Minutes of the Public Leadership Group

**These minutes were prepared by the East Central Iowa Council of Governments**

Howard R. Green

8710 Earhart Lane SW

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Thursday, February 21, 2008

5:00 p.m.

Co-chair Langston called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m.

Present: Linn County Board of Supervisors Linda Langston and Jim Houser; Johnson County Board of Supervisors Rod Sullivan (Co-chair), Larry Meyer, and Pat Harney.

Also present: Mary Day from Sen. Grassley’s office; Cedar Rapids Mayor Kay Halloran; Brian Fagan, City of Cedar Rapids City Council; North Liberty Mayor Tom Salm.

Others present: Mike Goldberg, Assistant to the Linn County Board of Supervisors; Laura Krause, Susan Jutz, and James Nisely; Carol Spaziani and Barbara Beaumont, Johnson County League of Women Voters; Eric Engelmann, Geonetric; Monica Vernon (City of Cedar Rapids City Council) & Wes Cooling, Vernon Research Group; Jim Halverson, HR Green.

ECICOG staff present: Doug Elliott

2. Welcome and Introductions: Langston welcomed all to the meeting and lead introductions of those present.

3. Local Government Innovations Fund Proposal: Monica Vernon and Wes Cooling of Vernon Research Group gave a presentation on the proposal, "Program of Research, A Study of the Attitudes and Opinions of Local Leaders and the General Population Regarding Issues of Local Importance." In general, the purpose of the study would be to determine what issues/projects local leaders and the citizenry would like to see addressed regionally. It would be completed in three phases: In-depth Interviews, Survey, and Focus Groups (optional). Langston stated the Leadership Group operates without a budget, and asked for an update on the state government innovations fund. Cooling gave an update, stating that not all the commission has been seated, and once that occurs, the fund will be operational. There is approximately $300,000 available, including the balance from previous projects and/or unobligated funds. Sullivan said he had some specific questions on methodology, which he would forward to Vernon via email. Langston, who had served on the review panel for the previous innovations fund, felt the proposal needed to emphasize the uniqueness and innovation of the Leadership Group's efforts. Vernon said they would rework the proposal to include those emphases.

Doug Elliott asked if Vernon could proceed with minimal notice. Vernon said they could. Elliott also asked for consensus of those in attendance if the Group should proceed, even if it were required prior to the next quarterly meeting. There was consensus to proceed, and Langston said a joint proposal from Johnson and Linn Counties would be most competitive.

4. Local Food Initiatives: Laura Krause, Susan Jutz, and James Nisely gave a presentation of the expansion of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in the two-county region. Krause summarized a project she was involved in with the Iowa Policy Project, "Iowa's Local Food Systems: A Place to Grow." In brief, the study showed that due to the globalization of the food system, Iowa's local capacity to feed itself far exceeds Iowan's local utilization. Krause said we need to encourage more producers and develop the local infrastructure to better support the CSA movement. Jutz described her CSA business, which currently supports 250 families. She raises vegetables on 10 acres. She summarized outcomes of an earlier meeting she had had today illustrating some of the benefits of CSAs: keeping young professional families in Iowa; keeping food local; expanding consumers' demand for "local" products/services; expanding the consumption of organic and minimum chemical use; reducing the carbon footprint. Sullivan said additional benefits are environmental and regarding public health. He further stated other cities and counties have financially supported CSAs. Black Hawk and Woodbury Counties were given as examples. Tom Solm said North Liberty would start a farmers' market this summer. Brian Fagan asked about connections with Practical Farmers of Iowa. Jutz said she was the most recent previous president of the group. Nisely said expansion of a local restaurant in Iowa City will have a significant impact on his business. Also, he is currently involved in planning a food summit, which will focus on the health benefits. It is being planned with the University of Iowa School of Public Health, and will take place at Iowa City West High School on the afternoon of April 24, 2008. Langston asked how the Leadership Group could help. Jutz encouraged the group to support a committee of key stakeholders, which could study models from other counties and make recommendations. One such recommendation might be the employment of a position to assist on an ongoing basis. Langston thanked the three for attending and presenting, and said she, Sullivan, and Elliott would meet to establish a committee.

5. Corridor Portal Project: Langston introduced Eric Engelmann, CEO of Geonetric. Engelmann gave a power point presentation on his proposal for a Corridor portal. Engelmann believes that most individuals researching the corridor will primarily use the web. Also, that there is not one comprehensive website that provides information people considering locating in the Corridor need. There are many individual community, business, and organizational websites, but these sites are often contradictory, incomplete, and out of date. His proposal would create a portal for the Corridor, which would be the primary presence on the web, e.g., anyone googling the Corridor would first be sent to this website, and then be able to navigate individual websites, as necessary. He offered www.Knoxville.org as an example. He thinks creation of the portal would require $400,000 over the first two years. Other principles of the proposal include that it not be owned by an existing corporate entity that would have a material interest in the content or its utilization; that the convention and visitors bureaus (CVB) should be the leading agencies in the effort; that there are few barriers to the project other than the "local politics"; that it is not his proposal that Geonetric be the company to create the portal. His intention is to have a first draft of the portal prepared in the next three weeks. He thinks a "guerilla marketing team" should be established to create and maintain the portal. Fagan said he agreed that the CVBs should take a leading role, and asked Engelmann if he could support this initiative taking place in conjunction with merging the Cedar Rapids and the Iowa City/Coralville CVBs. Englemann said he could. Fagan asked what the ongoing maintenance costs would be. Englemann said he had not determined that, but that the CVBs had indicated several possible sources for start-up funds. Mayor Halloran asked about assurances that the portal would not be more than just a combination of all the disorganized "stuff" already appearing on individual websites. Englemann said that would be the role of the team - to ensure the quality. Sally Stutsman asked who would decide what information went on the site. Elliott asked if a body of participants could establish content protocols, and then the team or a portal administrator would maintain the protocols. Englemann said that would work, and that it be important that the site promoted the Corridor, and did not favor any individual group or community. Sullivan asked if the portal would hinder those who were actually looking for the individual websites, e.g., the Johnson County website. Englemann said that even though that person would first be directed to the portal, that it would be constructed to easily direct them on to Johnson County. Langston thanked Englemann for attending and providing the presentation.

6. Report on Corridor DC Trip - in the interest of time, this item was tabled.

7. Other Business - None.

8. Adjournment: The next meeting date was set for May 22, 2008, at 5:00 p.m. Elliott stated that facilities in North Liberty were not available for the February meeting, and did the group want to return there if possible for May. Sullivan thought moving the location of the meeting was good, and that an alternative site was fine.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:30 p.m.