neuzil said it is great that the State followed suit with the County. Lyness said that it helped that the Board sent a resolution of support to the Legislature. Stutsman said it really helped that many businesses lobbied in support of the legislation, saying that they had rules against discrimination based on sexual orientation for years.
Lyness noted that there have been some changes in how the Department of Human Services handles juvenile cases, whether it be juvenile delinquency or children in need of assistance. Lyness said that they are looking at how they need to change things. She said that they were glad to get the new contract with Linn County for juvenile detention since there has been an increase in the number of beds that Johnson County is using at the Linn County facility. Lyness said that it is fun to attend her first Elected Officials Meeting as County Attorney.
Kriz said they are getting ready to send out about 3,000 delinquent tax statements. This is a strongly worded letter asking people to pay their delinquent property taxes and their names will be in the newspaper as having delinquent taxes. R. Sullivan asked if people can come in and pay their taxes up to the day of the tax sale. Kriz said yes, but the Treasurer's Office wouldn't be able to pull their name off of the tax sale publication because of the timing. He explained that they end up with about 400 parcels and 600 mobile homes going to the tax sale, after people have paid their delinquent taxes. He estimated that the 3,000 people with delinquent taxes will go down by two-thirds by the time of the tax sale.
Kriz reported that for the last two months, Motor Vehicle revenues have been down. He speculated that car sales are down because of the increase in gas prices. R. Sullivan said that people are hesitating to buy new cars because they are waiting for better technology like E85 pumps. People are therefore driving their old cars longer. Kriz agreed. Kriz said that their revenues should still come in on target.
Kriz said that Moody's, a large bond rating company came to give the County a rating for bonding. If the County isn't rated, it shrinks the pool of investors who will get involved when the County bonds. Kriz noted that M. Sullivan did a tremendous job with the presentation about Johnson County. Kempf took the Moody's representatives on a tour of the County's facilities. Kriz said that a bond rating can reduce the cost of interest by a quarter to a half of a percent. That is a lot of savings for large projects like the proposed justice center. He said that Moody's was impressed with Johnson County’s projects and its frugality. Stutsman asked when the County will know about the rating. Kriz said the Board will have to decide if they want to spend the money to be rated. Kriz said he assumes the Board will decide to spend the money to be rated because it doesn't cost much and is a huge benefit. He said that the rating probably won't be in place for the Health and Human Services building. The rating could make a huge difference for the justice center though. Pulkrabek asked if they need to do the review every few years. Kriz said that Moody's will review the County every year, and do a major review every three years. Kriz said there are very few communities who save money for projects ahead of time as Johnson County does. He thought that Moody's was impressed by that.
Meyers reported that this is also his first Elected Officials Meeting. He said that he is glad to be at the meeting. He has learned a lot being a Supervisor and suspects that the learning process goes on for a long time. Stutsman agreed and said that the learning never ends.
R. Sullivan said that the Parking Committee is waiting to give a formal recommendation regarding parking until the County chooses the architectural and engineering firm for the Health and Human Services Building. The Parking Committee meetings are open to anyone who wants to participate. He said there is going to be more demand for spots than they are going to be able to provide in the area around the Administration Building.
Stutsman reported that Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Director Elaine Sweet has resigned. The Board is currently reworking the job description. The Board recently approved the job description for adding an Assistant Director to the MH/DD Department, but they are going to wait to fill the position. Stutsman noted that the Board felt it best for the new MH/DD Director to hire the Assistant Director.
Neuzil said that Emergency Medical Services Day is Saturday, May 5, 2007 at Coral Ridge Mall at 11:00 a.m. He also noted that the Communications Committee is getting ready for organizing the County Fair.
Pulkrabek asked if the legislation on counties' ability to bond up to higher levels without a referendum passed. Kriz said the legislation passed and gives counties the capacity to bond up to one million dollars without a referendum for small projects.
Pulkrabek recommended that the Board raise what the Sheriff's Office is allowed to charge for mileage. They normally follow the State level, but there are several Sheriff’s Offices around the State that follow the IRS guidelines. He anticipated that at some point he will come to the Board with a presentation encouraging the Board to pass a resolution allowing them to charge the IRS rate. He said that it would make a significant difference if the County were to adopt the IRS guidelines as opposed to the State ones as it applies to the Sheriff's Office. Stutsman said that if the Board raises the mileage rate for Sheriff's employees they will have to raise it for all County employees. Pulkrabek clarified that he is talking about what the Sheriff's Office can charge other entities for their services. He said that it is a user's fee for their civil cars and has nothing to do with employee mileage reimbursement. He said that it will have huge revenue implications. Kriz agreed. Meyers added that if the cost of the service is increasing they need to reflect that in the charges for the service. Pulkrabek said that it takes a vote by the Board to change. The Board agreed that this item should be placed on a Board agenda as soon as possible.
Adjourned at 10:11 a.m.
______________________________________________________________________
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By:
On the _______ day of _____________________, 2007
By: Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary
Sent to the Elected Officials on May 10, 2007 at 3:45 p.m.