MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
SEPTEMBER 10, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Key Issues Work Session........................................................................................................ 1
Presentation from BidBridge....................................................................................... 1
NOI for Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Property Acquisition.................................... 8
County Flood Plain Ordinance.................................................................................... 11
Naming the New Health and Human Services Building and/or Rooms Within............... 13
Federal Issues Trip and Local Federal Issues Meetings............................................... 15
Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Planning.............................................................................. 19
Durrant Justice Center Public Information Meetings.................................................... 22
Internal Processes, Expectations, and other Operational Issues of the Board of Supervisors Office 23
Reports from NACo Conference............................................................................... 23
Chairperson Sullivan called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:00 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
BidBridge Authorized Agent Tom Roberson said he is present to represent BidBridge. He explained he had been talking with Stutsman and Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan for some time about the project. Roberson said BidBridge is a Louisville, Kentucky company that looks at how goods and services are procured. He said they offer a dynamic, web-based electronic procurement system. Roberson said they have many buyers bidding on one item. He said BidBridge has electronically placed on the web a reversal option so that close to 400 cities, counties, and states are being served, specializing in the public sector, as well as universities and higher education. Roberson said they put on the web capitol equipment with the specifications, and BidBridge will strategically source vendors for them, as individuals may not know past vendors. He said his business has been doing the process for several years and they are bringing more bidders to the event, as the more competition they get, the better prices they get. Roberson said they put everything on the web and bring other vendors to the event if the Board wants them to, as, obviously, the more competition they have the better. He said his business wants at least three or four vendors for each event they do. Roberson said they can advertise via the Internet or newspaper, etc. He said BidBridge will then bring other vendors to the event and tell them the date they will have a reverse auction.
Roberson said BidBridge would be bidding on $100,000 worth of capitol equipment. He added BidBridge will tell the public they are invited to come to the bid, and if they choose to come to the event, the public can log on to the website to state their intent to attend. Roberson said they have trained these vendors to say they want to come to the event and show them how to do so, which takes about 15-20 minutes. He said the vendors then start bidding. Roberson said the unique thing is that the person doing the purchasing is sitting at their computer, with the bidders around the country bidding on their product, and with the product owners watching the price go down. Roberson said the question could be how they conform with the sealed bid events. He explained this is for sealed bid events for $85,000 or more. Roberson said it does not make sense at the event to have items worth $10,000 or less, and that they are looking for bigger projects that cost at least $85,000. He said this makes the most economic sense. He said BidBridge is looking for bigger projects. Roberson said the person doing the bids is sitting at their computer and wanting to look at bidders looking for their business as prices go down.
Roberson said BidBridge is for government and public agencies with proven history and nationwide presence. He said they are working with close to 400 cities and states. Roberson said they worked with the State of Ohio and they just did a 500 vehicle bid for the highway department for police vehicles, pursuit vehicles, and capitol equipment. He said they are working with Ohio State University and just started with the State of Texas. Roberson said the State of Texas is mandating that they run at least 20% of their bids through a reversal option through BidBridge. He said it gives BidBridge a unique, unbiased approach with emphasis on improving efficiencies in exchange for goods and services. Roberson said not only does it give them a lower price than most competitive prices, what they would call true market value price, but it increases bidders because it is electronic and will eliminate some of the paperwork involved. He said the auditing staff love it because it provides transparency and is a great audit for everything.
Roberson said they deliver strategic sourcing solutions, and have been doing so for awhile. He said their buyers come from the purchasing arena. Roberson said that their buyers have been fighting for cities, states, and counties. He said that in the past they had the procurement background. Roberson said the sourcing gives buyers a transparent bid environment with storage savings of 13% versus budget. Roberson explained that that would mean whatever BidBridge brought to the Board would be some ideas about what the project would cost and how it would improve the budget. Roberson said, historically, they could save an average of 13%. He added that as of September 10, 2008, he is reluctant to say that due to inflation in the last year. Roberson said road salt has gone up tremendously, chemicals have gone up tremendously, so realistically they don't think the 13% is possible.
Roberson said what they are going to ride is true market value. Roberson said true market value is defined as less than a 2% spread between the first and second bidder. He said the value tells the bidders that at that time and place for that commodity and that bid, the bidder has gotten the best true market value that they are going to get. Roberson said their distinctive expertise stems from their working relationships with over close to 400 at the current time. He said professional and personal organizations, as well as the public sector, are there. Roberson said BidBridge does everything including cities, counties, states, universities, and school boards. He said they also do private industry, but their expertise is in the public sector. Roberson said most Fortune 500 Companies have been using reverse options for several years.
Roberson said some broad experiences and capabilities they have based on people they work with. He said commodities work well; outbuildings; digital equipment; Cisco equipment; copy papers; fuel; transport services; HDTV, chemicals; fleet vehicles; fancy road construction; police vehicles; public works; ammunition for the Sheriff's Department if it is big enough; water and chemical removal. He addressed the question of what the BidBridge platform is. Roberson explained the BidBridge platform is a tiny, secure web-based electronic bidding process in which pre-selected groups of suppliers, similar to the paper bid, competitively bid for defined factors over a period of time. He explained that usually the bid is only about 30 minutes, so BidBridge likes to keep it short as they see more action and prices go down quickly. Roberson added that the more complicated the bid, the more extended it may be. He said the longest BidBridge has bid was 2 1/2 hours. Roberson said, typically, everything will be done in less than an hour. He said a minimum increment issue is used, which means if people have a $100,000 bid you won't want people lowering the price by $10 at a time. Roberson said typically cost is a quarter of a percent. He said for a $100,000 bid they would have to bid at least $250 less than the previous bid.
Roberson said to preserve the sealed bid concept they cannot reveal seal pricing to the vendor. He said the seal pricing is what the buyer sees and not the vendor. Roberson said the buyer can see the ranking, who the buyer or bidder is, what the initial bid was, the final/current bid, and the number of bids the buyer or bidder has placed. He said the example was a long bid, but that each vendor is assigned a symbol. Roberson said the uglier the graph is, the better it is for the buyer so there are more bids. He said if the bid comes in on the web and they bid high, while another bidder sees their bid isn't as high, they can strategize to send emails to get into first place. Roberson said some people may say they are only going to do what they did with a paper bid, one bid final and that is their best price. He said BidBridge would be accepting of that choice, and eventually the bidder will say perhaps they can shave off a little. Roberson said most will come back and participate. He said over time they will see the bidding get closer and closer, and when they are on top of each other, if it will result in true market value. He said that currently, BidBridge gives the Board the results, with everything documented. Roberson added that with high and low spread, the difference between the first and second is .3 percent, less than two percent. Roberson concluded that the system works.
Roberson said the supplier sees their bid amount and their bid rank. He said they see no other bid data from computing suppliers, which is how BidBridge makes the sealed bid concept. He explained cities, counties, and states have already approved the project. Roberson asked County Attorney Janet Lyness what her opinion is on the concept. Lyness replied there are a lot of different requirements for bidding in the State of Iowa for different items, and that it will take some time to look at each different one to determine if it is a feasible plan. She said it would mostly be for the Attorney’s Office on a regular basis, as the Attorney’s Office already does so to determine things. Lyness asked Roberson if BidBridge currently does anything for Iowa. Roberson replied the State and some other states preclude using BidBridge on construction projects. He said they already know they can’t do construction projects based on State code. Roberson said he isn’t sure why they can’t do construction. Roberson said there are states that allow construction projects that don’t have the restriction, but he knows that Iowa and at least five other states in the area have that particular law. He said, for that fact, BidBridge knows they can’t do construction projects. Roberson said Information Technology (IT) in the State of Iowa has done an IT reversal selection before.
Harney stated that three years ago he looked into this, and the legal advice at the time didn’t meet the State Code for the bidding process. Roberson said it may be time to look at things differently. R. Sullivan asked if the State of Iowa had used BidBridge. Roberson replied Iowa used BidBridge for IT about three years ago. Roberson said BidBridge is free marketing in practice. Roberson said Fortune 500 companies and states use BidBridge because it is a good program, even though few people know about it. He said he has spoken with people from Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, and Iowa who have never heard of reverse options. Roberson said they are educating them from that point on, and then they get through the politics and the legal aspects. He said it takes time to get things going. Roberson said reverse options is working, and once it is demonstrated how it works, he doesn’t think the Board can argue with the economics of it.
Roberson said BidBridge created a project with Charlotte, North Carolina schools and the School Board. He said it was a $4.5 million dollar project with six vendors. He said another event they did involved Louisville, Kentucky metro government, which involved buying 1,000 digital cameras for their CSI and police departments. Roberson said their budget was $168,000. He said the bid lasted an hour and five minutes, with 120 bids. Roberson said it probably wouldn’t make a difference if the digital cameras were bought from a local source or not. Lyness and Stutsman disagreed. Lyness said it depends on what the policy is. Stutsman said the County has a buy-local policy, so it would make a difference. Lyness said there are some restrictions in the State of Iowa. Roberson said the Board can put in specs if that is what they want to do, as the Board is still in control, telling BidBridge what to do and how many vendors to bring. He said BidBridge’s job is to be the conduit to get the Board the best pricing.
Harney asked about BidBridge’s process and if everything is spelled out in the specs when BidBridge does the events. He explained he wanted to know this so there aren’t any variations in quantity or quality. Roberson said they do the specs exactly the way they do the paper bid. He said the specs are put out and then the limits are done. Roberson said, typically, what he sees from other facilities is that the vendor will fill out a form, check boxes, that says they will meet all the specs. County Engineer Greg Parker said their specifications are usually the Iowa DOT specifications, counting on what they have already done. Roberson said specifications are very useful, as BidBridge can use its experience to bring in competition and performance specs, not manufactured specs, opening the bidding to more people. Stutsman said the illustrations have huge quantities. She pointed out they don’t have the same, and wanted to know if the process would work if they only have around 50 computers and limited equipment. Roberson said if it would be roughly $85,000 or more, due to the dollar value.
R. Sullivan said he assumed Roberson and BidBridge make their money through working with vendors, not through the individuals who are bidding and being the ultimate consumers. He added it wouldn’t be through governmental entities either. Roberson said the statement R. Sullivan made is correct, that there will never be any checks written and there is no contract involved, so there is no long-term commitment. He said what he suggests is that the County use BidBridge to their benefit, and, as he mentioned, most of the time it won’t be to their benefit. Roberson explained most of their items will be less than $85,000. He said they are coming out with another product that will be more useful for the smaller projects. Roberson said they will release that project after the first of the year in 2009. He said they are solving that problem, and people are seeing an increase in efficiency getting pricing, but also from the procurement side, saving time and money.
R. Sullivan asked if there is ever any taxpayer money that goes to BidBridge, or if that it is just an agreement BidBridge has with its vendors. Roberson said the way BidBridge makes their money is by turning a service fee to the winning vendor. He said that whoever gets their appeal is going to pay BidBridge the 3% service fee. Roberson said it is just like a Master Card fee, in that there is a fee being paid. He said if the bid gets over $1 million, they will negotiate less than 3%. Roberson said they can’t do 3% on fuel, although BidBridge has had some very, very successful fuel bids. He said he isn’t sure if fuel has been a major budget buster for everyone.
Harney said some bids have alternate projects tied to the main project. Roberson said each phase would be separate. Harney said quite often the Board will bid something out, for example a bridge, and there would be an alternate walkway along the side. Roberson replied that BidBridge can’t do construction projects in Iowa. He said they are looking for capital equipment, commodities, etc. Lyness said it will have to be set in the specs so that if they get variations it would be very strict. Roberson replied some would say, if they had IT monitors, and any screen within 15-17 inches, not every monitor would be the same. He said what he just mentioned is being done now, but if exact specs were put in, it would be like saying they want to order a Caterpillar piece of equipment and no one would be able to put a bid on the road grader except for Caterpillar.
Roberson said BidBridge can make suggestions on how to open the tracks so they are still acceptable to the department, but will get them the best competition and the best pricing. Parker asked if the best option might be changing the specs. Neuzil asked if there is a set amount they can’t go over. Roberson asked if Neuzil means for the bid or what BidBridge can handle in general. Neuzil replied he is referring to the example of what the approved budget is. Roberson replied the budget amount just comes from the Board as an example. He said if, for an example, the amount is $1 million, bids aren’t going to be below that. Roberson said the true market value is more than what they projected. Neuzil asked if they can refuse. R. Sullivan explained it is just like a paper bid now, and they can reject any and all bids. Roberson said he doesn’t know what the Code are like now, if they need to accept the lowest bid on paper, even if it is not the best bid. R. Sullivan replied it is the best bid if it is responsive and responsible. Roberson said, for example, if someone gets a low bid but the County has had bad experiences with that company in the past. He wanted to know if they still have to take that particular company. Stutsman said no. Roberson replied it will be the same with what they are currently discussing.
Stutsman said several entities could bid together on items such as ammunition, if the Iowa City Police Department wanted the same as the Sheriff. Roberson agreed. County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said he doesn’t think they would reach the threshold $85,000. Roberson said some things they discussed were communication equipment. He thought it would be an excellent project, as they’ve done a lot with IT and police radios, communication items, packages for fleet vehicles, etc. Roberson asked if they buy off the state contract for pursuit vehicles. Pulkrabek said they put out contacts to local dealerships and anyone who has a state vehicle. He said depending on the type of vehicle they are looking for, they might split it up between two agencies. Pulkrabek said whoever has a statement has an advantage over everyone else from the manufacturer. Roberson said what those individuals do, being successful most of the time, involves having the Board give BidBridge the specs they want to buy and then those individuals will go to the dealers on the State contract and ask them if they will be willing to go below State contract. He added that the specs would then say absolutely not and that they wouldn’t bet on it as there isn’t any point in doing so. Pulkrabek said they know what the margin is, as the specs make upward of $50 per car. He said to buy local it is worth it. Roberson said the City of Des Moines told him that they will only make $100/day but they still have the best prices.
Pulkrabek said those individuals make money, but they also get their factory hold back, which not a lot of people know about or understand. Roberson said it is extremely competitive in the automotive business right now. He said BidBridge is beating the State contract at the moment. Roberson added that the Board can still buy local and limit it to a 25 mile radius, and BidBridge will still do well with that situation. He said if they don’t do better, there is no obligation to work with BidBridge. Roberson said BidBridge has done well with vehicles. Pulkrabek asked how BidBridge works when they have vehicle loans, and how they work the traded off vehicles. Roberson asked in response if they auction those items off. Pulkrabek asked if BidBridge will trade them. Roberson stated he can’t answer that question.
R. Sullivan said one thing the County is running into a lot at the moment involves a decline in bidders, such as in Secondary Roads. He said he doesn’t like the trend that the County is only getting one bid. R. Sullivan asked if BidBridge is able to increase that sometimes. Roberson replied they could and that is part of the value of BidBridge. He said with certain things being local, such as, for example, constructing a jail, a local construction company could bid more aggressively than someone having to bring their labor and equipment from 200 miles away. Roberson said all his company can do is have it open to bidding and see what happens next. He said sometimes a vendor will be out anyway, saying he would throw out a bid randomly, whereas the other vendor will be very aggressive.
Roberson said another example involved the school board of Lenny County, Florida, having 525 notebook computers. Bidding lasted two hours and 20 minutes and a total of 217 bids were submitted. Roberson said IT is very good to run with projects. He said first place turned over 53 times, and the final price was $424,000. Roberson said savings were estimated at $75,000. He said at the end of the bid, they print out an immediate report that shows every bid placed and the date and time of day. Roberson said it is full transparency. He said everything is then broken down by vendor and how every vendor does everything. Roberson said they can pull up records electronically and transfer everything to an Excel spreadsheet to get all the information they need.
Neuzil asked about trust with the vendor and if anyone will know who the vendor is during the bidding. Roberson stated through paper they will know who the bidders are. Roberson said if the Board wants them to, BidBridge can say they have done a lot of similar bids in the past, that they have some other vendors, and that they can open it up for more competition since the County only gets a few vendors at times. He said the Board will have to qualify the vendors for them as BidBridge can’t. Roberson said the idea is to bring more vendors to competition. He said BidBridge is looking for capitol equipment, computer IT heavy equipment, commercial and emergency vehicles, and anything to do with CT scans, commodities, industry supplies, fuel, industrial gases, and construction (except in Iowa), and other services. Roberson said BidBridge has also done food services in some larger institutions and universities.
Parker asked how the fuel works with the Secondary Roads department, and if they are buying a year’s worth of fuel, etc. Roberson said Secondary Roads is a bid based on the Opus Index. He said they have gone through a learning curve, as no one will give them a year’s guarantee on fuel now. Roberson said vendors seem happy to quote the Opus Index on margin. He explained that the Opus Index is an industry recognized standard on what the average wholesale price of fuel is today. Roberson gave the example of wanting to buy a tanker full of diesel in these current times. He said an individual can inquire what the Opus Index is and, in return, will be given the price. Roberson said BidBridge is bidding on what the vendors’ margin is. He explained if a vendor was bidding for margin at six cents a gallon, the Opus Index is priced at $3 a gallon for diesel for that particular day when they want the order, and the Index adds six cents to that price because it is guaranteed for a year or the length of contract. Roberson concluded the price can still fluctuate but the margin will stay the same.
Pulkrabek asked how soon after the bid is made they can count on the delivery and how long the delivery would take for fuel. Roberson replied he can bid on paper. Pulkrabek said that at the current time they don’t do bidding for fuel. He explained that at the Sheriff’s Office they buy their fuel from the City, so his department will go to the City to fill their tanks. Pulkrabek said the City charges based on that day’s cost for them per gallon, billing the Sheriff’s office monthly. Pulkrabek said, in comparison, Secondary Roads has their own tanks. He said his proposal will work differently, with the best price being received for that day, every day for the month, with the margins being the same. Lyness pointed out delivery becoming an issue, in terms of how they are going to store and where they are they going to bring it. Pulkrabek responded it will be similar to how they do things now. He explained they find out if Iowa City and Johnson County are together or separate. R. Sullivan said it depends on the department. Pulkrabek said the City could potentially save them money since they buy everything from them. He said he could see the project helping Secondary Roads or in the situation of buying fuel from Secondary Roads. Stutsman said they had previously discussed that idea with SEATS and Secondary Roads.
Stutsman asked if a department would have to run it by the County Attorney’s Office if they want to pursue working with BidBridge. Stutsman said it would depend on whether the Board wants to pursue it. Pulkrabek said it will be very difficult to stick with the buy local policy. Roberson said they can continue with their buy local policy. Pulkrabek replied they are still limiting themselves no matter what. He said they limit themselves to buy local, and if his department were to go to Roberson’s company, they will still be asking if they want to buy local, making everything more difficult. Stutsman said the policy won’t include items, for example salt, that are not obtained locally. Roberson said certain items make sense to buy locally, such as vehicles with warranties. He explained BidBridge doesn’t want someone 200 miles away or some special piece of equipment, like salt spreaders, being dug out. Roberson said some of these things are important but that is where they call on his company’s expertise. Lyness stated $85,000 is their limit at the current time. Roberson explained the only reason it is the limit is because their fee is 3% or $2,500. He said 3% of $85,000 is roughly $2,500. Roberson said if they can do it for less than that, it makes sense. Pulkrabek asked if Roberson has examples of prices for vehicles. Roberson said he has some information he will send to Pulkrabek.
East Central Iowa Council of Governments (ECICOG) Planner Hilary Copeland said she has spoken with some of the Board about her topic, and at one time they were looking at close to 18 properties for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Property Acquisition. She said after some consultation with Homeland Security, they have bumped up the number to 22 properties. Copeland said there are four properties on Riverfront Estates off of Stewart Road. Copeland said there is one property on White Oak Avenue near Sutliff. She said it is the only property that is only in the 100 year flood plain and not in the floodway. Copeland explained the rest of the properties are in the floodway, which bodes well for acquisition.
Stutsman asked if all of the properties are in the floodway. Copeland replied they are. Copeland said the only properties ECICOG will have some difficulties with include an addressing issue with the Remmel-Hart properties. She said the properties are all on the same parcel, so if any of those three go, essentially all three properties would have to participate in the program. Copeland said she doesn’t think it is an issue with Remmel-Hart, and that he would be fine with it. Stutsman said Remmel-Hart owns the property and so the houses are his. Copeland confirmed this. She said the only thing ECICOG has concerns with is the assessed value on the properties. Copeland said she recommends submitting all parcels involved. Stutsman asked if the meeting this morning is to give Copeland the go ahead and include the issues in the Notice of Intent (NOI). Copeland said yes and that she wants to review some properties with which she has concerns.
R. Sullivan said her presentation does require official Board action, and they have to have it on a formal agenda. Copeland said the topic should be on tomorrow night’s formal. Stutsman said, personally, she is disappointed that the issue is being discussed during Key Issues. She said it is important enough for the community that it should be on the informal televised Board meeting. Copeland apologized and said tomorrow she will be at the Homeland Security Office. She said if the Board wants a representative of ECICOG present at tomorrow’s meeting, then they can arrange to have a speaker. Stutsman said there is much interest in the community about the properties; she thinks it will be important to have a representative present to explain everything. She said according to the September 9, 2008 meeting, they no longer have to use County dollars to purchase the properties. Stutsman said, however, prior to that it was her understanding that the State will take care of the local match. R. Sullivan explained that it is public assistance, and doesn’t have anything to do with this topic at all. Stutsman then clarified that it will be County dollars when purchasing the properties. Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak said it will be 50%. Stutsman said everything is very tentative as the Board doesn’t even know if it will be accepted, but that it will be a liability for County dollars if it does get to that point. She said, for that reason, she thinks they should have had it. Dvorak asked if the proposal has to be submitted by Friday, September 12, 2008. Copeland replied yes.
Meyers asked if they have talked to all the property owners. Dvorak replied that they have. Copeland added they can buy people that were not previously interested. She said, at this point, there is no commitment in submitting the NOI. Copeland said it will be better to have all the buildings on the parcel, if anyone is interested. She said they will have to take all the property owners. Copeland said it looks like a slim chance that the additional three people want to come in at this point in time, but that it is not to say that if a grant is received they won’t change their mind. Neuzil asked if this is just to keep their options open. Copeland replied it is. Stutsman said there is a good chance these could all be approved since they are in the floodway, except for one. Copeland said the only problem is the property owners having to agree. Stutsman said if they continue to agree then there is a strong potential that all the properties can be included.
Stutsman said, just so they know where they are at budget-wise, she knows it is all very tentative and people can pull out at any time, but that she would like to know what the County’s obligation will be were this to be used. Copeland said it is about 15% of 1.6 million, so it will be $240,000. She said part of that can come from homeowners who could apply for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster assistance. Dvorak said the County doesn’t have to buy it. Stutsman asked why the County wouldn’t have to buy it. Dvorak said there are some areas more severe than others. He said, to him, it goes to the statistics of having a lot surrounded by housing, and that it is difficult to buy a lot. Dvorak said if they can get 10-15 houses together that would be easy to maintain, and that is one of the goals he has been working with the County Attorney’s Office to do. R. Sullivan said Dvorak is exactly right about adjoining housing and doing something significant, having looked at the map. Dvorak said what he is proposing is similar to what they did in 1998-1999 when they bought 30 acres and a couple houses. He said it was a successful program and it was a good experience. Copeland said that is an option the Board has now. She said if they look at those options, especially Driftwood Southeast, on the section submitted for the NOI, that goes on the County’s decision. Copeland said that if the Board would like to see the rest of the properties placed on the NOI at the current point, they can do so.
Stutsman asked if she means the ones the homeowners haven’t asked about. Copeland replied yes, as there is no commitment, and there is no problem with submitting. Stutsman asked with the properties that were affected in 1993 and affected again in 2008 if the Board can do anything to alleviate its responsibility of trying to get people out of these properties, having already been warned. Stutsman said people put not only their lives at risk, but also the people who are called to rescue these individuals if something similar happens again. Meyers said it doesn’t make sense to buy out half of the neighborhood, because the next flooding the County would have to go back in.
Harney said one thing he wants to say is that if the Board decides it by an ordinance or they do the decision in the Board room, they have an investment for the opportunity to buy the homes and opportunity to sell, and he thinks they should have an ordinance. He said he doesn’t want to see the taxpayers having to bail the people near the flood plain out every time there is a flood, which could be next year or in ten years. Harney said if the flood plain is twice now affected, why should the taxpayers have to deal with it for a third time. Neuzil argued that these are also people’s homes, and if they are willing to take a risk, they should have the right to stay. Harney said they should have the right to stay there, however the home and property owners of the flood plain shouldn’t expect taxpayers to bail them out again. Copeland said if they make the grant available, that may change taxpayers’ minds. Neuzil added they would then have an incentive. Copeland agreed, saying this will happen if citizens know what is going to happen.
Dvorak said there are three houses in that particular area that are being elevated for structures. Neuzil said the people had a situation with the Flood of 1993, and they elevated their homes, put the money into it, and have not had a lot of damage with the Flood of 2008. Lyness said they can’t be forced to sell. Neuzil said that is their point and it needs to be protected. Harney said if they have the opportunity to choose to stay there, then he thinks they should be on their own. Stutsman said she wants to keep options open and see where they go, as it was a long process in 1993. She said they should include as much as they can so they have some flexibility. R. Sullivan said he agrees with Stutsman in that the more the better, with the understanding that it is probably not all going to be approved and the Board won’t buy it all, but that they should go ahead and put everything out there. Copeland asked if the Board feels the same way about Riverfront Estates. She said they have had numerous applications for that property. R. Sullivan replied he felt the same way. Stutsman agreed. She said fully understanding this situation is completely voluntary, but at least they have the ability to include them. Dvorak said the three individuals from Riverfront Estates weren’t sure what they wanted to do, which is why they filed. He said that would leave a window for them as well. Copeland said it will allow them to make more important decisions.
Copeland said she has received a statement of interest from the Izaak Walton league, and that they are not an eligible entity. Copeland said those two areas have not been cleared. Stutsman asked why they have not been included. Copeland replied it is because the type of property Izaak Walton is, they are non-eligible entities to receive funding for a buyout. She explained because they own the land that the mobile home is on, those residents are also not eligible, since they can’t buy the structure without the land.
R. Sullivan said Dvorak passed out the County Flood Plain Ordinance two weeks ago. He said the recent floods have raised questions about what the County Flood Plain Ordinance says. Dvorak said he would give a brief overview. He said in 1985 the County adopted a Flood Plain Ordinance and flood plain maps, and through the years that has been approved on an ordinance of change. Dvorak said they had the County remapped back in 2000. R. Sullivan asked Dvorak if the County is now at the point where they have decided to participate in the national flood insurance program. Dvorak confirmed this as of 1985 and explained that it gives his department the authority to not only enforce that, but allows the residences of the County to buy flood insurance, which is the biggest key besides the fact that his department regulates the type of development that occurs. He said Planning and Zoning did have updated maps done in 1998, and then back in 2000 and 2002 his department adopted them. Dvorak said that at the same time they updated their ordinance which had less taxes involved and flood plain requirements. He said most recently the County has been one of the few counties in the Midwest that were given digital versions of the flood plain maps, which is good timing. Dvorak said he posted the maps in early spring of 2008, and that everything online is up-to-date. He addressed the interest of what it means and how it relates to the residents of Johnson County.
Dvorak said his responsibility is to enforce the issues. Dvorak said if someone were, for example, to have a creek going through the farm, and then make a streamline change, Dvorak has to help the individual obtain a permit. He said that in conjunction with that issue, if the drain is over 20,000 square acres, they also have to have a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) permit. Dvorak said when in doubt, he has the contractors contact the DNR. He said DNR contracts’ basic design involve Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Dvorak said then FEMA contracts with the states and that is done through the DNR, and then the states contract with the cities and the counties. He said being in the flood plain requires a permit from his office. Dvorak said they do a lot of wetlands and floodplain permitting. He said the County can also ask for permits for bridgework and roadwork if it is in the flood plain. He said, however, when one gets to the actual flood hazard, where the actual floodway of a river exists, the restrictions are much more in-depth.
Dvorak explained that if they have a subdivision that was approved prior to 1985, they haven’t got a lot of authority and his department isn’t going to allow for permits. He said the difficult thing is that they have one person since he has been in the position get a permit to build a house on a vacant lot. Dvorak said it took three years and the individual had to go through the DNR and Board of Adjustment to get a variances. He said the individual had to also meet strict criteria for all the instructions. Dvorak said the process took three years, and they had two people on Izaak Walton Road that wanted to expand the size of their structures. He said the key issue of the situation is that through the determination of where the flow of the river actually is, and the shadow of the structure, if the requestees want to put an addition on, it must be in the shadow of the structure, or, in other words, the furthest point away from the channel of the river. He said they are allowed to put an addition on if the river went a certain way, as there was construction on the right. Dvorak said it took three years to get a permit for that construction as well. He said the process is lengthy, but he can issue permits when the building has less than 50% damage and less than a 25% increase. Dvorak said if the structure was built in 1970 it can be improved. He said if it is over 50% damage then the building has to be elevated, which is major construction. Dvorak said that is the criteria he uses in the flood way.
Neuzil asked if there are plans the Board needs to address that aren’t working. Dvorak said he thinks the process is working as intended, but that if they want to change some policies, the minimum requirement for elevating structures by his department after damage requires permits with FEMA with half of a portion of residency at floodplain. He said his department requires it at one foot above the floodplain, and some cities go to two feet above floodplain. Dvorak said, in terms of saying an individual can’t rebuild the structure, he would have to ask the County Attorney and he doesn’t know how to do that.
Harney asked what kind of changes are they thinking of making in terms of adjusting for the actual floodplain, as they know that has changes as compared to what the Corps has always been. Dvorak said their maps have most recently been updated, and to get them to update every 20 years is good. He said the department can hire consultants, and then change that, as the City does, and Coralville. Dvorak said, personally, what was damaged in the County is exactly what should have been damaged. He said very little outside and at the 500 year flood level was damaged. Dvorak said there has been damage to some agricultural structures, but it isn’t from the flooding, per se. He said it is the ground pressure from the flood, and not the actual flood itself, that filled up basements, which included three or four his department looked at. Dvorak said, in terms of changes, it is designed to do what it is supposed to do. He said, again, they didn’t find anything outside of the flood plain that got damaged. Dvorak said the Cedar River was a little different in that there were obstructions that were floating down the river creating problems. He said those now can be eliminated by not allowing the cabins to be replaced. Dvorak said since he has been present, they haven’t rezoned or developed many lands in the floodway. He said there has been limited work in the flood plain, but on an isolated basis. Dvorak said there was a house that was perfectly fine but the road getting to the house needed a permit.
R. Sullivan asked Dvorak about the issue concerning buildings in the floodway. He said that it seems like common sense until the cabins are looked over and it looks like they obviously want to be in the floodway, as they have their docks and boats pulled up right there. He said those people will always have damaged homes during the flood and wanted to know what to do about them. R. Sullivan said the residents can continue to rebuild them as long as they stay anchored. Dvorak said, again, they have a very stringent requirement with even small structures having to be anchored down. He said he doesn’t issue flood plain permits, however it is an exception for anything less than 800 square feet for accessory buildings. Dvorak said they still can’t put everything in the main channel area. He said if there is a house sitting in a certain place then the builder wants to put the garage in a similar place. Dvorak said that is what is in the ordinance in itself and has worked pretty well. Dvorak said any new obstruction creates a problem. He said when they put something near it always pushes the water back or to other sides.
Dvorak said there was a lot of discussion a few years ago with a flood plain development for Coralville near Deer Creek Road. He said the engineering firm that was hired to do that met and exceeded what he would ask for, plus what the DNR asked for, yet there was still conversations with the City about it. Dvorak said, in reality, the engineering firm went beyond what he has control to make them do, and FEMA agreed to that. He said when there is dirt in, they have to show what impact there will be, and that is how in-depth the plan is. Dvorak said the ordinance does what it is intended to do. He said if they don’t like what the intent is, then that is something else to look at. Dvorak said they aren’t allowed any new structures other than replacement structures in the floodway. He mentioned that when he retires, there will be two certified individuals.
R. Sullivan said they are discussing naming the building, a room, a wing, etc, in the Health and Human Services Building and what those names should be. He said obviously people will refer to the building as something, so they should control what that reference is. Stutsman said she received Bob Welsh’s email the morning of the meeting, and she agrees completely with Welch that they should name a building what it is and that although the Board may know who the individuals are, the community, as time goes on, doesn’t. She said that people, to save confusion, need to know that they are going to the Health and Human Services Building Room A, etc. Stutsman said that at certain public entities they spend a lot of money to have a building named after a person, and she would hate to have the taxpayers think that is how someone gets a building named after them with the County, is if they spend a lot of money to do so. She said, for those reasons, she is very comfortable in just keeping everything as it is. R. Sullivan said, as far as he knows, they haven’t had anyone offer any money for naming the building.
Harney said one of the reasons he encouraged the item be put on today’s discussion is because he thought it would be discussed through the Communications Committee and come back to the Board, but it looks like they are back to where they were last time the topic was discussed. He said the suggestion that was made to him is the Health and Human Services Building, but that also the building will be more than that, that it might have Criminal Justice and other services on the third floor. Harney said the suggestion was to call it “the Wing,” which will be an extension of the Administration Building and can be referred as if the individuals are being taken under their wing and can provide services for the community. He said that at first he thought it was different, but after some time he thought that made sense. Harney said if the Board has any interest in doing so, that would be the suggestion he would make. He said he thinks it is a good name and would be fitting of the services provided. Harney said the other option is a destination point, which the Health and Human Services Building could be, or it could be The Wing. He said a sign with The Wing outside would look nice and be attractive for what it provides for the community. Neuzil said he thinks it is a nice suggestion.
Neuzil said he sees it as the Health and Human Services Building. He said that over a duration of time, as in 20 to 30 years from now, he wants to know what the Building is going to be. Neuzil said his guess is that it will be an even bigger Health and Human Services Building. Harney said they don't know for sure. Neuzil said his guess is that the other stuff will be pushed out. He said as far as the building developing a nickname or something of that nature, he thinks that The Wing is an attractive name. Neuzil said he isn't sure if they should call it that, however, in that he goes back and forth about different names. Neuzil said he wonders if others like it as well. Meyers said they can bring up the issue at the meeting on Thursday, September 11, 2008, and he thinks that is an interesting proposal as well, calling the building The Wing. He said he doesn't think the name will catch on, that people will naturally call it the Health and Human Services Building.
Stutsman said she thinks calling the building The Wing opens the building up for jokes. She said it is interesting how they get into something like the current situation, when personal feelings get entered in, and that she would like everything plain and direct, to the point. R. Sullivan said his thoughts on the issue have been a hybrid of what other individuals have been talking about. He said he thinks it is very important when someone is driving and needs to know the name of the building. R. Sullivan said if they know it is The Wing or the Smith Building, for example, it may be unclear as to what the buildings are. He said that is why he is in favor of the Health and Human Services name. R. Sullivan said it tells people very clearly where they are going. He said there is very little the County does to acknowledge decades of work by people, and that one possible option could be to take a room inside the Building and name it after someone. R. Sullivan said the person he is thinking of primarily is former Supervisor Carol Thompson. He said she has over 25 years with the Department of Human Services, 10 years with Juvenile Court, and serving as a County Supervisor. R. Sullivan explained Thompson's work will be moved to the new building, and that it will be a very nice recognition of someone who for 40 years played a very important role in the community. He said, obviously, when the County opens up the opportunity to name rooms, other individuals who have contributed throughout the years should also be considered. Stutsman asked about Bob Welch for serious consideration. R. Sullivan said those are all legitimate discussions and sometimes it is easier to say they aren't going to discuss it at all as it is a challenging discussion.
Neuzil said that is a discussion that is going to happen down the road as well. He said he looks at situation where the library in the courthouse is named after former County Attorney J. Patrick White. Neuzil said he doesn't have a problem with such, as it comes down the road, and that a lot of times people will see a lot of lobbies named after a certain person to dedicate their service. Stutsman asked what the Quad City's room at the Chamber means. Neuzil explained that name will change in the coming year. R. Sullivan said there is quite a bit of precedence with the Courthouse law library being named after White. Neuzil said that is something that has been done before. R. Sullivan said it isn't something that needs to be done at the current time, but if they open the building and name the rooms by number and then change the name a year in, then it is a little more confusing for people. Meyers said if something is called the John Smith conference room, people are not going to know where to go. Harney said he prefers to stay with room numbers. He explained feelings could be hurt for those whose names were not used.
R. Sullivan said the other thing they are thinking about is a nice plaque. He said they could acknowledge those who put in a lot of time. Neuzil said that is something down the road that the Communications Committee could give an award for each year. Stutsman said she understands the intent and would agree with it, but again she pointed out there have been lots of people that have made contributions, and they always go with the recency factor. She said Cleo Marcelle, who passed away, did a lot for Human Services as well. Stutsman said she didn't know what went into the naming buildings, and who is more current, etc.
Stutsman said the Board can make the issue a lot harder than it actually is. She said she goes back to keeping it simple, direct, and to the point. R. Sullivan said he was sensing there is a majority of the people that want to keep the name the Health and Human Services Building. He said that Kempf tells him, regardless of whether they name rooms, there will be a numbering system. R. Sullivan added that, at a minimum, they will have "Room 101." Stutsman said that if they go with a naming system, she would like to open it up to the public, such as writing an essay about the nominee, etc. R. Sullivan said that for now it sounds like people don't want to do so. He said that idea sounds like the majority, so they will go with that, and maybe the Communications Committee can take on the idea as well. R. Sullivan asked what happens when they have someone with 30-40 years of distinguished service. He said he doesn't know what to do about such an issue.
R. Sullivan said the dates for the Chamber of Commerce Federal Issues Trip and Local Federal Issues meeting are February 2-4, 2009. R. Sullivan said the assumption is that the current chair and the past chair will go, as they have been doing in the past. Harney said he has had some conversation with Congressman Dave Loebsack. He said that Loebsack told him that Loebsack doesn't have anything in writing from the County or anywhere else in what they actually expect and want for assistance from flooding, and that Loebsack needs those reports for funds. Harney said, somehow, they need to get something to their elected officials so they will know what to go ask for. Neuzil said they have been asking for a list of where the County is in order to present to State and Federal officials. He said that hopefully the elected officials would get the funding to bring it down to their level. Neuzil said that he hopes Emergency Management Director Dave Wilson will have some oversight. Harney said he doesn't know, based on what the needs are and what the Board feels the needs are. He said he thinks Wilson should be part of the project but it should be part of the bigger picture. Harney said it is like buyout dollars and if the Board should be asking them to forgive the 15%, etc. Harney said Loebsack says he can't stand before Congress and say what the County needs and why without having anything in writing.
Neuzil explained to M. Sullivan that the Board has been discussing information requests that the County needs to present to the Federal government concerning flooding and winter. R. Sullivan said if Congressman Loebsack walked in and asked what they need, he asked what the three or four things the County asks for would be as a result of the flooding. He said the one thing that jumps out to him is that they are denied by the Federal Highway Administration on the Hills Bridge. Stutsman asked if they have been denied for sure. Harney explained there is no money so the County is denied. Meyers said it is postponed or delayed until the Administration fills up the bank account again. Stutsman said, to go a step further, she thinks the Board should apply for money so they can redo the bridge so flooding doesn't happen again. She said there are some real issues and they should make it bigger or wider, etc. Neuzil said they should raise up some bridges from Davenport to Des Moines. Harney said the Hills Bridge needs to be lengthened as it is like a funnel. Stutsman said the bridge is too narrow.
M. Sullivan asked if the Board is saying that they need to put a list together so if Loebsack were to walk into the meeting room and ask what the County needs in terms of flooding. R. Sullivan said that their 15% of the buyouts are around a quarter million if the County is to buy everything on the list. He said that obviously they are going to increase the size of the list, so if the County has a million dollars they might even buy more if people are interested. Neuzil asked if all the overtime hours and Secondary Roads is still coming the Board's way. Stutsman said it isn't about financial responsibility. She pointed out they have a 90/10 and ten is coming from the State. M. Sullivan said ten is coming from the State but they must keep in mind that there is never a promise from the State. He said they may say it is 10% but if they don't have the money, it is not clear. M. Sullivan said it is the Federal obligation, which has been met, which is 90%. He explained it was 75% for category C through G. M. Sullivan said it is a huge improvement, and what he was previously meeting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials about.
Harney said, in addition to M. Sullivan's comments, that Loebsack noted nothing came requesting anything from the winter and snow and ice storms. He said they need to consider if they need to continually raise the roads that continually flood and what dollars are needed for repairs. R. Sullivan said they have come up with at least two items, and how they need to address them. M. Sullivan said if something comes to the Board's mind while they are in a meeting and Congressman Loebsack is there, or they see or read anything they think is there, they should let him know and he will make sure to add to that.
R. Sullivan asked if Neuzil is on the Chamber board. Neuzil said he is and that Harney will be next year. R. Sullivan said he isn't sure what the appropriate way will be, but that he was pretty dissatisfied last year with the way things occurred. He said it cost $3,500 for him to go out to the meeting and he didn't feel like it was worth it. Harney said that it is less effective than when he went. M. Sullivan said that is something the Board needs to tell the Chamber when they talk because the Board needs to remember they go through a list of things and then pick out priorities. R. Sullivan said somehow the message needs to be addressed to the Chamber that if they expect the governments to go, it has to be worth something to those governments. Harney said Linn County had their priorities ready. He said Linn County has priorities over the County. Harney said their Chamber selected the priorities. M. Sullivan said both Chambers sent the memo long before that they have talked about priorities and how they would approach it. He said almost all of the stuff they will push will be economic development driven. Harney said it will come down to transportation, basically.
Neuzil said they go back and forth in terms of being at the table or not. He said there is value in being there, but specifics they need to consider. Stutsman said she thinks the ideal situation is when they went in as a Chamber Corridor representative with the Board of Supervisors, and that it really paid in turn.
R. Sullivan said a perfect example would be when he went to Washington D.C. for County meetings with Iowa City City Council member Ross Wilburn and found out that Wilburn and other Iowa City City Council members were staying to discuss the Joint Communications Center. He said that Harney is more involved in the process than anyone, and they didn't even tell Harney. Stutsman said there is rivalry. R. Sullivan said it doesn't make any sense at all, and the whole thing is being paid for under a County levee. Harney said the Linn County Board had told him months before that the City would be trying to arrange the meeting so he thought that would be great. He said it never came back to him after that. R. Sullivan said he finds that extremely frustrating and that they need to have more communication. Stutsman said it takes communication to let the City Council know that the Board wants to be at the table and needs to be at the table. R. Sullivan said Coralville will probably send four people and have long itineraries with everyone.
Harney said to M. Sullivan that they need materials they can hand out that are more detailed than they have. He said in the past, when they asked for trails money, they were throwing things together but there is no distinct map to how that is tied together. Harney said it is probably better now that there is a Trails Committee, but those are the kinds of things they need to hand out to the staffers. He said those staffers are the ones doing the work on it. M. Sullivan said they need to hand them to hand them out to staffers on their separate meetings with them because when he sent all the detailed items to the Chamber, they diluted it down to one page. R. Sullivan asked what they wanted with a half hour to do so. Neuzil said, as with the trails, there is a perfect example of the trail route going through Federal property, and if they can get federal funding for the trail on federal funding. He said getting those sections, and getting the bugs in now is what they need to talk about. R. Sullivan said they need to come up with a plan for the half hour discussion. M. Sullivan said he can get everything set up for the Board, and that he just needs to know what he is setting up.
Neuzil said this item is one thing to keep discussing, but that R. Sullivan and he are the ones that can at least start putting a list together. M. Sullivan said if he can get started on the project in late October or early November, preferably in October, then he can get the Board in easier with the staffing. He said that once they start pushing time for the first of the year, it becomes really hard to get staffers in D.C., even if it is in February, to schedule a time with them.
Stutsman said that what they should do is stay a couple extra days or go a couple days early. She said if the City is going to play that game then the Board can too. Stutsman said it sounds like they are talking about two separate things, what they are presenting to the Chamber and if the Board wants to go in and lobby for individual things. Neuzil said the timing probably isn't the best, in regards to the Chamber's trip this year, as it is early in the congressional process, and will be right after the new presidency and there will still be a lot of ceremonial stuff still lingering. He added that the National Association of Counties (NACo) legislative conference will be in March, so there is an opportunity to pursue some more presence at the national level. Neuzil mentioned some of the green environmental initiatives. He said if they look at community projects, the trail system from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids could be a part of the conversation.
Harney said they other entities have the advantage as they hire lobbyists. Neuzil said they shouldn't forget that what happens to Coralville is beneficial for the County. Harney said that with any of them it is, it is just the lobbyists that take advantage. M. Sullivan said they should keep in mind that they have just had the most catastrophic flood ever, and there is no doubt in his mind that will be the itinerary from the very beginning. He said if the Board wants to go separately and talk about County issues with staffers on their own the Board can do so. Stutsman said she wants money to fix the Hills bridge. Stutsman said it will happen again, as the Iowa River goes right through the bridge, and what is more alarming to her is isolating a community, and that is not good. Neuzil said that will be an issue needed to take separately. Harney said that is where it gets muddy, as they do need it but the City will come back and say they applied to the Department of Transportation (DOT) for funds. He added the City is out of funds to pay for damage they already have and it will be out of a separate pocket to pay for the bill needed to build another bridge, and to be able to document. Neuzil said Stutsman was right in that that should be a part of their conversation.
Neuzil said as a corridor they can look at the 965 bridge that needs some attention at some point. Neuzil asked if it could be beneficial to bring the bridge up so that everyone from Davenport to Des Moines could cross if there is flooding again. He said that ought to be talked about. Neuzil said it was ridiculous how isolated Iowa City is as a corridor. He said that that is the conversation he thinks should be discussed. Stutsman said she doesn't want the County to be second fiddle to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City in terms of what needs to be fixed. She said that she wants to point out that the unincorporated areas of the County have needs too. R. Sullivan said it is even worse if one is at a meeting while a bunch of Tax Increment Funding (TIF) funded projects are being assisted. Neuzil said the story is the project is going to be a huge part of Coralville's conversation.
R. Sullivan said the Board needs to think about doing something locally with the Representatives from Congressman Loebsack's office, as well as Senator Harkin and Senator Grassley. He said they still haven't given M. Sullivan clear direction about doing something and also on a certain day. R. Sullivan asked if it is something they want to pursue. Stutsman said any accessible communication they can have is good. R. Sullivan said he would like to, even without a set of rules, at least have initial meetings to say who they are and that they want to work with them. He said he thinks those individuals will be willing to come in and meet. Stutsman asked R. Sullivan who he is talking about, if it would be Representatives Loebsack and Chuck Grassley and Senator Tom Harkin. R. Sullivan confirmed he was referring to those three individuals. Stutsman said, like with so many things, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. She said that if they don't hear from them then they think everything is fine. R. Sullivan said that Wednesday mornings would be a good time to get one of those aforementioned representatives for a half-hour. Neuzil said after they have some issues sorted out will be a good time to meet. Stutsman agreed. Stutsman said that she thinks Parker and other department heads should be at the meetings too. Neuzil said that department heads need to buy into the idea of the possibility of additional funding out there that the County should be lobbying for.
Recessed at 10:38 a.m.; reconvened at 10:45 a.m.
R. Sullivan said they should go item by item to discuss Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Planning. The Board scheduled their first budget work session for September 17, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. and other Budget Work Sessions on October 3, 10, and 17, 2008 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
M. Sullivan let the Board know that they will be having their formal organizational meeting on January 2, 2009. Stutsman said, for Christmas, it makes sense for Friday, December 26, 2008 rather than Wednesday, December 24, 2008. R. Sullivan said that has been planned since the beginning of 2008. Neuzil said it will be helpful to block off Monday mornings and Wednesday afternoons until they are done with the budget. Stutsman said the Board can always cancel the meetings, but at least now they know not to schedule other things.
R. Sullivan said to Claiborne, something he wants to do with the schedule they didn't do last year is a final wrap up, where they run through issues regarding staff people and cars, etc. He said having a final session where they run through some of those things would be helpful to make sure the Board is all on the same page. Harney said they should lay everything out for each department to see what they are getting. Meyers asked at what point will they find out how much money they have. Claiborne said towards January, as most of their meetings are done and he then finds out the numbers. Stutsman asked if they can back up when the hearing date is and when the last drop-dead date is to make any changes. Claiborne said the budget has to be to the State by March 15, 2009. Stutsman said they need to back the budget up so they know when the last time is to make any changes. Neuzil said the sooner they get those dates, even as of the current week, is best. M. Sullivan said the last time they can make changes is when they publish the information. He said that once the information is published, they can't adjust the budget up, they can only adjust the budget down. Claiborne said that is the first to second week of February 2009. Neuzil asked if Claiborne could get the Board the dates. M. Sullivan said Deputy Auditor Casie Kadlec can get the dates for the Board. Neuzil said he wants the records forwarded over the next couple days. Stutsman said basically what they want is the total budget calendar.
Stutsman said she would like to have some discussion before the Board gets into the budget process. Stutsman said the goal is to get directions to Claiborne and department heads about what they want to do with this year's budget. She said she has been on the Board long enough that they have had all kinds of budget scenarios and processes they have done. Stutsman said she knew at one time that before the Board even went out to department heads when they were putting the budgets together, the Board would say the year would be a tight year and they would want to keep the budget at zero. She said in other scenarios, they would have more flexibility for the year. Stutsman said she doesn't know if the Board wants to make recommendations. She said she doesn't know if the Board needs more information before they can make recommendations to department heads. Stutsman said she fears department heads put a budget together with no direction from the Board in terms of what they expect and what they want. She said maybe the Board doesn't care and that departments should just put everything together and then bring it to them so the Board can then make decisions. Stutsman said she is concerned about where they are going with the budgets.
Neuzil said, to tag on Stutsman's ideas, are some thoughts to do some funding and shifting, and when the conversation should happen. He said he wonders if, on Wednesday, November 12, 2008, during their Key Issues meeting, they could concentrate part of the meeting on line item budgets. Neuzil said Claiborne can have some ideas prepared. Stutsman said she thinks there are lots of resources that the Board should have available to them when they are putting the budget together. She said she thinks the Board needs to know property values from the Assessors. Stutsman said County Auditor Tom Slockett has been checking with the people who do bonding to see what kind of fund balances they need to have. She said there has been some concern in the past involving departments and their ending balances. Stutsman said the Board is seeing a trend with certain departments year after year where they budget high and revenue low. She said that every year some are fairly sizeable budgets left over after the year. Stutsman said the thing to remember is that they are taxing for the budgets and she thinks the Board needs to talk to department heads about budgeting tighter. She said the Board always has plenty of money for a budget amendment. Stutsman said if departments are concerned about putting in extra money and asking for a budget amendment, she says the Board has plenty of money in reserve and that is not an issue. She said those are the kinds of things she would like to discuss with department heads about what they want. Neuzil suggested they schedule a meeting a week before September 17, 2008 with department heads. Stutsman asked when budgets are due. Claiborne said he doesn't send out forms until October and then receives them in November.
Stutsman said they should have a special budget department head meeting. Neuzil said that there is another department head meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 16, 2008. Neuzil said they can bring everything up at the September 16, 2008 meeting. R. Sullivan said if they have a consensus, they can bring everything up then. Stutsman asked what the consensus is, and what the Board wants to bring up. She asked if the Board wants to give the department heads direction. Stutsman asked Claiborne if he meets with every department head beforehand. Claiborne replied he does. R. Sullivan said he doesn't think the department heads have to get everything as a group if they get reports from Claiborne and M. Sullivan.
Claiborne said next month he is going on a three day Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) training in Providence, Rhode Island, and it is entitled "Best Budget Practices." He said there may be something new out there and they can implement that. R. Sullivan said it sounds like the Board is interested in having the discussion but not having the discussion right now. Neuzil said he thinks the discussion needs to happen fairly soon, but that the Board needs to turn its attention to Claiborne and M. Sullivan about things to think about such as funding strategies and road questions. He said there is also the issue of the transfer of the dispatchers and what the Board will do with that potential excess money. Neuzil said there are some questions that need to be figured out fairly soon so that people know how much money is there, etc. Stutsman said the Board can approach the issue by saying they have had a huge increase in County taxes in 2008. She said perhaps this year their goal of reducing that increase by 10%. Stutsman said they should tell the Communications Center what they want to work with. She said the Board doesn't give enough direction of where they want to be. Harney said they won't be able to change anything for 2008 concerning the Communications Center. He said the following year it should take a big tumble, however. Stutsman said she wants to make sure the taxes take a big tumble in the next year.
M. Sullivan said that as long as he and Claiborne know what it is the Board wants done, they can get it done. Claiborne said the thing he remembers about putting the FY09 together is that County Sheriff Lonnie Pulkrabek came to the Board and had already spent the savings. He stated the Board will have to decide if they want to back departments and keep pumping up taxes, or if they want to save money. Claiborne said that is when everything comes up. R. Sullivan asked when the Board wants to plan for the issues. He asked if the Board wants to build the issues currently discussed into the Key Issues agenda in late October 2008 and do everything at a regular Key Issues meeting, making the issues a main topic with not much else on the itinerary. Stutsman said perhaps the Finance Committee can meet again and pull some things together. She said another thing County Treasurer Tom Kriz pointed out is that the County Attorney Janet Lyness gets revenues from court costs, and the Board has never budgeted for those revenues. Stutsman said it is the aforementioned issues that the Board needs to be aware of. R. Sullivan said he wants the issues put on the October 22, 2008 Key Issues.
Neuzil said it will be helpful to get trends as well. He said that has been one of the discussions for the Finance Committee, in terms of what they are anticipating. Neuzil said M. Sullivan and Claiborne are going to want to know at least some preliminary thoughts from the Assessors in terms of if the County is flattening out like other parts of the United States. Stutsman said the County hasn't had the damage that Linn County has experienced. She said she thinks Linn County will be in a world of hurt once all the damage costs comes off their tax rolls.
M. Sullivan said he thinks the Board heard about the initial plan at the Joint Communications meeting on September 9, 2008. He said they will have to have people reinvesting in the community and a lot of federal money. R. Sullivan asked the Board if they are clear about the Assessor and other things lined up for Monday, September 22, 2008. Stutsman said she suggests the Board line up another Finance Committee meeting. She said they didn't include the Assessor at the last meeting, so he needs to be present to give feedback about funds, etc. M. Sullivan asked Stutsman if she is the Chair. Stutsman said she is. M. Sullivan said they can have another meeting. Neuzil said if they look at Monday, October 6, 2008 or somewhere in there that could be a possibility. R. Sullivan asked if those involved could let the rest of the Board know when the meeting will be, so if there are agenda items then they can get them to those arranging the meeting.
Claiborne said another thing the Finance Committee talked about includes the budget time, the three to four months they meet, they are going to pull the Finance Committee together to keep them all apprised of what they are looking at and to get some other ideas. Stutsman said something they never dealt with and comes back every time is the feedback to department heads about where the County is on budgets. She said they always risk leaving the Boardroom full of department heads lobbying for their budget, but even at the end, departments will ask what did and didn't get funded, so the Board needs to work on that. R. Sullivan said that is why he wants he wants the department heads at the last meeting. M. Sullivan said some departments keep track of funds very well, whereas others don't even want to know.
Harney said in terms of paving and parking lots, once the Armory is ousted, in conjunction with the Jail and Justice Center, they need to know what kind of investment dollars they will need for certain things. Neuzil said there are big ticket items for the Administration Building. M. Sullivan said those are part of their budget meetings with doing the capitol budgets with Facilities Manager David Kempf. He said they are lucky to have Kempf because he is good at lining up what they need. Stutsman said she would love to know how much money Kempf has saved the County just being on top of things. M. Sullivan said he thinks Kempf has saved a lot. Stutsman asked Claiborne to set up the Finance Committee meeting.
R. Sullivan said M. Sullivan has lined up three meetings. He said he wants to make sure everyone is on the same page as the meetings will be posted as Board meetings so all Board members can go, but there will not be a presentation per se, that it will be more like a road meeting. Neuzil said he is assuming the Board will not even be at the meeting for the full two hours, as more of a drop-in meeting for the Board. M. Sullivan said it is not a deliberative meeting so to speak. R. Sullivan said, just to be sure they are safe with the County Attorney's Office, they could have someone from the Auditor's Office show up. Meyers said it is mostly for Durrant to collect feedback. Harney said the Board needs to remember that everything is factual and won't be pro or con one way or another. R. Sullivan said Stratton had sent an email to Harney saying when people come to the meeting, it would be a good idea to have a brief informative sheet including Jail costs. He said there will be frequently asked questions and the informative sheet would answer those. Neuzil said they can have a flier. Harney added it will have facts and questions.
R. Sullivan said he has sent out an email to all of the committee to see if the group could get together in the next four or five days. Neuzil said the Board can put together a fact sheet, with no opinions. R. Sullivan said it will include just basic stuff.
Harney said there will be a lengthened Thursday night meeting because of the road issue and whether it will be vacated or not. He said that it should have been on last week's agenda. Harney said when M. Sullivan isn't present, that information needs to get relayed to Secretary II Jo Hogarty or whoever else to get put on the agenda.
Stutsman said she would like to bring up the Key Issues agenda. She said they are getting into more and more of a gray area. Stutsman said she discussed the NOI earlier in the meeting, which should not have been on the current agenda. R. Sullivan said he can address Stutsman's concerns in that Copeland gave R. Sullivan the current information and it is due Friday, September 12, 2008. R. Sullivan said it comes down to Copeland not giving the Board enough notice.
Stutsman said it is funny how things evolve, as they have had informal meetings on Tuesdays. She said the Board began to think that is when all the discussion goes on, and that the public should be able to hear the discussion, thus why the meetings have been moved to Thursday mornings. She says she wonders if they should go back to Tuesday mornings for the informal and have them taped. Stutsman said she thinks what the Board needs to have on the work sessions that are not taped is just nitty gritty information. She said the public doesn't want to hear discussions about budget meetings or when they will set up meetings, etc. Stutsman said some issues are important but need to be worked out informally. She said she worries about public information when they start discussing more meaty information. Stutsman said the Board is lucky there has been press present for the current meetings. R. Sullivan said he specifically called the press because he thinks it is something normally on an informal agenda and it is not. Stutsman said she thinks things the public needs to know about needs to be televised. She said she doesn't have an issue with anything else on the agenda. R. Sullivan said everything else on the agenda is where it needs to be.
Neuzil said that is a structural question down the road, if they can keep meetings under three hours, that is where the City fails, in having a meeting that lasts six or seven hours. Stutsman said what dictates their television coverage is how much time Channel Four is going to give the Board as well. She said if the Board wants certain meetings televised they may be told no by the channel. Neuzil said the Key Issues are helping to keep the normal Board meetings down to under three hours. He said it is something in which they will become busier and busier until they figure out and are able to define what their jobs really are.
Neuzil said he has been pretty active in the last couple of years with NACo and has recently been asked to join, which he has done. He said part of that is mainly the radio side of things, and the organization has asked Neuzil to consider helping them get the news out about their group through the media side via radio. Neuzil said he is actually going to a conference in early October 2008 at his expense as there isn't enough money with the County. He wants to let the Board know he will be a member of the organization.
Adjourned at 11:26 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary