MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
OCTOBER 15, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Approval of Minutes............................................................................................................... 1
Space Needs for Administration Building.................................................................................. 1
Use of Meeting Rooms at the County Administration Building................................................... 2
Parking Committee Update..................................................................................................... 3
Strategic Planning................................................................................................................... 4
Budget Process and Overview................................................................................................ 6
Deputy and Elected Officials Salaries...................................................................................... 8
Legislative Priorities State and Federal................................................................................... 11
Reports from Elected Officials............................................................................................... 11
Set Next Meeting Date and Time........................................................................................... 13
County Supervisor Rod Sullivan called the Johnson County Elected Officials Meeting to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 1:30 p.m.
Elected officials present were: County Attorney Janet Lyness; County Auditor Tom Slockett; County Recorder Kim Painter; County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek; County Supervisors Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, Rod Sullivan; and County Treasurer Tom Kriz. Staff present were: Board of Supervisors Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan, Board of Supervisors Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne, Sheriff’s Major Steve Dolezal, and Auditor’s Office Recording Secretary Nancy Tomkovicz.
The minutes from the March 26, 2008 meeting of Elected Officials were approved unanimously.
Neuzil said Facilities Manager David Kempf is unable to be present today. He said as they complete the projects for the SEATS Secondary Roads and the Health and Human Services building, Kempf's next responsibility will be the upgrade of the Administration Building. Neuzil said Kempf is in the process of finalizing a concept for County employees. Stutsman said she was in a liaison meeting with M. Sullivan this morning and they determined that the space issues will be addressed after January 1, 2009. Neuzil said the funding mechanisms will be in place and they know the general concepts. As the diagrams become more detailed it will be important to have for the department heads in the Administration Building. R. Sullivan said Kempf has actual concepts that he has been working on. County Auditor Tom Slockett asked if there is any chance the HHS Building will be finished by the Presidential Election. Neuzil said no; they are expecting it to be ready by Thanksgiving instead of Halloween.
R. Sullivan said he doesn't think the City will give the County an occupancy permit by Halloween. Stutsman said she went to the construction meeting yesterday and they said they were running two weeks behind so the building should probably be complete the middle of December, 2008. County Treasurer Tom Kriz said the Medical Examiner's Office would like to be informed of new developments because they will be moving. Kriz asked that individuals who work with Kempf let him know the Medical Examiner's Office would like to remain informed. Neuzil said he thinks that is a reasonable request.
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek asked if the previous discussion on space needs is limited to only the Administration Building. Neuzil said yes and added that the agenda includes discussions on strategic planning and the agenda item "other". He said it looks like the City Assessor will not have to move to the small meeting room so now it will be available. The Board room will also be available. Neuzil said this agenda item is to prod thinking of a system for reserving meeting rooms. He asked if someone has worked with Information Services Director Jean Shultz on this issue. Stutsman asked if this discussion is in anticipation of receiving many inquiries about using meeting space in the new building. She asked whether they want to make the space available to the public or keep the space for County business and connections. Harney said he thinks they must preserve the County preference otherwise the County will be competing with the public for space. County Attorney Janet Lyness said University buildings now have a premium on meeting space so if they do offer the HHS building for public use it will be used a lot, at least until flood affected campus buildings are up and running again.
Stutsman said there was an issue in the past when the Courthouse was opened up in the evenings and groups did not take good care of the space. Lyness said she thought the group served food and did not completely clean up. Stutsman asked if it would pose an additional cost to the County to hire someone to monitor the building after hours. Lyness asked how many rooms were available. She said she suspects these rooms will be busy during the day with County business so they could only open the spaces up during evenings. Stutsman said the Department of Human Services will be in the building and they have many demands for meeting rooms. R. Sullivan said the Board needs to somehow maintain control of how people use meeting space but they also need to consider the needs of other elected officials. He said they need to come up with a reservation plan that is acceptable to all parties where one does not have to jump through hoops to hold a meeting. Harney said the City had the same issue when they renovated the Civic Center. They had extra space they opened to the public and they ran into problems so now they do not reserve their meeting rooms for anything other than City business. Stutsman said she would prefer the use of Administration Building meeting rooms be limited to County business, as it is now.
Neuzil said the only exception he would consider is legislative forums. Harney said legislative forums are part of City and County business. Neuzil said if the space in the HHS Building has 250 seats, there are not many places that have that kind of space available. Harney said he does not mind allowing the meeting rooms to be used for a legislative forum on a Saturday morning during off hours. Neuzil said the reservation system needs to be put in place soon. Stutsman said she thought Schultz was working on a system. Stutsman said the protocol should be the same as it is now, an individual signs up in writing on the schedule and if a conflict arises the individuals negotiate a solution.
Pulkrabek asked about the particulars for events like a legislative forum such as who will let people in the building and make sure everyone is out on time. R. Sullivan said Kempf is getting rid of the janitorial contract and hiring new staff starting July 1, 2009. Pulkrabek asked if they would work on Saturdays. R. Sullivan said that for evening meetings they would need to be here like they are now. Stutsman said they should check with Kempf for these details. County Recorder Kim Painter asked if it would be possible to link it to ID cards if the Board approves a plan for personnel ID cards and to have security set up so someone can swipe their card to reserve a room. Slockett said that probably wouldn't be possible for 250 people but someone could be stationed at the door. Stutsman asked whether the judges had requested that janitorial staff not go through during the day which is why they work in the evenings. Lyness said yes. R. Sullivan said the Midwest janitorial staff comes in at 5:30 in the evening. Neuzil said they will have to put this on a key issues meeting for the Board and keep everyone informed. Stutsman asked if the general consensus is to limit meeting space to County business. Harney and Meyers said yes. Neuzil said yes for now until they get a picture of things.
R. Sullivan asked if the Board is referring to County business only or sort of what they do now where space is used by parties where the County is represented. Neuzil said an example would be Decat. Harney said he could see people stretching the limits so they could use the space. Neuzil said it is under the purview of County government. Stutsman said that at one time the political parties wanted to meet in the County building for regular monthly meetings. Neuzil said political meetings do not fall under the County's purview now, but that and they might find that will change. Slockett said County buildings could be a good place for caucuses.
Kriz said they worked on the timing of when employees start paying for parking. He said this will be based on when Kempf has the equipment in place which should be around January or February, 2009. He has worked with Account Clerk II Carla Scherbring in the Auditors office about setting up a payroll deduction for parking fees. Kriz said Human Resources is considering how parking fees can be deducted as a pretax benefit. Stutsman said flex benefits will make it possible. Kriz said beyond accounting for the mass of people who will be using the parking lot, they will need a system for those who come in part-time. They are trying to come up with a daily fee. Kriz said that Scherbring has done a good job so far and needs to remain involved. Kriz said once it starts it should run seamlessly but they cannot start until everything is in place. He said they have looked at the area of State employees and how they collect for that and his office will work out the particulars. Stutsman said an important point to remember is there will be a transition period where people will probably not be charged for those first two or three months parking. That's not to say they have forgotten about charging for parking.
Neuzil asked if the Parking Committee talked about how the dollars would be used, whether it would go in a General Fund or if it will be reinvested in employees for bus passes and health equipment. Stutsman said she thinks the money will go towards maintenance of the parking. Kriz said he too thinks it will be used for maintenance. R. Sullivan said the parking charges don't even come close to covering the maintenance fees. Kriz said there was some talk of a subsidy. Neuzil said after the first year $300 an employee multiplied by 240 employees will add up pretty quickly. He said he has a hard time thinking the striping will be that expensive. Kriz said the cleaning, sealing, and snow removal all add up. He said they did talk about the bus pass and there was not a whole lot of interest. Stutsman said it is fair to evaluate it after a year. She said they need to keep in mind they do have a parking ramp to pay for. R. Sullivan said the committee is not going to dissolve and they will continue to talk about options. Kriz said he does not think it will happen right away and will encourage people to consider other forms of transportation. R. Sullivan said Kriz came up with an amazing statistic for the cost per stall. Kriz said it is $100,000 per stall. Neuzil said it is quite expensive but he cannot think of any place in Iowa City or on campus where the public parks for free and employees are charged to park. He said he would like to see the dollars reinvested in employee programs.
Painter said they will need to review that as time goes on. Kriz said they looked at public metering but the issue came down to enforcement. He said the City will be metering completely down Clinton Street to the Administration Building and also down to the Deli-Mart on Dubuque Street. Neuzil said someone will monitor cars that abuse the system by parking in the public stall spaces. Kriz said they hope gate arms will abate the problem. He said the committee will be far from done when the ramp opens up. Neuzil said it promotes goodwill to use parking dollars for employee programs.
Neuzil said the Board has identified the Justice Center as a top strategic priority along with green initiatives, rural economic development, metro transportation plan, and trails. A short synopsis of the current situation is that the Board along with the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee hired the Durrant Group to work on both the space needs and location analysis for a justice center. That report is expected November 5, 2008 at a 4:30 p.m. meeting. Neuzil said there will be final community comments during that time and the Durrant Group is scheduled to give a recommendation of location, size, and scope of a justice center project. The next steps consist of determining whether they hire a coordinator to help move to the next step. He raises questions about whether the economic downturn canceled some of that thought and how they will pay for the facility.
Slockett asked if the location in the Courthouse area is where they are considering. Neuzil answered that it seems to be Durrant’s top choice because that space utilizes the existing Jail and Courthouse. Neuzil said he does not feel the Durrant Group has given the best of arguments for prioritizing that location. Stutsman said the Board failed to ask the public specifically for their preferences. She said that after the last public meeting, two or three people came up to her and acknowledged the Board did not ask, but offered their preferences for a new jail. She said those three people did prefer Site One. Neuzil said the economic downturn is an eye opener for whether a $70 million dollar project is realistic at this time.
Pulkrabek said the Sheriff's Office has a unique need for a firearms range. He said they are required to practice a couple times per year and Johnson County has been using the Cedar Rapids range. He has heard the elected officials in Cedar Rapids will close the outside range. The City of Iowa City has identified an agricultural property in Iowa County which is just across the County border at the Little Amana exit off Interstate 80. The City is having the land appraised with an eye towards purchasing it. Pulkrabek said he is projecting a capital expenditure of $25,000 per year for four years with an investment of about $100,000. He is hoping the figure will be less and is expecting to work with the engineers group of the National Guard who may do it at a discounted cost. There are many potential partners like the local law enforcement agencies and IMCC. Stutsman asked what IMCC is. Pulkrabek said it is the prison. Stutsman asked if Iowa County wanted to partner as well. Pulkrabek said yes and added that Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine is struggling with how they assess cost to partners because Iowa County has a significantly smaller number of personnel. He said they are trying to come up with a fair funding formula, which isn't easy.
Pulkrabek said he has another immediate space issue which is the space opening up at the Sheriff’s Office where the dispatchers currently are and where Emergency Management Coordinator Dave Wilson’s office is. They are working with Neumann Monson Architects to consider reconfiguring the space. An inherent problem is there is no one to monitor the area at night. He asked if the doors should be locked at a certain time and be thereafter controlled by the control center operators. He said the option he is most in favor of is expanding the booking room. Adding a booking room and an additional holding cell could be possible by reconfiguring the lobby. Pulkrabek said this does not affect the Board directly but he wanted to inform them. Stutsman said all elected officials should be part of strategic planning. Pulkrabek said it is important for elected officials to be involved because they control the purse strings. He said the tactical team drives to Brownell’s range in Montezuma, which is over an hour one way just to remain current. Pulkrabek said he strongly believes that the range site he has just discussed has great potential and will not bring the type of complaints the City Council gets in Cedar Rapids. Harney said he knows that if the Corps of Engineers were given a proposal they might be interested in the project. Pulkrabek said he does not know anything about the Corps of Engineers being willing to do anything. Stutsman asked how they located the piece of property. Pulkrabek said through Davin Realty. It is 41 acres on a dead end road in an isolated area.
Neuzil said he, Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne, and the Finance Committee had an opportunity to get the first projects from the assessors about what is to come. Kriz said tax dollars are a concern as this was a brutal year. The current year was also an assessment year so property values increased. Kriz said both assessors feel the next two years will be absolutely flat in assessments. This year is not an assessment year. They see no big increases like the County has been used to for the last 25 to 30 years such as 5% or 6% percent in value. Kriz said they see both years being flat. Both assessors strongly recommended the County look at that and not plan for what they have seen in the last 25 years, which is a growth in valuation. He said some commercial properties have less value. Kriz said there are more large businesses throughout the state suing assessors over the assessment of their property.
Neuzil asked Kriz to address cash reserves. Kriz said they looked at large capital projects such as the Law Enforcement Center that could cost 20, 40, or 60 million. He said it is advantageous to be bond rated by a bond rating company. He stated that in the last month, the scene has changed drastically and now bond ratings have been thrown out the window. He stated in spite of everything, it is advantageous to be bond rated and have a rating because Iowa City does not have the financial institutions that can take 60 million dollars in a lump sum loan for large projects. They will start to look regional or national for buyers. He said Moody’s rule of thumb is that a community keeps 20% in cash reserves. Kriz said Johnson County has never had anywhere close to 20% in cash reserves because Johnson County's theory has been to keep the cash reserve as low as possible to help keep taxes down. He said that now, the County probably needs to look at having a higher cash reserve. Moody's visited Johnson County two years ago and at that time the only drawback they saw was that the County spends what it takes in every year and has very small cash reserves. Kriz said 20% is not realistic because that is about $20 million, but it may be more realistic to target the $7 or $9 million range. R. Sullivan asked what the County is at now. Kriz said about $1 to $2 million.
Neuzil added that if the economy worsens, there is the potential of the inability of individuals to pay taxes which means dollars not coming in and possible payroll issues. Stutsman said that Kriz said some people have paid ahead on their taxes. Kriz said the numbers are unusual but Johnson County is one of the few counties that have collected more in the first half of the year than ever before. The County is fortunate because of the annual tax sale; someone will pay those taxes. Meyers asked how soon they should get to the seven to ten million dollar reserve. Kriz said it will be hard to do when things are flat but a bond company would answer tomorrow, which is not realistic during flat times. R. Sullivan said they get into the odd position where they have borrowed money and asked whether it's beneficial to pay off an interest-bearing loan. Neuzil said that is what they have been doing to reach the $3.50 General Fund cap, they have been filling in with paying off debt. He asked if they should take a little of that money and put it into cash reserve. Kriz said there are always issues with cash reserves and some counties keep higher cash reserves. When negotiating with the unions, having cash reserves has always been an issue. He said there is no perfect answer but it is something they need to keep looking at because a change in interest rates can mean a whole lot of tax dollars.
Meyers said if they take the cash reserve and use it as a down payment on a large project there is an offset because they are not borrowing as much money. Kriz said it is true they do not borrow as much but there is no reserve for a flood or a fatal event that can destroy a community. He said as the bond market changes, that is what people will look at. People will want something so sound that even if something goes wrong the ability to recoup is there without having to go out and reborrow to pay what was borrowed. Stutsman said from a tax payers' point of view, she asks why individuals are taxed for a big pot of money that just sits there. Kriz said that is the balance they have, with no debt they can get by with a low cash reserve. Kriz said Johnson County is phenomenal, but that is a negative point. Now the County has taken on a little more debt so that is the balancing issue. Meyers said people approached him after the flood suggesting they should be setting money aside in future budgets to prepare for some sort of eventuality like that instead of the way it happened this past summer. R. Sullivan said those same people will complain if their taxes go up because the money will just sit there.
Kriz said there are certain parts of budgets like postage that must be considered. He said the key is trying to come in level, compared to this year. He said this will be the first time it's actually been looked at and maybe the County needs to look at no increases, other than the most basic essential things. Kriz said the Assessors are so essential in this process and thus far they have not been a vital part of the process. He said they should be in the future. Stutsman said one recommendation is to consider a two year budgeting plan to coincide with reassessments and assessments. Meyers asked if they can do that. Neuzil said they can't as far as what the law says but they can have a better picture of how much money they will have over the next couple years. Neuzil said this budget year they are going off an assessment year that still is increasing; it is the following year they are concerned about. Stutsman said she is concerned about how to build in a four year commitment for a firearms range, this requires long-term planning, not just for the next budget year. Pulkrabek said he cannot figure out how to predict prisoners' rent. He said they thought they would be fine this year and after budgeting the price spiked and rent is going to be over budget in 2008. Kriz said the County is so used to the six or eight percent bump in assessments every couple of years year. Stutsman said it sends a good message to the community telling them they understand what is happening with the economy and are trying to respond accordingly to meet the needs while not over-budgeting. Kriz said this is not an alarming issue. Kriz said that status quo for many counties in Iowa would be just marvelous, but to this community it is a little abnormal.
R. Sullivan said they need to discuss with the public how they are going to cut costs for budgets. He said that one example is if an individual leaves a position to consider the ramifications of not filling the position. He said there will not be any elected official or department head who would say they do not need all their current staff but if push comes to shove that is the easiest way to pinch it. Stutsman said the committee agreed it does not work to have a 2% across the board decrease because some departments would take a huge hit while others would be relatively unaffected. Neuzil announced that a budget preview meeting with the Assessors is scheduled for October 23, 2008 at 1:30 p.m.
Neuzil asked if the Board of Supervisors wants to prepare a proposal for the Compensation Board before the Compensation Board meets or do they want to follow past practices. Kriz said this is the system they have to work with; it is always hard for the Board of Supervisors to make the decision that affects all other elected officials. He said that to say this is a year where the Board of Supervisors wants nothing has such a ramification on everyone else. Kriz said the Compensation Board would like an idea ahead of time where the Board of Supervisor's is because ultimately the Board of Supervisors has the final say. If the Compensation Board says six percent and the Board of Supervisors decides two percent, it's two percent. Kriz said the Compensation Board would like a little more information about where the Board of Supervisors will be coming from this year, as they consider what they would like to do.
R. Sullivan said he feels strongly about the issue because if the Compensation Board is not careful they can put the Board in an awful position, particularly this year, due to tight budget constraints. He said people will look to the Board and elected officials for leadership and he cannot imagine taking any more of a raise than they are going to settle with in terms of the bargaining units. Even if they decide that the Auditor, Treasurer, and Recorder should have an eight percent increase, this is just not the time to do that because that will put the Board of Supervisors in an awful public position. R. Sullivan said they should try to keep it to whatever Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek and Collective Bargaining Negotiator Judy Perkins hammer out with the people they negotiate with. Neuzil said some contracts have been negotiated over a two year period so not all contracts will be negotiated this year. He said the Board should not ask for more than what employees are receiving for raises.
Pulkrabek said he wished the other taxing entities had the same conscience. He asked how big Iowa City Community School District Superintendent Lane Plugge’s raise was. R. Sullivan said it was $13,000. Pulkrabek said he appreciates how all ten elected officials think differently than others and he thinks the County is the only entity who portrays responsibility with salaries. Stutsman said the County is the smallest part of the property tax bill. Pulkrabek said he assumes everyone received the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) salary distribution. Eight out of ten are ranked appropriately with the County and Slockett is fifth and Pulkrabek has fallen back to sixth and everyone else is fourth or higher. Pulkrabek said he finds that frustrating. Stutsman said they have not felt the impacts of the economy yet but it is tough when people are unemployed or they have been at the same salary level for three years. Neuzil said his frustration is that the Board unanimously decided to give elected officials less than every County employee and how many voters came up after the fact and thanked them for taking the cut. He said elected officials ought to be paid at least what another employee is paid. Neuzil said the Board received less of an increase than every County employee. Stutsman said people even complained about that small increase.
R. Sullivan said the 11 administrative deputies are always dangling because very few people in the public know their names, yet they are highly skilled people who provide important public service work. Harney said R. Sullivan is comparing this to something that was accomplished. Stutsman said it is not quite as bad as it used to be. Kriz said longevity and the caps coming up to 85% for the Auditor's Office, Recorder, and Treasurer helps immensely but it does not help if the Board says they are going to do zero. Stutsman said they have never done a zero increase. R. Sullivan said it is part of the reason they should not go to zero but they should be prepared to not do much. Harney said this is where the process is bad. He said that nobody bats an eye at what the University gets, what the coaches get, and what Plugge gets, but when it comes to elected officials it becomes a huge issue. He said they also have fallen victim to what was going on in Linn County. He said the whole process is wrong because the Board of Supervisors is part time and elected officials are full time. He said there should be a difference between elected officials and supervisor's salaries. R. Sullivan said the Compensation Board can recommend different amounts, but they must be adjusted by the same amount. Stutsman stated that might be the message they need to send to the Compensation Board, that fulltime staff need higher compensation than part time. Neuzil said that depends on whether they want to actually be part time, but that is a separate conversation. Pulkrabek said the Supervisors all work as though they are fulltime so they should call themselves fulltime.
Meyers asked if the Supervisors do determine they are full time, do they immediately take a jump in salary to the equivalent of the Auditor, Treasurer, and Recorder. Neuzil said the public would have a hard time swallowing an extra $15,000 for each Supervisor. Neuzil said the Board of Supervisors would need to look at committee structure and their hours which is what they should be doing anyway. Meyers said some people think a Supervisor's salary of $49,000 plus sounds like a lot of money but that is very, very middle class and speaking personally it would be impossible to live on that amount. R. Sullivan said they all have appointees to the Compensation Board and it sounds like everyone is of one mind that they need to make sure a low-end reasonable first figure is recommended. He asked if people are interested in contacting their own appointees to express their wishes.
Slockett said one big point of confusion for the Compensation Board members is the discussion about increasing the salary to full time and then the Supervisors not being willing to have a large increase in their own salaries and therefore having to cut back everyone else because of that concern. He said it sends a very mixed message. He said it is important for the Board of Supervisors to communicate if they want to go full time and if it is a separate issue from the other issues. Slockett said the Compensation Board wants to know what the Board of Supervisors is willing to do and they seem very sensitive to this issue. Harney said he understands what Slockett is saying, however, the Board's difficulty is they are not looking at it from their perspective, or at least Harney is not. He is looking at what the other elected officials should receive. He said the way the legislature has it set up is not fair when they get a portion of what the Board of Supervisors get. Neuzil said he does not think it is realistic to go much beyond what County employees are receiving. He said the main point Kriz has enforced is to not do a zero increase. Kriz said he would really have a problem if deputies and other employees received a zero increase. Stutsman said some of the collective bargaining units have been settled around 3.25%. Neuzil said 3.25% to three and a half, but when they add an average of longevity they have to add an additional $500 or $600 dollars which is another half percent.
R. Sullivan said the public will see AFSCME settled for 3.25% without knowing that if an employee has been at the County more than seven years they get an additional amount of money. Stutsman said if the Board of Supervisors wants longevity or steps then they should become a regular employee. She said they always think everything needs to be equal, but there are tradeoffs in everything. R. Sullivan said they have a lot of flexibility and autonomy in their position. Neuzil said it doesn't feel right that Supervisors are paid less than every single employee in Johnson County. Painter said her only concern in the current climate is that if they go the extra mile and talk about longevity, then they will be perceived immediately as grabbing more money than the bargaining unit. Neuzil said they are all going to be charged an extra $300 to park next year. Slockett said there is not a great deal of sympathy on that account. Neuzil said it is still $300 out of their pockets to go to work. R. Sullivan said that politically, they are going to have to be thinking about 3% or less. Painter said in theory, the public would have a lot less trouble with them having a parking place they did not have to pay for that was convenient then they would with them taking more money and/or longevity and being over what the bargaining unit is receiving.
Kriz said the Treasurers representative draws comparisons with other counties and finds there are other department heads that are not governed by this that are second or third in the state. He said this comes down to raises and starting salary levels that the Board has to approve. He noted that the Board of Supervisors do not set the Assessor's salary. Stutsman said the Conference Board sets the salary and the Board of Supervisors are members of the Conference Board. Kriz said they are not the sole members so if the Conference Board decides they want to give the Assessors a 15% raise, they will do that and there really are no constraints. Neuzil said he wanted to bring the discussion back to what the Board should do from here. Kriz says his take on this issue is that they would like to have an idea of what the Board of Supervisors will support, whether it's zero or 10%. R. Sullivan asked if they are of a single mind. R. Sullivan said all elected officials should contact their Compensation Board representatives.
R. Sullivan said Senator Grassley, Senator Harkin, and possibly Congressman Loebsack’s staff people will be at the November 12, 2008 Key Issues meeting at 9:00 a.m. The discussion will focus on federal issues the staff would like to address, as well as the best method to communicate with the legislative staff throughout the year. Neuzil said they send two Board members on the Chamber of Commerce legislative trip every year. He said the Chamber had identified a few issues but the main initiative at the federal level is Amtrak. This would impact Johnson County because of potential train service between Iowa City and Chicago. Neuzil said he and R. Sullivan are planning to meet with Chamber of Commerce and Public Policy Director Rebecca Neades to discuss other initiatives and determine how the Board can impact particular meetings they have an interest in. Slockett asked if the train would go through Des Moines and Omaha. Neuzil said that is the general concept but for now it is an Iowa City to Quad Cities connection. R. Sullivan said the State of Illinois has already budgeted the money to get the train to Rock Island.
Slockett said former Treasurer Don Krall used to talk about taking the train to ISAC meetings and what a wonderful process that was. He said it would be great to get that back again. Neuzil said the NACo Legislative Conference is right after the ISAC conference in March. Stutsman said they have talked about having state legislators coming in early December. Neuzil said they really need to keep an eye out for unfunded mandates as the state tightens its belt. The State of Iowa likes to pass responsibilities down to the counties and he feels they need to play good defense against the state. Lyness said with the budget crisis at the national level the states are probably going to be hit a lot harder. Neuzil stated that it is a trickle effect. Painter said one problem with the current budget situation at the national level is how quickly things can turn on a dime. She said one week Governor Culver was sunny and spoke of his economic optimism and the following week at the Governor's Conference he talked about the dire issues facing the states. Neuzil said now is the time to plan the issues to discuss with the legislators. R. Sullivan said some of the meetings might need to be in the evening because several of the legislators work at other jobs during the day.
Slockett said that as of the beginning of the October 15, 2008 meeting, 488 people have voted in person today at either satellite voting sites or the Auditor's Office. He said there are as many as 200 to 300 in-person voters a day at the Auditor's Office. Stutsman asked how many early voters they have had so far. Slockett said that at the end of the day April 14, 2008 there were 16,600 which is roughly 19% of registered voters. The Auditor's Office is expecting close to 50% to vote before Election Day. Four years ago 47% of registered voters voted early. Slockett said the record number of registered voters this year, 88,400, is already more than 3,000 over the record set four years ago. He stated there is less voting by mail than there was in the past. He said that the projected record turnout and new procedures for election-day registration will cause longer lines and lengthen the time voters will need at the polls on Election Day. If people vote by mail they will take themselves out of the line. There is no additional cost to vote by mail, postage is pre-paid.
Harney asked if there is concern about fraudulent voter registration. Slockett said they are very concerned about fraud. Many people do not know how thorough the process of verification of voters has become since the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The statewide voter registration program verifies every single voter by their Iowa driver's license number, their name and date of birth, or by the last four digits of their social security number along with their name and date of birth. Slockett said early on they were worried people would not have an ID of that type so there are rules for supplemental identification. Voter fraud is a Class D felony which carries a $7,500 fine or up to five years in jail. Slockett said citizens with any information on voter fraud have an obligation to inform the Auditor, the County Attorney or members of the Board.
Painter said in terms of unfunded mandates, Recorders will be looking at whatever decisions are made by the Identify Theft Prevention Committee of the legislature in response to privacy concerns raised by the Recorder's statewide website. She said the imaging portion of the website is currently disabled. The statewide website is still accepting e-submissions but over 40 counties do not have their own websites. Painter said those who are in a position to have put pressure on the website to temporarily shut down have been hearing from bankers and realtors about the significance of the site and what it means to commerce in the State of Iowa. She said the law for redaction of sensitive information was changed last year. The law used to only protect social security numbers and now it includes account numbers. Painter said Iowa Land Records has over 10,000,000 records which makes the process enormous and expensive. Painter will be watching for any unfunded mandates and she is pricing redaction software for the local website. Painter said the Attorney General's office and Ombudsmen office is adamant about no one being online unless they are 100% certain there are no sensitive identified pieces of information. This is a tremendous burden because there is no 100% safety guarantee. Painter said Texas is a good example because they had to work together to find a way to take care of these documents. She said when she was pouring through documents not all of them contained sensitive information and they are sometime hard to find. Painter said another difficult thing is that any person can come to the office anytime and get any information they want. Stutsman said it is really surprising that 40 counties do not have websites.
Kriz said the new licensing fees on vehicles and trucks will go into effect on January 1, 2009. The DOT will not hold training until the end of November, 2008. Licenses that are renewable in November, 2008 will receive two statements, which might cause confusion. One statement covers payment made before December 31, 2008 with the old fees, and another covers payment made after December 31, 2008 with the new fees. The amount the individual will pay is determined by the date they make payment. Kriz said this is a statewide procedure, not unique to Johnson County. He hopes the DOT will do a good job with getting information out ahead of time. He said there will be large increases on pickup trucks and new guidelines for what vehicles are engaged in farming and business.
Pulkrabek said the ground breaking on the new Consolidated Dispatch Center is October 22, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. at the site.
Lyness said they have had more violent crimes so the office has remained quite busy.
Pulkrabek asked when the swearing-in of newly elected officials with take place. Neuzil said at the first official Board of Supervisor's meeting on January 2, 2009, at 9:00 a.m.
Neuzil said the Board's floating holiday for 2009 has been set on December 24. Stutsman said the Board of Supervisors designates theirs but other elected officials have to designate their own. R. Sullivan said Employee Recognition will be on December 18, 2008 after the regular formal and informal meetings. Kriz said Deputy Treasurer Betty Sass will be recognized for her 55 years of service to the County.
Neuzil said the next meeting should be in January, 2009, but he will send out an email.
Adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
/s/Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By: Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary