MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
SEPTEMBER 4, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Board of Supervisors: Appointments to the Mental Health/Disability Services Planning Council.... 1
Board of Supervisors: Appointments to the Mental Health/Disability Services Targeted Case Management Advisory Board....................................................................................................................................... 2
Board of Supervisors: Use of Six Tickets to the Field to Family Culinary Walk............................ 2
Reports and Inquiries from the Board of Supervisors................................................................. 2
Chairperson Sullivan called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:11 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
R. Sullivan said Board members should have received recommendations from the Mental Health/Disability Services Planning Council with the names of individuals who MH/DS would like to have appointed or reappointed to the Planning Council. R. Sullivan said the new applicants are Terry Cunningham, Shelli Lynn Meyer, Jeffrey Knox, and Roger Goedken. Reappointments are Gillian Fox, Carol Porch, Martha Shaw, and Brett McCormick. Mental Health/Disability Services Director Kris Artley said the Planning Council has received an application from Terry Cunningham. Cunningham would like to fill one of the family/consumer openings. He has been employed with the Center for Disabilities and Development and was also former chair of the Marshalltown Human Rights Commission. Cunningham has served on the statewide Independent Living Council and the Almsted Consumer Task Force and was a former member of the Governor’s Developmental Disabilities Council. Shelli Lynn Meyer is employed with the Department of Epidemiology and the University of Iowa College of Public Health. With Meyer’s background she will be able to provide information on mental health and disabilities also. Roger Goedken works with Goodwill and has been in the Human Services field for over a decade working with folks with MR/DD/MH and BI diagnosis and he states he has also served as chair on Goodwill’s Client Rights Board for ten years. He has been very involved working with policies and procedures. Artley said that Jeffrey Knox is a retired speech pathologist with Grant Wood AEA. He is also a volunteer with Special Olympics and the Crisis Center. Artley said that Knox states since he is retired he has a lot of time to serve. Artley said that these are the new applicants for the Planning Council and the reappointments of folks already serving but whose terms expired June 30, 2008.
R. Sullivan said the typical process is to take the recommendations under advisement and the Board will make official appointments September 11, 2008 at the Board of Supervisors meeting. He asked Board members to give their selections to Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan.
Artley said two of the individuals just mentioned, Shelli Lynn Meyer and Roger Goedken would also like to serve on the Targeted Case Management Advisory Board. Neuzil asked if there are openings for all those who have applied. Artley said yes. Dr. Lowell Luhman and Gillian Fox are recommended for reappointment. All these new terms will expire in 2011. R. Sullivan asked Board members to give their selections to M. Sullivan and the Board will announce the appointments at the Board’s formal meeting on September 11, 2008. Harney clarified that there really will not be selections because everyone will be appointed unless there is reason not to appoint someone. Neuzil agreed. R. Sullivan said the usual process will take place at the Board’s formal meeting on September 11, 2008.
R. Sullivan said Johnson County became a sponsor to the Field to Family Culinary Walk when they gave money to the Johnson County Local Food Alliance. The Board subsequently received six free tickets to the September 4, 2008 Field to Family Culinary Walk event scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in downtown Iowa City. Pursuant to Iowa Code, the Board cannot accept such gifts. R. Sullivan said a suggestion was made to tell the event organizers that the Board cannot accept the tickets and that if there were six other people who wanted to go but did not have the funds, those individuals could use the Board’s tickets. He asked if that is acceptable to the Board and the Board replied affirmatively. Meanwhile, R. Sullivan said the Board would like to encourage people to attend the event. R. Sullivan said there are lots of good things happening with the Johnson County Food Alliance and the Board appreciates all their work.
Stutsman reported she spent Tuesday in Hiawatha at the Prairie Woods Franciscan Spirituality Center at a workshop about the Linn-Johnson Policy Task Force on local foods.
Neuzil reported he attended the Labor Day Picnic. He said he also joined other Board members at the United Way Campaign Kick-Off. He announced his next Listening Post is scheduled for September 11, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. in North Liberty.
Meyers reported he attended the MECCA Board of Directors meeting and liaison meetings with Ambulance Director Steve Spenler and SEATS Director Tom Brase. He and R. Sullivan toured the County’s Health and Human Services construction site. Finally, he said he attended a committee meeting to study the RFPs for the County Employee Salary Survey.
Harney reported he attended the East Central Iowa Council of Government Board of Directors and Policy Board meeting, the Labor Day Picnic, the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce Round Table, and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee Meeting.
R. Sullivan reported that Johnson County held its third annual employee appreciation picnic. He said that Johnson County has a wonderful group of employees. R. Sullivan said the Board doesn’t say thank you enough, and the Board can’t say thank you enough. If there ever is any question about what an outstanding group of employees the County has that was answered throughout the challenges the County faced in June with the flooding. Again, R. Sullivan said thank you to County employees.
R. Sullivan attended the Sutliff Bridge Authority Party. R. Sullivan said the Board received a disc containing the Durrant Report from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee Meeting and he asked M. Sullivan to get it on the website. He said the Durrant Report is something the public will be interested in viewing. R. Sullivan reminded the Board of the 5:30 p.m. Public Leadership Group meeting at South Slope in North Liberty. R. Sullivan said that on September 6, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. there will be a joint celebration of community. This is the last of the free concert series events of the year in downtown Iowa City. The organizers are planning a special thank you to community volunteers who responded to the flooding crisis over the summer. It should be a nice event and R. Sullivan said it is yet another opportunity to thank all those who did so much this summer with flood relief.
Meyers added that Durrant is scheduling a series of public meetings to present the proposals and get public feedback. He recommended that anyone who wants to register an opinion on this issue should try to attend one of the public meetings.
Adjourned at 9:35 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary